My dad used to like to play a dice game with a neighbour. There are six dice. Scoring is as follows:
5 on each die = 50 points.
1 on any die = 100 points.
3x any number except 1 = that number * 100 points.
3x 1 = 1,000 points.
Three pair = 1,500 points.
A “straight” (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) = 2,000 points.
Six of a kind = automatic win.
Each player had to score a certain number of points (I think it was 350) in order to start accruing points.
Players can roll the non-scoring dice to attempt to increase his score (at the risk of losing any points already achieved on that turn).
The first player to 15,000 points (or 10,000 points, or whatever is agreed to before the start of the game) wins, except that all of the other players get to attempt to beat the first person over the top score. (e.g., a player may roll six dice and get a 5 (50 points), then roll the remaining five dice and get three sixes (600 points), then a one and a five with the remaining two dice (150 points), and then get to use all six dice to continue rolling until he surpasses the score of the person who has gone out or until he has a non-scoring roll.
The first version I ever saw was a packaged set in the 60’s. Its name was The Game of Five Thousand, represented by a letter V with an overline (Roman numerology for 5,000). The equipment included the dice, a dice cup, and a walled rolling board. I’m pretty sure it was by Parker Brothers.
The scoring was basically as stated, however there was no minimum score, 2 triplets (like 3 pair) scored 1500, the end of game was set at 5,000 points (hence its name), and while 6 of a kind scored 5,000 points, it wasn’t necessarily an instantaneous win because each player got the same number of turns (and the 6 of a kind roller could “crap out” on the turn if he got nothing on his obigatory follow-up roll).
An important – hell, critical – feature was that unlike in Yahtzee, scoring combinations only applied to what occurred in each single throw. Three 5’s from the same roll scored 500, three 5’s from separate rolls scored 50 each. So long as a player had achieved some score in a roll, he could choose to stop and collect that turns total score, or to set aside the scoring dice and roll the remainder, EXCEPT that any time all six dice were involved in score, he was OBLIGATED to roll (all six) again. If on any roll there was no fresh scoring, the turn was over with a score of zero (a bit like on Wheel of Fortune).
We played this a lot on our dining room table when I was kid and young adult. Decades later, I ran into people playing essentially the same game (no brand name equipment) under the name of Farkle. Then I ran into a packaged set of six dice and rules called “Bupkis,” again essentially the same.
Here an interesting site that talks about it. It mentions Ten Thousand, Five Thousand, and Bupkis among other names not yet mentioned in this thread. The scoring is somewhat different from that in Five Thousand.
When I was taught that game we called it Moji. Supposedly an old Spanish game. More likely the fellow who taught it to me learned it while drunk in Tiajuana.
I’ve also heard it called ahole. Moji at least has some mystic to it…unless moji is spanish for ahole. Hmmm…
This is, in some respects, similar to a game marketed as Cosmic Wimpout. They sell a set of special dice, but they really woudln’t be necessary–just six-siders with the sixes replaced with a wild.
It’s a most amusing game to play with people watching, because the rules are very hard to deduce.
We play a variation of this around the Visible household. Roll three 2’s and you get to make a rule. The rule has to be tied to the roll of the dice, and it has to apply to everyone equally. You can also change the goal of the game.
So, for instance, fives can be wild. Four of a kind can be worth 500x the face value of the dice (four 4’s would be 2000). The game can be to 10,000, or to a million, or to Peoria. (A very memorable experience, as we were in Tucson at the time.) Negative numbers can get involved, as well as, occasionally, irrational ones. Have a round where you don’t score? Lose 1500 points. Or, gain 1500 points. Etcetera.
These games tend to go on for hours, and calculators and spreadsheets get involved. It’s very entertaining.