10 Awesome Yard Dice Games To Play This Summer

1. Yahtzee

This is the standard game that most giant yard dice sets are sold as. It's easy to see why, as it's a lot of fun and it's easy to get involved. Plus, if your set came with a bucket to roll your dice with, it makes playing the game a whole lot easier.

To play Yahtzee, each player rolls three dice. They then choose to save one die, and re-roll the other two. This gives them three rolls total, although they can choose to stop rolling after one or two rolls. Once they've finished rolling, they'll need to choose a category to score in. There are 13 categories total, and the player will choose the category their roll matches most closely. The game ends after everyone has rolled and scored in each category. Then, the points are added up and the person with the most points wins.

The categories can require you to get a certain amount of the same number, a set of sequential numbers, or as many dice matching their description. There's also the 'Chance' category, where you add up the sum of all the dice on that roll.

2. Farkle

This is another popular lawn dice game. Many sets come with reusable scorecards that have Yardzee on one side, and Farkle on the other. But, how do you play Farkle?

The game is designed for two or more players, and each roll dice to reach a total score. This is often around 10,000 points, although you can adjust that as you see fit. Each player will start by throwing all six dice at once. Once they've done that, they can choose to bank their score and end their turn, or they can continue to throw their dice. After each throw, one dice must be set aside.

If the player scores with all of their dice, they have 'hot dice' and can throw all six again. If they don't score with any of their dice, they have 'farkled' and lose all points they got during their turn.

Scoring depends on the amount of same numbered dice throws you get. For example, if you get a 1, that gets you 100 points. If you get 3 1's in a throw, that nets you 1000. The scoring rules differ from game to game as Farkle is a folk game, so you can make changes to the scoring rules as needed.

3. Snake Eyes

Snake Eyes is a very easy yard dice game, and a lot of fun for team play. You'll need a set of dice and a rope. With the rope, make a ring on the ground around 3 feet in diameter. Establish a throwing line around ten feet back.

Now, each team will attempt to throw all six dice into the ring. They'll score points for each dice that lands in the circle, according to the value shown on them. After a team has thrown their dice, their score will be totted up. If they've reached 21 with their dice, then they've won the game. You can also win if you throw all 1s with your dice.

This is a great game for kids, as it teaches them math as well as throwing and coordination skills. They'll have a great time attempting to get their dice into the ring. It's a simple and customizable game, too. You can change up the scoring, for example, making the winning score 11 if you want a shorter game. You can also make the ring bigger or smaller, and move the starting line if you want an extra challenge.

4. Zilch Yard Dice Game

This game goes by many other names, including 10,000, Crap Out, Boxcar, and Bogus. It works in a similar way to Farkle, as described above.

To play, each player begins as 'off the table'. On their turn, they roll all six dice and set aside any dice that they want to claim a score from. To get onto the table, the player needs to score a minimum of 1000 points in a single roll. The player can keep re-rolling until they don't score any points, which is known as 'zilching' or 'smoking it'. Then, the turn is passed to the next player.

This game is usually used in betting, and so it works well if you have friends over for drinks for an evening. Rather than using cards, why not try with your jumbo lawn dice instead? It certainly offers something different.

5. Liar's Dice

This is a fun game to play as it challenges you to be the best guesser in the group. To play, you'll need your yard dice and something that can act as a cup for each player. A bucket usually works best for this.

Each player gets five dice, which are their 'hand'. This is known as 'single hand' Liar's Dice, although you can play a version called 'common hand', where the same cup is passed from person to person. They roll the hand under their bucket in order to conceal them. Then, the first player starts making 'bids'. This is where they guess the face value of the dice and how many dice are showing that value under all the cups in the game.

Going around the group, the players can outbid the first player, guess a larger amount, or they can challenge it by shouting 'Liar!' When that happens, all dice must be revealed. If the original bid was valid, then the bidder wins. If it isn't, then the challenger wins. The loser must lose a dice from their hand, and the last person to still have a die wins.

6. Ship, Captain And Crew

In this game, your dice all stand for something on a ship. You need to roll the right values in order to win. Rolling a 6 gives you a ship, a 5 the captain, and a 4 the crew. You'll roll with 5 dice, and the remaining 2 dice will give you the ship's cargo. The higher you roll on these dice, the higher you score.

Each player gets three rolls to get a 6, 5, and 4. After that, they can use their remaining rolls to get the highest score possible. The player who doesn't manage to get the ship, captain, and crew in the three throws does not qualify this round. The winner is the person with the highest score at the end of the round.

This is another yard dice game that's often used in betting. Players set the ante at the beginning, and put their bid into a pot. The winner at the end gets the pot.

7. Simplified Craps

Here's another betting game that will go down a storm at your next house party. As the name implies, it's a simplified version of craps. Essentially, if you roll 7, 8, or 9 you lose, but if you roll a 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, or 12 you win

Each player rolls two dice, and the payout they get depends on the total sum of their dice. This can change depending on the group playing, but often it works out at a 3:1 payout for a score of 2, 1:1 for a 3 or 4, 2:1 for a 10 or 11, or a 5:1 payout if you get a score of 12.

8. Mexico

This is another outdoor dice game that works well for betting if you want to try your luck against your friends. If you want to play with kids, it's easy to take out the gambling aspect and just enjoy it as it is.

Mexico is a game of elimination. Each player will have two dice, which they roll during their turn. At the beginning of the game, every player agrees on a set amount to bet, i.e., $25. At the end of each round, the person who rolls the lowest puts an amount into the pot, in this example, about $5. The game continues until there is only one person with any money left. At that point, the pot is theirs.

The rolling order is decided by the players, each rolling one die. The one who gets the highest score goes first, and the play then goes clockwise from them.

The lead player can roll the dice up to three times on their starting roll. If they roll three times, they have to take their last roll as their scoring roll. Every subsequent player can then roll up to the same amount of times too, during the round. However, as the lead player can't take the best score of three, only the last one, it's in their best interest to only roll as much as they need to get a good score.

9. Double Whammy Drinking Game

10. Going To Boston

This is another game where you are required to win a round by rolling the dice. The game starts by agreeing on the number of rounds that you want to play. This can be as many or as little as you like, depending on how long you want to play for.

Each player has three dice, and they'll have three throws on their turn. On the first throw, the highest-scoring dice is kept to the side. If two or more dice are showing the same high number, only one is kept. Then, the remaining two dice are thrown and again, the highest-scoring dice is put aside. The last throw consists of the last remaining dice. At this point, the numbers on all three dice are totted up, and the score given to the player.

The players all take it, in turn, to get their rolls in. At the end of the round, the scores are added up, and the player with the highest score wins. If there's a tie, these are broken by additional rounds of rolling.