Farkle Explained

Farkle, or Farkel, is a dice game similar to or synonymous with 1000/5000/10000, Cosmic Wimpout, Greed, Hot Dice,^[1] Squelch,^[2] Zilch,^[3] or Zonk. Its origins as a folk game are unknown, but the game dates back to at least the mid-1980s.^[4] It has been marketed commercially since 1996 under the brand name Pocket Farkel by Legendary Games Inc.^[5] ^[6] While the basic rules are well-established, there is a wide range of variation in both scoring and play.^[1] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9]

Equipment

Dice (6, or 5 in some variations)
Paper and a pencil or pen for keeping score

Play

Farkle is played by two or more players, with each player in succession having a turn at throwing the dice. Each player's turn results in a score and the scores for each player accumulate to some winning total (usually 10,000).

At the beginning of each turn, the player throws all the dice at once.
After each throw, one or more scoring dice must be set aside (see sections on scoring below).
The player may then either end their turn and bank the score accumulated so far or continue to throw the remaining dice.
If the player has scored all six dice, they have "hot dice" and may continue their turn with a new throw of all six dice, adding to the score they have already accumulated. There is no limit to the number of "hot dice" a player may roll in one turn.
If none of the dice score in any given throw, the player has "farkled" and all points for that turn are lost.
At the end of the player's turn, the dice are handed to the next player in succession (usually in clockwise rotation, viewing the table from above), and they have their turn.

Once a player has achieved a winning point total, each other player has one last turn to score enough points to surpass that high-score.

Standard scoring

The following scores for single dice or combinations of dice are widely established, in that they are common to all or nearly all of the above-cited descriptions of farkle scoring.

Dice combination	Score
Each 1	100
Each 5	50
Three 1s	1000
Three 2s	200
Three 3s	300
Three 4s	400
Three 5s	500
Three 6s	600

For example, if a player throws, they could do any of the following:

score three 3s as 300 and then throw the remaining three dice
score the single 1 as 100 and then throw the remaining five dice
score the single 5 as 50 and then throw the remaining five dice
score three 3s, the single 1, and the single 5 for a total of 450 and then throw the remaining die
score three 3s, the single 1, and the single 5 for a total of 450 and stop, banking 450 points in that turn

This is not an exhaustive list of plays based on that throw, but it covers the most likely ones. If the player continues throwing, as in any of the above cases except the last, they risk farkling and thus losing all accumulated points. On the other hand, if they score five dice and have only one die to throw, they have a 1 in 3 chance of scoring a single 1 or a single 5, and then having scored all six dice they will have "hot dice" and can throw all six dice again to further increase their score.

Each scoring combination must be achieved in a single throw. For example, if a player has already set aside two individual 1s and then throws a third with the four dice remaining, they do not have a triplet of 1s for a score of 1000 but merely three individual 1s for a score of 300.

Scoring variations

Since farkle is a folk game, variant rules are used in different playing communities. While the standard rules described above are widely used, even they are not universal. For example, the commercially marketed game of Pocket Farkel differs in that three 1s are scored as 300 rather than 1000. In addition, some players score one or more combinations of dice beyond the standard ones. Those variations include the following.

