Switched Keys

We learned a new game over Thanksgiving holiday farkel. It must be a new game to Tyler Texas. The day after we were in a restaurant and overheard a family talking about their farkel games.

It is a simple game of dice with some similarities with Yahtzee or with poker hands. The game we played was with 5 dice though all of the other versions I read about are with 6. As in most any game there are local or family variations to the game. There is also a commercial version of this game that comes with the 6 dice and a cup. Such is the nature of commercialism. If it were me I'd really make it a challenge by introducing different suits with different colors of dice. And instead of the 6 sided dice how about 8 or 10. Okay maybe I'm getting carried away. Well anyway these are the rules for my variation of the game based mostly on internet research.

Rules

At the beginning of each turn the player throws all six dice. After each throw the player must set aside each die that is to be counted. To continue all of the die not set aside must be thrown again. At each throw the player must add to his score or pass. After all 6 dice have been thrown and counted the player can start over with the 6 dice and continue to add to his score. If the player passes he gets to keep the points scored unless they are stolen. If the player rolls without scoring the player loses all points accumulated for that turn. This is called farkel.

A player must be "on the board" before any of his points count. In order to get "on the board" the player must score at least 500 points in a turn. Once a player is on the board they can start counting whatever points they roll.

If a player has scored points the next player has the option of trying to steal his points or starting fresh. In order to steal a players points he must take the remaining uncounted dice roll and get a score with one of them. If he doesn't steal the points he loses his turn. A player must be "on the board" before he call steal. Some variations don't allow stealing.

Scoring

The points of each throw are counted separately. If you set aside a triple of 1's then rolled a single 1 you don't get to score it as a 4 of a kind. The last 1 only counts 100. You must count at least 1 die to continue rolling.

You don't have to set aside all points scored. If you roll two 1's and two 5's you only have to set aside one of the die before rolling again and can try for a triple or better with the rest of the die.

Basic Scoring 1 = 100 5 = 50 triple 1's = 1000 triple of any other die is 100 times the die triple 2's = 200 ... triple 6's = 600

Extra Scoring Each time you score more than three of a die the value is doubled. Some variations don't use doubling.

4 of a kind = three of a kind times 2 4 1's = 2000 4 2's = 400 ... 4 6's = 1200

5 of a kind = four of a kind times 2 6 of a kind = five of a kind times 2 That would mean 6 of a kind 1's = 8000

Big Scores Three pair = 1500 Two triplets = 2500 Small straight (5 in a row) = 1000 Large straight (6 in a row) = 1500 To make it complete you could also add in a value for a full house (triple of one value and a double of another)

Winning

The group can decide what the winning total is usually 10 000 points. After a player scores the winning total each player left has one last turn. The highest score is the winner.

It appears this is an old game. Here are some other sites with their versions of the rules of the game.

The Game of Farkle San Diego Surfing Academy - Rules of Farkle Rules for Farkle Farkel - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia