Farkle Rules, Scoring Chart and Score Keeper
Farkle takes two minutes to learn and one greedy roll to lose a big turn. Below: how a turn works, what every combination scores, the real odds of rolling nothing with each number of dice, and a score keeper that does the adding for you.
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Farkle in 30 seconds
- You need six dice, two or more players and something to keep score on.
- On your turn, roll all six dice. Pull out at least one die or combination that scores, then choose: stop and bank your points, or roll the dice you have left.
- If a roll shows nothing that scores, that is a farkle. You lose every point from that turn and pass the dice.
- Score with all six dice and you can pick them all up and keep going.
- Your first bank of the game has to be 500 points or more.
- When anyone's total reaches 10,000, everybody else gets one last turn. Highest total wins.
Farkle scoring chart
The first column is the scoring on PlayMonster's current box sheet. The second is an older set of home rules that many families grew up with under the name "Ten Thousand". Neither is wrong, but mixing them mid-game starts arguments, so pick one before you roll. The score keeper below can use either.
| Dice in one roll | Box rules | Common older house rule |
|---|---|---|
| A single 1 | 100 | 100 |
| A single 5 | 50 | 50 |
| Three 1s | 300 | 1,000 |
| Three 2s | 200 | 200 |
| Three 3s | 300 | 300 |
| Three 4s | 400 | 400 |
| Three 5s | 500 | 500 |
| Three 6s | 600 | 600 |
| Four of a kind | 1,000 | Double the three-of-a-kind value |
| Five of a kind | 2,000 | 4 times the three-of-a-kind value |
| Six of a kind | 3,000 | 8 times the three-of-a-kind value |
| Straight, 1 through 6 | 1,500 | 1,500 |
| Three pairs | 1,500 | 750 |
| Four of a kind plus a pair | 1,500 | Not a combo: score it as three pairs or as the four of a kind plus any 1s and 5s, whichever is more |
| Two sets of three | 2,500 | Not a combo (score each set of three) |
Twos, threes, fours and sixes score nothing alone. They only count as part of three or more of a kind, a straight, or one of the pair combinations. The house-rule column varies from table to table; the doubling pattern shown is one common version, not a standard.
Farkle score keeper
Scoring rules (box rules unless you change them)
| Player | Total | Notes |
|---|
Turn history
How a turn plays out
Here is one turn under the box rules, start to finish.
- You roll six dice and get 1, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6. The only scorer is the 1. You keep it (100) and have five dice left.
- You roll five and get 2, 2, 2, 5, 6. You keep the three 2s (200) and the 5 (50). Turn total: 350. One die left.
- 350 is not enough to get on the board for the first time, so you roll the last die. It lands on 5. Turn total: 400, and you have now scored with all six dice.
- You pick up all six and roll again: 1, 1, 4, 4, 5, 6. You keep both 1s (200). Turn total: 600.
- With four dice left and 600 in hand, you bank. You are on the board with 600.
Had any of those rolls shown no 1s, no 5s and no combination, the whole turn would have been worth zero.
Who goes first
Everyone rolls one die. High roll starts, and play moves to the left. Dice that fall off the table get rerolled.
Dice from different rolls never combine
A combination only counts when all of its dice show up in the same throw. Keep a 5 now and two more 5s on your next roll, and you have three single 5s worth 150, not three of a kind worth 500.
Odds of a farkle with each number of dice
We counted every possible roll (all 46,656 of them for six dice) and checked which ones contain nothing that scores under the box rules. The same numbers hold for the older house-rule column, because both count single 1s, single 5s, three of a kind, straights and three pairs.
| Dice you are about to roll | Chance of a farkle |
|---|---|
| 1 | 66.7% |
| 2 | 44.4% |
| 3 | 27.8% |
| 4 | 15.7% |
| 5 | 7.7% |
| 6 | 2.3% |
What we take from the numbers
- With one or two dice left, you farkle 66.7% or 44.4% of the time. Unless you are far behind or chasing an opening score, bank a decent turn instead of rolling one or two dice.
- You do not have to keep every scorer. If your six dice show a 1, a 5 and four non-scorers, keeping only the 1 leaves five dice (7.7% farkle chance) instead of four (15.7%). You give up 50 points to cut your risk roughly in half.
- Six fresh dice almost never farkle (2.3%). When you score with all six, rolling again is nearly always worth it.
Common house rules
Farkle grew out of a family of folk dice games (Wikipedia lists several older names), and families have been changing it for a long time. These are the variations we see most. None of them are on the PlayMonster sheet, so agree on them before you start.
- Different opening score. 350 and 1,000 are both common, and some tables drop the minimum entirely. You can set this in the score keeper.
- Three 1s are worth 1,000. This was standard in many older versions. Pick "Box rules, but three 1s = 1,000" in the keeper.
- Doubling for big sets. Four of a kind doubles the three-of-a-kind value, five doubles it again, and so on. The "10,000 style" preset uses this.
- Three farkles in a row costs you. Usually 500 or 1,000 points. The keeper tracks streaks and takes the points off when it happens.
- Small straights. Some tables score 1 through 5 or 2 through 6 (often 500 or 750). The keeper's dice helper does not count these, so type the turn total by hand if you play them.
- Piggybacking. When a player banks without using all six dice, the next player may take over the leftover dice and that turn's points instead of rolling fresh.
Farkle questions
What is the minimum score to get on the board in Farkle?
The box rules say 500 points in a single turn. Until you bank 500 or more at once, you have to keep rolling or risk losing the turn. Many tables use 350 or 1,000 instead, or no minimum at all.
Can you add dice from two different rolls to make a combo?
No. A combination only counts when all of its dice came up in the same roll. A 5 kept from one roll and two 5s kept from the next are three single 5s worth 150, not three of a kind worth 500.
Do you have to keep every scoring die you roll?
No. You must keep at least one scoring die or combination after each roll, but you can leave other scoring dice in to roll again. Keeping fewer dice can lower your chance of a farkle on the next roll.
What happens when someone reaches 10,000?
Every other player gets one more turn to pass that total. After that, the highest total wins, so the player who crossed 10,000 first can still lose.
What does three pairs score in Farkle?
On the PlayMonster sheet, three pairs rolled together score 1,500. Older home rules often give 750 or 500, so agree on it before the first roll.
Is Farkle the same game as Ten Thousand or Zilch?
They come from the same family of dice games (see the Wikipedia entry), and the turn works the same way. Scoring is where they drift apart, which is why our keeper lets you pick a preset instead of forcing one table.