A roll with no scoring dice (e.g. 2–2–3–4–6–6) is scored as 500 - sometimes called a farkle.
Three pair (e.g., 1–1–4–4–6–6) is scored as 500, 600, 750, 1000, or 1500.
A straight (1–2–3–4–5–6) is scored as 1000, 1200, 1500, or 2500. A short straight (1-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6) is scored as 500.
A full house (three-of-a-kind and a pair) is scored as the three-of-a-kind value plus 250. e.g. 3–3–3–2–2 = 550, 4–4–4–3–3 = 650, 5–5–5–1–1 = 750, 1–1–1–3–3 = 1250
Four, five, and six of a kind are scored in one of 3 ways: adding, doubling, or set value:
- Adding, for each additional matching die above 3 of a kind, the 3 of a kind score is added. e.g. 3–3–3 = 300, 3–3–3–3 = 300 + 300 (600), 3–3–3–3–3 = 300 + 300 + 300 (900) and 3–3–3–3–3–3 = 300 + 300 + 300 + 300 (1200).
- Doubling, for each additional matching die above 3, 4, or 5 of a kind the score is doubled. e.g. 3–3–3 = 300, 3–3–3–3 = 300 × 2 (600), 3–3–3–3–3 = 300 × 2 × 2 (1200) and 3–3–3–3–3–3 = 300 × 2 × 2 × 2 (2400)
- Set value, 4 of a kind is scored as 1000 or 2000, 5 of a kind is scored as 2000 or 4000 and 6 of a kind is scored as 3000, 6000 or 10000

Dice value	3 of a kind	Adding			Doubling			Set value
Dice value	3 of a kind	4 of a kind	5 of a kind	6 of a kind	4 of a kind	5 of a kind	6 of a kind	4 of a kind	5 of a kind	6 of a kind
Two	200	400	600	800	400	800	1600	1000 or 2000	2000 or 4000	3000, 6000 or 10000
One (low)	300	600	900	1200	600	1200	2400
Three	300	600	900	1200	600	1200	2400
Four	400	800	1200	1600	800	1600	3200
Five	500	1000	1500	2000	1000	2000	4000
Six	600	1200	1800	2400	1200	2400	4800
One (high)	1000	2000	3000	4000	2000	4000	8000

Like the standard combinations, any of these variant combinations must be achieved in a single throw.

These are the variations listed in the above-cited descriptions of farkle scoring, but further variations presumably exist. Since it is a folk game, players are free to agree upon whatever scores they choose for whatever combinations they choose to recognize.

Play variations

Some farkle rules also incorporate one or more of the following variations in the sequence of play.

Players may be required to achieve a certain threshold score in their opening turn or turns before they can begin scoring. Thresholds of 350, 400, 500, or 1000 are used. At the beginning of a game, each player must continue throwing in their turn until they either farkle or reach the threshold. After having reached the threshold once, they are free to stop throwing in subsequent turns whenever they choose.
Play is almost always to 10,000, but can be to 20,000.
In a variant described as "piggybacking" or "high-stakes", each player after the first can choose to begin their turn either with a fresh set of six dice, or by throwing the dice remaining after the previous player has completed their turn. For example, if a player banks three 1s for a score of 1000, the next player may choose to roll the remaining three dice. If they score at least one die, they score 1000 plus whatever additional score they accumulate. Players may thus assume the greater risk of farkling for the chance of scoring the points already accumulated by the player before them. If a player ends their turn on a "hot dice", the next player may "piggyback" using all six dice.
Players may be required to make at least one additional throw when they have hot dice, even if they have accumulated a high enough score that they would choose not to risk farkling.
Three farkles in a row can result in a deduction of 500^[10] or 1000 points from the player's score.
Another variation is using five dice instead of six. In this version, players cannot score three pair, and this variation often couples an "instant" win option, where on the first roll of the five dice on any turn, if the player rolls five of a kind, that player instantly wins the game, regardless of the scores to that point.
An end-of-game variation described as "welfare" requires the winner to score exactly 10,000 points. If a player scores more than 10,000 points, then all points scored in that turn are given to the player with the lowest score.

Probabilities

Following are the probabilities of scoring combinations in the initial throw of six dice.

Dice combination	Probability
Three of a kind	1 in 3.240
Four of a kind	1 in 20.736
Three pair	1 in 25.92
Straight	1 in 64.8
Two triplets	1 in 155.52
Five of a kind	1 in 259.2
Six of a kind	1 in 7776

For the most part, less probable combinations are scored higher than more probable combinations (see Scoring Variations).

Following are the probabilities of scoring combinations in subsequent throws of the dice.

