Drop Dead
This is a game of pure chance, requiring absolutely no skill at all (unless you count a supple die-throwing wrist). It makes for a great party game, as it can accommodate a very large number of players.
Number of Players
As many as want to play. Can also be played solitaire (just to try for the highest possible score).
Equipment
5 six-sided dice. Paper and pencil for keeping track of scores.
Play
Determine who plays first (a high roll of one die works). The first player then rolls all five dice at once, and tallies the number of pips showing. Each roll is worth its face value, except any die showing a 2 or 5 counts as zero. Any die that lands on 2 or 5 is then set aside for the remainder of the player’s turn. All remaining dice are then re-rolled and tallied again. Each time a player rolls the dice, any die that shows 2 or 5 is removed for the rest of the turn. Eventually, every die will have been removed and the player “drop’s dead” (ends their turn). That player’s total score for the round is then added up from every die they rolled that was not a 2 or 5. All five dice are then passed to the next player who rolls all of them in the same fashion until they have “dropped dead,” and so on. When every player in the game has had a single turn (in which they rolled the dice continually until they dropped dead) the game is over.
Object
Very simple…have the highest score of every player after one full round. Because this is a game of pure chance, there is really no control over your own fate. What makes the game fun is the uncertainty of whether a player’s turn will last for only a couple of rolls before they drop dead, or if they will keep rolling for a very long time without seeing a single 2 or 5…thereby racking up a huge score.
