What Is Farkle?

Farkle will make your friends roll - with grins and giggles! You can grab a few pals and get an evening of fun with this game that originates possibly from Renaissance days . . . or from Texas! Legend says the Texans discovered that dried Farkleberries would harden so the settlers could carve them into dice.

Who knows where this game came from? Farkle has been handed down through the generations and the rules may vary, depending on who you farkle with! Even the name is spelled a little differently: Don says "farkle"; Jane says "farkel." Some people actually use a different name: Wimp Out!, Hot Dice, Zilch, Zonk, and others. Any name you call it, Farkle is a blast.

Product disclaimer: This game is so addictive, we can't be responsible for how much you might farkle in one evening! If you need help with your Farkle habit, please download Small Fun Farkle.

Note: If you have ever played "Ten Thousand" and "Press Your Luck," Farkle is sort of like these popular dice games.

Lady Luck is at the heart of this game. The goal is to roll the dice and accumulate up to 10,000 points. If you fail to score points, everyone yells "Farkle!" You then lose any points accumulated during your turn.

You can complete a game in twenty minutes, if no more than four people play. The game rules don't limit the number of players. However, up to eight players seems to work best. You can even get teams together. When teams play, the game goal to win is doubled to 20,000 points.

Want to make playing Farkle a breeze? Why bother to figure out the rules when you can get software to keep it all straight! You can have up to eight of your pals playing with Small Fun Farkle. Download the free trial version and start your fun now!

Here's the equipment you need to play:

• Six dice
• Paper for scores
• Cup for shaking and throwing the dice (optional)

Each person rolls one die and the highest roll starts the game.

At the start of your turn, you roll all six dice. If any dice are not lying flat or fall outside of the playing surface, you throw only the renegade dice again.

After each throw, you must take some or all of the points to continue on. You then set aside each die that you count. Throw all of the die that you didn't count. Score zero points on a roll? You just FARKLED!

To start accumulating points, you must score up to 500 points in one turn. Until you get at least 500 points in one turn, you can't start to collect points towards the 10,000 or more points that you must have to win.

Note: Not everyone plays with the 500 point requirement.

You count the points for each throw separately. If all six die show points, then you must throw all six again.

As you roll, you look for sets. To continue your throws, you must have a set. Sets are different dice with the following combinations of spots:

• A 1 or a 5 spot die,
• Three of a kind,
• Three pairs,
• Straight sequence of 1 through 6 spots.

For each throw, you can set aside those dice that form a set. You can then roll all the remaining dice to score another set. Or, if all six dice form a set, you can roll all six of them again to score additional sets.

If you don't score any points during a roll, well, you know you have just FARKLED! You must forfeit all the points that you scored up to that roll during your turn.

Feeling cautious? You don't have to continue your roll. You can keep the points you have accumulated and pass to the next player.

If you score points during a roll, you add the points to your total.

You cannot count the results of two different throws as a set.

Singles				Combinations
Roll		Points		Roll		Points
Ones		100		Straight		1500
Fives		50		Triple Double		500
Three of a Kind				Four of a Kind
Roll		Points		Roll		Points
Ones		1000		Ones		2000
Twos		200		Twos		400
Threes		300		Threes		600
Fours		400		Fours		800
Fives		500		Fives		1000
Sixes		600		Sixes		1200
Five of a Kind				Six of a Kind
Roll		Points		Roll		Points
Ones		1000		Ones		2000
Twos		200		Twos		400
Threes		300		Threes		600
Fours		400		Fours		800
Fives		500		Fives		1000
Sixes		600		Sixes		1200

Scoring can vary between different groups or families. Small Fun Farkle keeps the game running smoothly by tracking your scoring and even providing hints for the novice player. Try Small Fun Farkle now.

When you reach a cumulative score of 10,000 points, this starts the final round of dice throwing. After you reach 10,000, each of your friends gets one more turn to try and pass your score. When the last player finishes, the player with the most points wins.