Dice combination	Five dice left	Four dice left	Three dice left
Three of a kind	1 in 5.184	1 in 10.8	1 in 36
Four of a kind	1 in 51.84	1 in 216	N/A
Five of a kind	1 in 1296	N/A	N/A

Following are the probabilities of farkling if all variant scoring combinations are allowed, depending on the number of dice thrown.

Dice thrown	Probability
6	1 in 43.2 (5 in 216)
5	1 in 13
4	1 in 6.35 (20 in 127)
3	1 in 3.6 (5 in 18)
2	1 in 2.25 (4 in 9)
1	1 in 1.5 (2 in 3)

Three-pair is the only scoring variation that alters the likelihood of farkling, and only on the initial throw of six dice. If three pairs are not scored, the probability of farkling on the initial throw increases to 1 in 32.4 (5 in 162).

Following are the probabilities of making hot dice in a single throw if all variant scoring combinations are allowed, depending on the number of dice thrown.

Dice thrown	Probability
6	1 in 12
5	1 in 32
4	1 in 25
3	1 in 18
2	1 in 9
1	1 in 3

If no variant scoring combinations are allowed, the probabilities of making hot dice are decreased only slightly for 4–6 dice thrown, and unchanged for 1–3 dice thrown. Odds for these and other die combinations with explanations and simulation results can be found elsewhere.^[11]

Effects of scoring variations

Scoring additional combinations such as straights and three pairs increases the speed of play by awarding high scores for low probability events that otherwise would score little or nothing (for example, a straight with standard scoring is worth only 150 for the single 1 and single 5). To assess the impact of scoring variations, the following table shows the average score on the initial throw of six dice, assuming that all scoring dice are banked and ignoring any additional scores that would be made on a re-roll of hot dice. The first row shows the average score with standard scoring, and the other rows show the increment in that average for each scoring variant that is used in play.

The numbers in the table are calculated based on the following scores for variant combinations:

Four-of-a-kind scores three times the score of the corresponding triplet.
Five-of-a-kind scores five times the score of the corresponding triplet.
Six-of-a-kind scores ten times the score of the corresponding triplet.
A straight scores 2500.
Three pair scores 1500.

Scoring combination	Average score on the initial throw
Standard scoring	302
Four of a kind	+47
Five of a kind	+8
Six of a kind	+0.6
Straight	+37
Three pair	+52
Total (all combinations)	446.6

The impact of four or five of a kind is substantially similar if they are scored as 1000 and 2000, respectively. If lower scores are awarded for straights or three pairs, the impact on average scoring will be proportionately lower.

The above table somewhat overstates the impact of straight and three pairs on the overall speed of play, as they only score on the initial throw of six dice.

Related games

Notes and References

Web site: Farkle Rules . 24 July 2007 . Smart Box Games.
Web site: Squelch v1.2 . 26 September 2007 . 13 July 2010.
Web site: Zilch . 11 September 2014.
Book: Rice . Wayne . Play It!: Over 400 Great Games for Groups . Yaconelli . Mike . 1986 . Zondervan . 9780310351917 . 210 . en.
Web site: Farkel maker finds new home . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130723201842/http://www.kansas.com/2010/08/05/1433608/farkel-maker-finds-home-for-operations.html . 23 July 2013 . 5 August 2010.
Web site: Frequently Asked Questions . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110812072301/http://www.pocketfarkel.com/frequentquestions.html . 12 August 2011 . 24 July 2007 . Pocket Farkel.
Web site: My New Favorite Party Game -Farkel . 24 July 2007.
Web site: Farkle Deluxe . 24 July 2007 . Elverson Puzzle.
Web site: Farkle, a game of dice . 24 July 2007 . The Renaissance Store.
Web site: Zilch (rules and scoring) . 11 September 2014.
Web site: 30 August 2009 . Farkle Odds . 25 March 2023 . The Solarium . en.