Farkle Rules

What you need

• 2 to 6 players (you can also play solo and try to beat your best score).
• Six dice.
• Pen and paper to keep score.

The goal

Be the first to reach 10,000 points, or whatever target you agree on before starting (on Lizumo the default is 5,000 for shorter games).

How to play a turn

1. Roll all six dice.
2. Set aside at least one scoring die or scoring combination.
3. Choose: bank the points you've built up this turn and pass the dice, or roll the remaining dice to score more.
4. If a roll scores nothing, that's a farkle: you lose all the points from that turn and pass the dice.
5. If all six dice have scored (hot dice), pick them all up and roll all six again, adding to your turn total.

Farkle scoring

Combinations only count if they come up in the same roll: if you've set aside two 5s and roll another 5 next time, that's three single 5s (150), not three of a kind (500). 2s, 3s, 4s and 6s don't score on their own.

The farkle

This is the heart of the game. The more dice you roll, the lower the risk: with six dice you farkle about 2 times in 100, with three dice about 1 time in 4, and with a single die 2 times in 3. That's why, with only a few dice left, banking is almost always the right call.

The final round

When someone reaches the target, every other player gets one more turn to beat them. Whoever has the most points at the end of that round wins; in a tie, the player who reached the target first wins.

A bit of strategy

• You don't have to keep every scoring die: with a 1 and a 5 you can keep just the 1 and roll five dice instead of four.
• With one or two dice left, bank as soon as you have a few hundred points: the risk of losing it all is high.
• In the final round all that matters is beating the leader, so there's no point stopping short.

In Lizumo's assisted mode the game tells you your chance of farkling before every roll.

Lizumo rules

• Choose your target: 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 (the default) or 10,000 like the classic game.
• Scoring as in the table above.
• No minimum score to get on the board.
• Final round for everyone once someone reaches the target.

Popular variants

Farkle house rules vary a lot, so agree on them before you start.

• Opening threshold: you need at least 500 points to bank for the first time (1,000 in some houses).
• Three pairs worth 750 instead of 1,500, or a straight worth 2,500.
• Four, five and six of a kind at a fixed value (for example 1,000, 2,000, 3,000) or doubled with each extra die.
• Three farkles in a row cost a 500-point penalty.

You'll also find it in our guide to dice games to play with friends, along with Tokyo and Dudo.

FAQ