geek
Recently Viewed
Hot Games
Dominion
Agricola
Titan
Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition
Battlestar Galactica
Settlers of Catan, The
Race for the Galaxy
Pirate King
Le Havre
Pandemic
Android
Space Alert
Puerto Rico
Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! - Russia 1941-1942
Ghost Stories
Power Grid
Red November
Androids and Belt Bums
Arkham Horror
Twilight Struggle
Carcassonne
War of the Ring
Playing Gods: The Board Game of Divine Domination
Munchkin Quest
Wasabi!
Formula D
Stone Age
Risk
Ticket to Ride
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization
Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game
Tigris & Euphrates
Apples to Apples
Descent: Journeys in the Dark
Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition
StarCraft: The Board Game
World of WarCraft Miniatures Game
Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm
Scrabble
Monsterpocalypse
Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery
BattleLore
Galaxy Trucker
A Touch of Evil, The Supernatural Game
Municipium
Caylus
Pictionary
Mad Gab
Carcassonne - The Catapult
Kingsburg
Jeopardy Dice Games
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
Recommend
8
For jeopardy (a.k.a. press/push your luck) dice games, the dominant type of decision is whether or not to jeopardize previous gains by rolling for potential greater gains. Most jeopardy dice games can be further subdivided into two categories: jeopardy race games and jeopardy approach games. In jeopardy race games, the object is to be the first to meet or exceed a goal score (e.g. Pass the Pigs, Cosmic Wimpout, Can't Stop). Most all commercial jeopardy dice games are jeopardy race games. In jeopardy approach games, the object is most closely approach a goal score without exceeding it (e.g. Twenty-One, Macao).

An applet featuring the jeopardy dice game Pig with an optimal computer opponent can be found at http://cs.gettysburg.edu/projects/pig/

Reiner Knizia describes a separate class of "progression [dice] games that give you the opportunity to improve your results successively." (p. 103, "Dice Games Properly Explained"). Indeed, such games (e.g. Poker Dice) allow one to jeopardize one's results, but Knizia distinguishes progression dice games from jeopardy dice games in that jeopardy dice games allow the possibility of each player immediately losing all results in an individual progression. "You still focus on progressing and maximising your results. But now the stakes are rising. If things go wrong, you lose it all." (p. 127)

If you know of jeopardy dice games not listed below, please add it and e-mail me at the address given at http://cs.gettysburg.edu/~tneller/

Other jeopardy race games:

Pig family:
Pig Dice (1942, Parker Brothers)
Pig (~1950?, ???)
See also http://cs.gettysburg.edu/projects/pig/piglinks.html

Ten Thousand Family:
Ten Thousand (a.k.a. Dix Mille, Teutonic Poker, and Berliner Macke; source: Reiner Knizia "Dice Games Properly Explained")
Zilch (1980, Twinson), Bupkis (1981, Milco), High Rollers (1992, El Rancho Escondido Ents.), Keepers (Avid Press), Gold Train (1995, Strunk) (Source: http://members.aol.com/dicetalk/rules/10000.txt )
Top Dog (John N. Hanson Co.) (Source: Sid Sackson, "A Gamut of Games", 2nd ed, 1982)

Other jeopardy approach games:

Macao, Twenty-One (a.k.a. Vingt-et-Un, Pontoon, Blackjack), Sixteen (a.k.a. Golden Sixteen), Octo, Poker Hunt (source: Reiner Knizia "Dice Games Properly Explained")
Thirty-Six (source: John Scarne, "Scarne on Dice" )
Altars (source: http://members.aol.com/dicetalk/rules/altars.txt )

Your Tags: View |
Popular Tags: [View All]
Posted On: 2005-07-19 14:09:38
Edited On: 2007-06-20 09:16:04

1. Pass the Pigs [Average Rating:5.22 Overall Rank:4579]
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
Pass the Pigs is perhaps the best known commercial jeopardy race game of the Pig family (see http://cs.gettysburg.edu/projects/pig/piglinks.html ).
0 Comments
Posted On: 2004-04-19 15:46:37
Comment
2. Can't Stop [Average Rating:6.97 Overall Rank:243]
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
Can't Stop is one of my favorite elaborate jeopardy race games, where several races occur simultaneously with the object being to win three races first.
0 Comments
Posted On: 2004-04-14 18:02:16
Comment
3. Cosmic Wimpout [Average Rating:6.10 Overall Rank:1567]
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
Cosmic Wimpout is perhaps the best known of the numerous commercial variants of Ten Thousand.
0 Comments
Posted On: 2004-04-14 18:02:16
Comment
4. Skunk [Average Rating:4.90 Unranked]
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
Skunk was an early commercial jeopardy race game of the Pig family (see http://cs.gettysburg.edu/projects/pig/piglinks.html ).
1 Comment [Hide]
Posted On: 2004-04-19 15:46:37
Comment
Gary Webster
flag
Avatar
One of the first games my family played when I was a really, really little kid (like 5 or 6! Just after they invented dirt!). I didn't think I could remember back that far. The 'geek has helped my memory, holding off dementia a little longer...:)
5. Exxtra [Average Rating:6.34 Overall Rank:1123]
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
Exxtra is a jeopardy race game by Reiner Knizia.
0 Comments
Posted On: 2004-04-14 18:02:16
Comment
6. V Game of Five Thousand [Average Rating:6.06 Unranked]
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
Five Thousand is a Ten Thousand variant by Parker Brothers.
0 Comments
Posted On: 2004-04-14 18:02:16
Comment
7. Farkel [Average Rating:5.44 Overall Rank:4083]
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
Farkel (a.k.a. Farkle) is one of the better known Ten Thousand variants.
0 Comments
Posted On: 2004-04-14 18:02:16
Comment
8. $Greed [Average Rating:5.25 Overall Rank:4161]
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
$Greed is a Ten Thousand variant by The Great American Greed Company and Avalon Hill.
0 Comments
Posted On: 2004-04-14 18:02:16
Comment
9. Fill or Bust [Average Rating:5.59 Overall Rank:3535]
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
Fill or Bust is a Ten Thousand variant by Bowman Games.
0 Comments
Posted On: 2004-04-14 18:02:16
Comment
10. Fill or Bust [Average Rating:5.59 Overall Rank:3535]
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
Volle Lotte is the Abacus Spiele production of Fill or Bust.
0 Comments
Posted On: 2006-11-03 15:17:01
Comment
11. Six Cubes [Average Rating:5.39 Overall Rank:3922]
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
Six Cubes is a Ten Thousand variant by the Fun and Games Group.
0 Comments
Posted On: 2004-04-14 18:02:16
Comment
12. Reiner Knizia's Decathlon [Average Rating:6.19 Overall Rank:1737]
Todd Neller
flag
Avatar
0405060708
(Suggested by Michael Van Biesbrouck)
Although Knizia's Decathlon as a whole is not a jeopardy dice game, individual "disciplines" of the game could be considered jeopardy subgames, allowing the possibility of a player losing all points for each attempt: Long-Jump, Shot Put (each attempt is a single turn of Pig), High Jump, Discus, Pole Vault, and Javelin. Other non-jeopardy progression disciplines: 100 Metres, 400 Metres, 110 Metre Hurdles, and 1500 Metres.