How to play Roll the Bones

Learn the rules to the dice game Roll the Bones quickly and concisely - This video has no distractions, just the rules.Show more

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RULES:
The object of the game is to collect all the dice. Give each player 10 dice and one 12-sided “bone” die. At the start of each round in a 4-6 player game, each player must ante any 1 die from their collection into the center of the table, forming a center pot. In a 2-3 player game, players ante 2 dice instead. When a player runs out of dice, they are eliminated from the game. Each time a player is eliminated, increase the ante amount by 1.

There are no turns, all play happens simultaneously. After anteing up, every player rolls one die from their collection. To roll the bone die, you must announce it before everyone rolls, after which, other players may choose to announce a bone die as well or decide not to roll their bone die if they had already announced to roll it, which they must announce as well. If you fail to announce your bone die before everyone rolls, then you automatically lose the round and your bone die goes to the center pot.

The player with the highest number collects the center pot, and all the rolled dice from the other players, and adds them to their collection. If there is a tie, then all players add their dice to the center pot and the tied players ante again. then roll again, with a new die from their collection. Repeat this process until 1 payer has the highest die roll, who then collects the pot and the other rolled die. Each tiebreaker roll can be with any type of die, regardless of what you rolled previously. Each bone die must still be announced.

If, during a tiebreaker, one of the players runs out of dice to roll, then their final die does not go into the pot from the tiebreaker round, but, instead, both tiebreaker players keep their last rolled die and they roll again. The player with multiple dice may still swap to a different die if they want. If the tie is between more than 2 players, then side pots are used. If a player is unable to ante the full amount, then they ante what they can, while retaining 1 die, and the other players ante the remaining amount to a side pot.

Whenever a player is down to their last die, they must keep it. If the player with the one die wins, then they collect all the rolled dice and all the dice in the center pot if they had ante’d to it that round; then the player with 2nd highest roll collects the dice in the side pot.

If the player with 1 die did not ante to the center pot and has the highest roll, then they only collect the rolled dice from the other players. The second highest die would then collect everything else. Otherwise, the player with the highest roll collects all the dice rolled in both the center and side pots.

For a simpler game with younger players, don’t play with side pots, but rather when a player can’t ante the full amount, then all the other players match whatever that player could ante. When a player loses all their dice, they are eliminated from the game and the ante increases by 1. The last player remaining, wins!