Pig is a ‘push your luck’ game for two or more people, usually played with a single die. In the standard version, on her turn, a player throws the dice as many times as she wishes. She totals the score on the die each time she throws. If she throws a 1, she busts, her turn is over and she scores a single point. If she stops at any other time, she scores the total of her dice throws during that round. 

For example, a player has the following throws: 5 – 4 – 2 – 6. If she quits at this point, she takes 18 points for her turn. If she continues and now throws a 1, she scores just 1 point for the whole turn. The winner is the first player to reach 101 points. 

To make the game a little more interesting, I play a variant with 5 dice. On her turn a player may choose how many of the five dice she rolls each time. She has a maximum of three throws on her turn, but can choose to roll all five dice on each turn if she wants to. Again, if she throws even a single 1, her turn stops immediately and she just scores 1 point.

Be aware that there is a bit of an advantage to being the first player, as you have more chance of getting to 101 first and there is an advantage to being last player, as you can see what other players have rolled in their turns and use this information to decide how far to push. To offset the turn order advantages, play several rounds, changing the starting player each time, or increase the scores players need to reach to win. The longer the play, the more level the playing field.

Other variations of pig can be found here.

Find other games to play here.