Pig — the dice push

not checked yet

Pig is one of the simplest gambling games ever made. You'll feel the texture of risk-and-reward in five minutes. Every roll is a small choice: keep what you have, or push for more.

Time5–7 min
Players2–4 players (or one big group taking turns)

From Pig, a folk dice game.

What it shows a designer

Push your luck in its plainest form: after every roll, keep what you have or risk it for more. Change one number, the bust or the target, and the whole table plays more boldly or more carefully.

Credits

Made by: Folk game; first described in print by John Scarne, 1945
This version: Played to 20 rather than 100

What you need

1 die (or write 1–6 on six pieces of paper, fold them, draw from a cup)
paper to track scores
a pen

How to play

Set up. Sit round a table with one die in the middle. Everyone's score starts at 0. Take turns going clockwise; the youngest goes first.
Roll. On your turn, roll the die. Whatever you roll (2–6) is added to a temporary 'turn score' — not yet your real score.
Bank or push? After each roll: BANK (add turn score to real score, end turn) or PUSH (roll again, risking everything).
Push. If you push, you roll again. As long as you don't roll a 1, you can keep pushing.
Bust. If you ever roll a 1, you BUST. Your turn score evaporates. Your turn ends.
Goal. The first player to bank 20 points wins. Play three games.

After playing, talk about

When did you feel tense?
Did pushing feel exciting or frustrating?
What made you bank?

Its blocks

How its blocks were checked against BoardGameGeek

Pig: partly checkable, nothing against it. push your luck: confirmed (Push Your Luck). race to finish: not checkable. solo in parallel: not checkable. chance with mitigation: not checkable. full information: not checkable. abstract: not checkable. take turns: not checkable.

Download it as a design (.md)

In boardgameBuilder, Open game puts its blocks on the canvas. Changed, the same file can come back here from Propose a game.