Roll those dice! Whaddya have? Snake eyes? A straight? Zilch? To bad. You lose all your points!
Over thirty years ago, our good friends taught us a dice game called Zilch. It is easy to learn and fun to play. You can play this game on New Year’s Eve with your grandchildren, on your grandchild’s birthday, when your grandchildren come over on Sunday evening, on a summer afternoon when it’s too hot to play outside. Play this game when you just can’t face one more game of Uno . . .
Not only is this a fun activity to do with your grandchildren, it is an easy birthday present, Christmas gift, or a ‘just because’ gift to give to your grandchildren. Just go to a dollar store, buy 6 dice, and wrap them up!
Here’s a video showing how to play the game.
Below, you’ll find the rules for playing Zilch. Have fun as you are creating many happy memories playing Zilch with your grandchildren!
Zilch
Items needed: 6 dice, paper and pencil for scoring
Scoring points
1 = 100
5 = 50
In one roll:
3 of a kind = that number times 100 ( for example three dice of 4s equal 400 points)
3 ones = 1,000
4 ones = 2,000
3 twos = 200
3 threes = 300
3 fours = 400
3 fives = 500
3 sixes = 600
a straight (five dice in a consecutive number order) = 1,750
3 pairs = 1000
How to play:
The first person rolls six dice. One or more scoring dice must be pulled out and set aside on every roll. The player must get 500 points before he can start keeping score. If he does not get 500 points, he gets ZILCH for that round and passes the dice to the player on his left.
If the player gets 500 points, he may may continue rolling the dice. Or, he may stop, write his score down, and pass the dice to the next player. It is his choice as to what to do.
Whenever a player rolls the dice and cannot pull any points out, he gets ZILCH (no points) for that round and passes the dice to the player on his left. As long as he can pull out at least one dice that scores points, he may continue rolling the dice and accumulating points. If no score is made on a roll, the player zilches and all the accumulated score for that turn (not from previous turns ) is lost.
If all the dice are used for scoring, the player can pick up all six dice and continue playing with all 6 dice again.
The winner is the first person who gets 10,000 points.
41 thoughts on “Dice Game: Zilch”
Ok I rolled 6, 3’s on first roll..( after accumulated points)
Is the game OVER, does that END GAME? There’s so many different versions & rules. Its played a lot in the D.O.C…. so rules change depending upon WHOM you’re “Rolling with”. Really a good way to pass “TIME”…
? If you room a FULL HOUSE on first roll, do you roll the single die for 5 or 1 to continue rolling? In the exception the 6th dice is a 5 or one1 ….does this make sense? How to you score a FULL HOUSE?? THANKS PEEPS!!
If you ROLL a FULL HOUSE…not room!!
What’s 6, 5’s worth?
That isn’t in the rules. (Did someone roll that your game?? Holy cow if they did!) You could create your own points if you want. Since three 5’s are worth 500 points, maybe six 5’s could be 1,500 points (twice what three of them are).
When we played, each dice of the same number thrown in one throw, doubles each respective score.
Example:
3 x 5 = 500 then 1000 then 2000 then 4000.
They were sometimes quick games.
What a fun addition to the rules!
I played the game, back in the 70s, a straight with 6 dice equals 1500 points.
That’s when we learned to play it. It’s good to know how you score a straight with 6 dice!
Thankyou for putting this up, I used to play this game years ago with my kids and friends and I want to teach my grandchildren. But I’m a little rusty on the rules, reading your post brought it all back
I hope you have fun playing it with your grandkids!!
We also learned to play in the “70s.” But, we kept the rules as simple as possible.
Three of a kind -100 pts x the die amount, except for the 1s = 1000.
Four 1s = 1000 & 100 pts.
Five 1s = 1000 & 200 pts.
Six 1s = 2000 pts.
All other 3 dice throws start at their normal amount, e.g., 3 fives = 500.
At the start, we decide either 5 or 6 for a straight.
It appears that zilch just keeps on being a well loved game.
It’s amazing how many versions there are of this game! And, it’s fun to know there are lots of people who enjoy it.
What happens with a straight 6 disc in consecutive order?
also five 1’s and 6 1’s?
The rules don’t say anything about getting a straight with all 6 dice in one roll. I suspect that’s probably because statistically speaking it would be very difficult to get that in one roll of dice. Same thing with getting five or six ones in one roll of the dice.
