My New Favorite Party Game - Farkel

Has anyone played the dice game FARKEL?

Beth and I went over to a family in our church's house last night, and we had a blast playing the crazy intense game. We played 4 games of it. It is fast paced...you can build up points around the board...use other players points...and even work some strategy. Okay, so I really just think its fun to say, "farkel."

Read on for the official rules and regulations.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

. . : : FARKEL RULES AND REGULATIONS : : . .

ITEMS NEEDED:
6 dice, Pen and Paper

START
All players roll one die, high die goes first. (Winner of previous game goes first otherwise)

POINT VALUES FOR DICE
1=100
5=50

3 ones = 1000
3 twos = 200
3 threes = 300
3 fours = 400
3 fives = 500
3 sixes = 600

3 pairs = 1500
2 triplets = 2500 (example: 3 3 3 6 6 6 )
straight = 1500 (example: 1 2 3 4 5 6 )

4 of a kind = 1000
5 of a kind = 2000
6 of a kind = 3000

GAME PLAY
You must have 500 ponts to open. Roll all six dice. Hold the dice that are worth points (keep only the dice you want to keep, but you must keep at least one die worth points to continue rolling). Roll the remaining dice. Continue this until your roll results in no die worth any points ("FARKEL") or you decide not to roll further. If you score with all six dice then you get to roll all six dice again, adding the score of the previous roll to the new roll.

You cannot combine scores from different rolls to make a larger roll score. For example, if a 5 is thrown in the first roll and removed from the active dice as a score of 50, and then 2 more 5's are rolled in the next turn, the player can't make this a triple and score 500. The score at this point would be 150. Triples and straights must be rolled in one roll.

When a player is finished with their turn, the next player has the option of using the previous players points by rolling however many dice were not used by the previous player. If a 1 or a 5 is rolled, the player can use the previous players points and continue thier turn until they "farkel" or decide to stop. Example: Player One scores 1850 points and decides to stop without rolling 3 remaining dice. Player Two then has the option of resetting the score and simply rolling all six dice like normal or rolling those 3 remaining dice for the 1850 points plus whatever the dice score. If a farkel is rolled, that players turn is over. If points are scored, Player Two uses the Player Ones points (1850 pts) plus whatever they roll and may continue rolling or stop and keep thier score. The next player may use however many dice Player Two did not use, and the score continues to grow until someone "farkels" or starts thier turn over.

PLAY EXAMPLE
1st roll: 6 2 3 1 1 5 You could keep either of the 1's the 5, all three of these, or any combination of these.
Keeping 1 1, Rolling four dice, Current score = 200

2nd roll: 3 3 3 4, You would keep all the 3's (300 pts), Current score 500 (200 from 1st roll + 300 from 2nd roll) If this is your first turn or you are not on the "board" yet, you will probably want to stop here. You must have 500 points to get on the "board". You could roll the last die, but if you fail to roll a 1 or 5 then you "Farkel" and lose all the points and your turn.

WINNING
The goal is to get to 10,000 points. Once a player reaches 10,000 points or higher all other players have one turn to beat the high score. Highest score after final turn wins. (No, the player that reached 10,000 first does not get another turn if someone beats them.)

Rules adapted from the following sites: San Diego Surfing | Family Games | Board Game Geek

Posted by jonkopp at July 20, 2005 10:35 AM | TrackBack