Drinking Dice

Drinking Dice is a one-die game about matching the roll before you. The previous player sets a number, you get up to three rolls to hit it, either on a single roll or by adding rolls together, and if you do not get there you drink. One die is the whole kit, which is why it sits with the drinking games without cards: a die lives in a pocket, survives a spilled drink, and works on any bar table.

What you need

• 1 six-sided die. Just one; this is not Three Man.
• A flat surface to roll on. A table, a bar, a book.
• A drink per player
• 2 or more players. It is one of the few games here that is genuinely fine with 2.

Setup

1. Sit or stand around the rolling surface. Play goes to the left.
2. Agree on the penalty. A drink per failed turn is standard. Some tables make it a drink per roll used, so a miss after three rolls costs three sips.
3. Agree on the edge cases. A die that falls off the table is usually a re-roll and a drink. A die that lands tilted against a glass is a re-roll. Thirty seconds now saves ten arguments later.
4. Roll once each to pick a starter. Highest starts.

How to play Drinking Dice

1. The starter rolls the die once. Whatever comes up is the target for the next player.
2. The next player has up to three rolls to match the target. A single roll that equals the target is a match. So are two or three rolls that add up to it: target 5, roll a 2 then a 3, done.
3. Go over and you are bust. Rolls add up, so if the target is 4 and you roll a 2 then a 3, you are on 5 and the turn is over. You cannot roll past the target and come back.
4. Match it and you are safe. Miss after three rolls, or bust, and you drink.
5. Your last roll is the next player’s target. Match or miss, whatever you rolled last is the number the player to your left now has to hit.
6. Keep going around. A round ends when the die comes back to the starter. Play as many rounds as you like; most groups manage about ten in fifteen minutes.

Odds table

How likely you are to match each target with up to three rolls, if you always keep rolling until you match or bust. Low targets are the killers.

Target	Ways to get there	Chance of a match
1	A 1 on the first roll only	1 in 6
2	A 2, or 1 then 1	About 1 in 5
3	A 3, 1 then 2, 2 then 1, or three 1s	About 1 in 4
4	A 4, any two rolls adding to 4, or three small rolls	About 1 in 4
5	A 5 or any two or three rolls adding to 5	About 3 in 10
6	A 6 or any two or three rolls adding to 6	About 1 in 3

Read that table again before you play: under the standard rules you drink on roughly two turns in three. That is why the intensity on this page is a 4, and why the first variation below exists.

Variations and house rules

• Match or beat. Our house rule for a longer night: a single roll equal to or higher than the target is safe, anything lower is a drink. It flips the odds, so a 6 becomes the cruel target and a 1 is a free pass.
• Drink per roll. A miss costs one sip for every roll you used. Busting on the second roll is two sips, failing on the third is three. Rewards players who match on the first roll and punishes people who push their luck.
• Roll for Shots. The simplest one-die game there is: everyone rolls once and the lowest roll drinks. Ties re-roll between the tied players. Good as a tiebreaker between rounds of the main game.
• Pig. Roll as many times as you like on your turn, adding up the numbers, and stop whenever you want to bank the total. Roll a 1 and the turn is over, you score nothing, and you take a sip for every roll you made that turn. First to 100 hands out five drinks.
• Twenty-one. Players take turns adding one roll to a running total. Whoever brings the total to exactly 21 hands out a drink; whoever pushes it past 21 drinks and the total resets.
• Same number. If your first roll matches the number the previous player just rolled, you both drink, then you carry on with your turn. It adds a small jolt to every handover.
• Two-player sudden death. With 2 people, play best of ten turns each and the loser finishes their drink. For a card version of the same luck-based duel, Higher or Lower is built for two.

Tips

• Use a cup or a box lid to roll into when you are at a bar. A die on the floor is a lost die, a drink, and a crawl under a table.
• Leave a 1 whenever you can. It is the hardest target in the game, and passing it on after a bust is the only revenge the rules allow.
• Keep the penalty to a sip. With a match rate of about one turn in three, a shot per miss puts a player through four or five shots in a quarter of an hour, which is the fastest way any game on this site goes wrong. Agree to stop at ten rounds.
• Count the rolls out loud. “One, two, three” from the table stops anyone sneaking a fourth.