For a straight, we count it as 1000, and as for five or six 1’s, we double the score after 3 dice, so three 1’s is 1000, four 1’s is 2000, five 1’s is 4000, six 1’s is 8000
We would score slightly different.
In one roll. Example; if you rolled three 3s, that would be 300. If you rolled four 3s, you double it. Five threes, double it again. And so on.
Three 4s, 400. Four 4s, 800, etc.
1 = 100, 2 1s = 200, 3 1s = 1000, 4 1s = 2000, 5 1s = 4000, etc.
How does the challenge work? Can not remember how many points you take of your score if you zilch. Thank you!
You don’t take any points off your score. You just zero points for that turn.
I was taught this game years ago from a woman from Europe. And to my understanding because I was taught under both names that Zilch is what’s taught through families and Farkle is the commercial version sold at WalMart. My family and those that we have introduced to the game go mainly by the rules for Zilch with a few mixed in from Farkle.
That is interesting that you learned the game from someone from Europe!
I did a little bit of researching about the commercial game. It seems that the commercial version was marketed in the mid 1990s.
My friend taught my husband and I the game in the mid 1970s which was 20 years before the commercial version came out.
It could be that maybe someone who learned the game from another person decided to market the game and that is why the 2 games are so similar.
Thanks for sharing this!
One of the frustrating things about Zilch’s rules is that there is never any score for 4, 5, or 6 of a kind. The only 4 of a kind score listed here is for ones (2,000 pts). Is the scoring past 3 of a kind just double the amount each time? Thank you.
I have my own rule set to this game.
1 2 3 4 6 is worth 0
five is 50
3 of a kinds are 1000 for 1s 200 for 2s 300 for 3s etc
any 4 of a kind is a flat 3000 regardless of face value
5 of a kind is 5000 regardless of face value
a straight 1-5 or 2-6 (no overlapping numbers) is 1000
any dice left can be used by the next player to “piggyback” off the previous score assuming they role a score of some kind.
any zilch kills the score and the next player starts from scratch
3 zilches in a row and you lose 1000 points
i only play with 5 dice too.
I call mine version ziltch
There are several versions of how to play Ziltch. This is the way we were taught years ago. I think the main thing is that the people playing together agree on the rules to be used. Thanks for sharing your version!
What’s if someone rolled 6 fours what’s the points for that
That wasn’t in the rules we learned so I don’t know. And, in all of the years that we’ve played, I’ve never seen anyone roll all six dice of one number. Why don’t you make up your own rule for that in case someone does?
My house rule is if you roll 6 of a kind, the game is over. That person wins. It happened the first time my daughter played with me and again later when her husband did it in his first game. I’ve done it twice in 40+ years
Wow! I’ve never seen that happen before!
This is exactly the same game as FARKLE which is a commercially sold game with scoring pad and rule sheets.
Our friends taught us this game over 40 years ago. I am not aware of the game of Farkle.
What on earth is a “pointer dice”?
A pointer dice is one that helps you score points. If you see where I explain how to score points, it would be any of those combination of dice.
My family has been playing Zilch since the 70’s. Our version has a long straight, 1-6, scoring 1500 pts., and a short straight scoring, 1-5, or 2-6, for 750 pts. A “full house”, 3 pairs in one roll, is 750 pts.
This is Farkle
After our family had been playing it for years, someone told me that this game is also called Farkle. Maybe our friends couldn’t afford to buy the game so they just remembered the rules and just bought dice . . .
Our Family loves playing Ziltch and it is considered a right of passage when you become old enough to play. U must be able to count the scoring dice and know how to add. We teach each family member the various rules of scoring and winning. Our Family has added some basic strategy rules to make the game more challenging. We love it!!
I love how this is a ‘rite of passage’ for your family! I think I’ll do this with my grandkids.
Nina
I once played this game with 15 people, 2 sets of dice, lots of beer, and I kept score, as the designated non drinking player. Great conversation game.
This is the game our family calls Farkle. Everyone from my 93 year old mother to my 5 year old granddaughter plays it. All you need are pen, paper and 6 dice to play. My sister and I often play in airports when we travel. Great fun and easy to play.
Maria,
Farkle, huh? Haven’t ever heard of it referred to as that. But I agree. It’s a fun game for all ages.
Best,
Nina