Jeopardy Dice Games
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
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:
commercial "Pig" (~1950?, ???)
See also variant list at 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), High Rollers (1992, El Rancho Escondido Ents.), Keepers (Avid Press), Gold Train (1995, Strunk) (Source: http://members.aol.com/dicetalk/rules/10000.txt )
Zonk (folk game based on Zilch) (Source: Wikipedia)
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 )
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
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.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
In Heckmeck am Bratwurmeck (a.k.a. Pickomino), one is not always faced with a jeopardy decision. However, players are often faced with a decision to either claim a less valuable "worm helping" and end their turn, versus rolling remaining dice again to potentially improve their gained worm helping, or possibly have to return one to the "grill".
-
-
3.
Board Game: Excape
[Average Rating:6.37 Overall Rank:1272]
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
Exxtra is a jeopardy race game by Reiner Knizia.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
(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.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
Cosmic Wimpout is perhaps the best known of the numerous commercial variants of Ten Thousand.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
5 dice have squirrels, nuts, and cars. With each roll, nuts are accumulated to the turn total, whereas cars eliminate dice. Score nothing in a turn if all dice are eliminated. This game is reminiscent of Ten Thousand, but has a squirrely real-time scoring opportunity against opponents.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
This dungeon-escape-themed game is a jeopardy race game with tunnel cards tracking a player's points.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
Fill or Bust is a Ten Thousand variant by Bowman Games.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
Volle Lotte is the Abacus Spiele production of Fill or Bust.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
Six Cubes is a Ten Thousand variant by the Fun and Games Group.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
Farkel (a.k.a. Farkle) is one of the better known Ten Thousand variants.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
"Toss Up!" is a simple, color-based Ten Thousand variant.
-
-
13.
Board Game: Greed
[Average Rating:5.20 Overall Rank:7227]
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
$Greed is a Ten Thousand variant by The Great American Greed Company and Avalon Hill.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
Risk 'n' Roll 2000 is a Five Thousand variant by Hasbro.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
Dice 10,000 is another Ten Thousand variant with an additional victory requirement. The winner must achieve 10,000 points with possession of a gold chip which is passed to the next player whenever the owner busts.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
Five Thousand is a Ten Thousand variant by Parker Brothers.
-
-
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
Don't You Forget It is a Five Thousand variant by Pressman. In this variant, dice have the words "FOR", "GET", and "IT" on them in addition to numbers. When rolled, these words must be set aside. The jeopardy here is not in lacking dice to set aside and score, but rather in having all three words set aside.
-
-
21.
Board Game: Bupkis
[Average Rating:5.08 Unranked]
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
Bupkis is a Ten Thousand variant.
-
-
22.
Board Game: Top Dog
[Average Rating:5.00 Unranked]
Todd Neller
United States
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
Professor Plum
-
Top Dog (John N. Hanson Co.) is a dog-shaped-die Ten Thousand Variant(Source: Sid Sackson, "A Gamut of Games", 2nd ed, 1982), just as Pass the Pigs/PigMania is a pig-shaped-die variant of a two-dice Pig variant.
-
-
|
|
Newark
New Jersey
Gettysburg
Pennsylvania
A BGG forum thread on "press your luck" games can be found at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geekforum.php3?action=viewthrea...