Sevens is a dice game for 2+ players which relies on lucky rolls!
You will need:
- Six regular 6-sided dice
- Pen and paper for scoring
How to play
The game takes place over a number of rounds. Every player has a turn in each round, but you must rotate the starting player.
The first player rolls all six dice. Then they remove all the dice that total 7. Examples: 6-1, 3-4, 5-1-1. Their score shows on the remaining dice. They now choose if they wish to re-roll the remaining dice to get a better score. Again, if any dice total 7 they must be removed and are not included in the score. It’s possible to get a score of 0 if all the dice you roll total 7 with other dice. The first player may roll remaining dice a total of 3 times.
When the first player has recorded their score, the next player rolls the dice and takes their turn in the same way. However, this player and subsequent players in the round, may only roll up to the number of times the first player rolled the dice. So if the first player only rolled the dice once, each other player only gets one roll of the dice too.
A new round begins and the next player rolls the dice up to three times. Play continues.
The game ends when one player reaches a score of 100 or, if you prefer, after a pre-defined number of rounds.
A game of luck
Sevens is very much a game of luck. One player may throw all six dice and score a paltry 4 (as shown in the picture) and another player may throw the dice once and get 30 points. In fact, scores can range from 36 to a big fat zero!
Yes, you can choose to roll remaining dice again, but you may only have one die remaining, and is it worth rolling a 4 again to possibly get a 1 next time? This game is pretty punishing and far too luck-based for me.
Ellie’s variation
I’ve modified the game of Sevens to make it a little more interesting. After you’ve had a couple of turns at the classic game, you might like to try this version.
Play the game as usual with the following changes:
- When you remove dice that total 7, instead of discarding these dice, you create a second pool.
- You may now choose to re-roll either pool of dice – your remaining dice or your sevens.
- On re-rolls, any dice totalling 7 will split the dice again – creating another pool.
- You have a total of 3 rolls, all the time choosing which pile you re-roll.
- When you’ve finished rolling, score the pool that has the highest total, but doesn’t contain any dice totalling 7.
With this version you have more choice and more chance to score. Let me know what you think.
