How to play Bunco

What you need

• Players: 12 is the classic group (three tables). 8 works at two tables, and any multiple of four is easy. Uneven numbers are fine with a ghost player (see house rules).
• Dice: three per table, plus a spare set.
• A bell (or anything loud) for the head table.
• Paper: one score sheet per table for the team totals, and a tally card for each player to mark wins, losses and buncos. We have free printable Bunco score sheets and tally cards, plus an on-screen keeper.
• Pencils at every table, and a few small prizes.

Setting up the tables

Number the tables. Table 1 is the head table; with three tables, table 2 is the middle and table 3 the low table. Put three dice, a score sheet and pencils on each, and the bell on the head table. For the first round, people can sit anywhere: drawing a card or a numbered slip from a bowl is the usual way to mix up friends who arrived together. Sit across from your partner, so the two teams alternate around the table.

Pick one scorekeeper at each table. At the head table, it helps if the scorekeeper is the person with the bell, because they are the one watching for 21.

How to play a round of Bunco

1. The bell starts the round. The head table rings it, and one player at every table picks up the dice.
2. Roll three dice and score. Count the dice showing the round number. The scorekeeper adds those points to the roller's team.
3. Keep rolling while you score. A roll worth anything means you roll again. A roll worth nothing ends your turn, and the dice go to the player on your left (who is on the other team).
4. Race to 21 at the head table. The round ends for everyone as soon as a team at the head table reaches 21 points or more and rings the bell. Other tables can pass 21 and keep going; only the head table ends the round.
5. Compare totals. At each table, the team with more points wins the round. Both partners on the winning team mark a W; both losers mark an L.

Because the head table controls the clock, a slow table can end a round with low scores, and a lucky table can be at 40 when the bell rings. That is normal.

A turn, worked through

Round 4, so 4s score. Your group plays mini buncos for 5 points.

Your turn added 8 points. If the last roll had been 4, 4, 4, that would have been a Bunco and 21 more.

Bunco scoring

The 5-point mini bunco is in all three rule write-ups we checked (Wikipedia, Dice Game Depot and Gather Together Games), but it is still a choice: some groups score three of another number as nothing at all. Decide before the first bell.

A Bunco at the head table is an instant 21, so it ends the round on the spot. At the other tables, the player records the bunco and keeps rolling. Whoever rolls a bunco marks it on their own tally card, because buncos usually win a prize.

Switching tables and partners

After each round, people move so that everyone plays with and against new faces. The common pattern with three tables:

Splitting up means the two players who stay at a table do not stay partners: one of them moves over a seat, so each sits across from one of the newcomers. That gives everyone a new partner every round.

With three tables, "move to the lowest table" and "move down one table" land in the same place. With four or more tables they differ: Wikipedia and Gather Together Games send head-table losers to the lowest table, while Dice Game Depot sends them down one. A simpler habit some groups use, described in the Bunco Game Shop post: only the losers move, and the winners stay put. It is easier to follow in a noisy room, though fewer people end up playing together.

How wins, losses and buncos are tallied

There are two kinds of paper in a Bunco night:

• The table score sheet keeps the two team totals during a round. It is only used to decide who won the round, then a fresh column is used for the next one.
• Each player's tally card follows them from table to table. After every round, mark W or L in that round's box. Add a tally mark each time you personally roll a bunco (and a mini bunco, if your group gives a prize for those).

A typical night is several sets of six rounds. Dice Game Depot says four sets is typical and two to six is the range; its FAQ says two to four in one night. After the last round, everyone counts their Ws, Ls and buncos, and the host hands out prizes.

Ties in a round

If the two teams at a table are level when the bell rings, sources differ. Dice Game Depot has a roll-off: each player gets one more turn, repeated until the tie breaks. Gather Together Games gives each player one more turn. Either way, the extra rolls only settle that table, so the next round can start everywhere else.

Prizes

The usual categories are most buncos, most wins, most losses (a consolation prize that people compete for openly), last bunco of the night, and a "traveling" prize. Dice Game Depot also lists most mini buncos and closest to half wins, half losses. Ties for a prize are usually settled with a roll-off. Prize, theme and food ideas are on our Bunco party ideas page.

Common house rules

• Mini bunco, 5 points. Three of a kind of a number that is not the round number. All three rule write-ups we checked include it, but not every group plays it.
• Wipeout. Three 1s rolled in any round except round 1 wipes your team's score for the round back to zero. Gather Together Games describes this; the Bunco Game Shop post calls it "Snake Eyes", where you and your partner lose every point in the round. Groups differ on whether the roller also loses the dice; we treat a wipeout as the end of the turn.
• The traveling prize. A fuzzy die or beanbag goes to whoever rolls a chosen combination (for example three 3s outside round 3). The next player to roll it takes it off them, and whoever holds it at the end of the night wins a prize.
• Ghost players. When someone is missing, the empty seat is a "ghost", as Dice Game Depot puts it. The ghost's partner rolls for both of them. Groups often keep three or four substitutes on a list so ghosts are rare.
• Small groups. Gather Together Games suggests that at a table of three, everyone scores for themselves, and at a table of two, both roll and keep their own win or loss.
• Buy-in. Many groups pay a few dollars each into a pot for the prizes. Dice Game Depot's example is $5 per player for the game fund plus $1 for the traveling prize.

Where the Bunco rules differ

Bunco odds (exact)

Three dice give 216 equally likely rolls. We counted every one, for any round:

Two things follow. Most turns are short: more than half of all rolls score nothing, so the dice move quickly. And an average turn adds only about one point, which is why a team at the head table usually needs many turns to reach 21, unless someone rolls a Bunco. One Bunco is worth about as much as 20 ordinary turns.

The Bunco roll scorer on our dice games page scores each roll for you if nobody at the table wants to count.

Where Bunco comes from

According to Wikipedia, the game started in 19th-century England as a gambling game called "eight dice cloth" and reached San Francisco in 1855, where it became a swindle; that is why "bunco" also means a con. After the Civil War it turned into a respectable parlor game, came back during Prohibition, and had another revival in the 1980s.

Bunco questions

What is Bunco?

Bunco is a social dice game for a group, usually 12 people at three tables of four. Partners roll three dice in turn, trying to match the round number, and swap tables and partners after every round. It needs no skill, which is why it is mostly an excuse for a regular night out with friends.

How many dice do you need for Bunco?

Three dice per table. Twelve players at three tables need nine dice. A spare set is handy, and the head table needs a bell.

How many people do you need to play Bunco?

Twelve is the classic number (three tables of four). Eight works well at two tables, and any multiple of four is fine. If someone does not show up, play a "ghost": an empty seat whose partner rolls for both.

What is a mini Bunco or baby Bunco?

Three of a kind of a number that is not the round number, for example three 5s in round 3. Most groups score it 5 points. It is a house rule, so agree on it before the first round.

Who wins Bunco?

Most groups do not crown one winner. They give prizes by category at the end of the night: most buncos, most wins, most losses, last bunco. If you want a single winner, Wikipedia gives the player with the most rounds won, ties broken by total points.

Is it Bunco or Bunko?

Both spellings are used for the same game. The word also means a swindle: Wikipedia says the dice game began as a gambling con before it became a parlor game.