Point!

Point! Rules

Point! is a variant of Chicago played with three standard dice. The goal of the game is to have the highest score after eleven rounds of play.

Point! Overview

Point! is played with three dice, but only two dice at a time count toward your point. The goal of each round is to roll a certain point which changes with each round. For the first round, the point is two. For the second round, the point is three, and so on up to a point of twelve. To make your point, you must roll two dice whose totals sum up to the value of the point. A player's turn consists of three "passes." On the first pass, the player rolls three dice. On the second pass, the player rolls up to two dice. On the final pass one die is rolled. On each pass, the values of all three dice are used for scoring, but only two at a time.

Examples

Let's say the point is two. The only way to make a point of two is to roll 1+1. If a player rolls three dice and gets 1, 4, 2 as a result, they have not made their point. The single 2 doesn't count toward the point because two dice are needed to make the point. However, they did roll one 1, which counts toward the point. On the next pass, they can choose to roll two dice. Let's say they choose to roll the 4 and the 2. If they roll a 5 and a 3, they still haven't made their point of two. On the third pass, they can roll one die. Let's say they choose the 5. If they roll a 1 on this pass, they have made their point because the 1 they rolled on their first pass, plus the 1 they rolled on the third pass add up to two. The player adds two for the round.

As the point increases, it becomes easier to roll, because more combinations adding up to the point are possible. The easiest point to roll is seven because six combinations of two dice will add up to seven, These are 6+1, 5+2, 4+3, 3+4, 2+5 and 1+6. Let's say the point is seven. On the first pass, the player rolls 1,3,3. They haven't made their point because there is no two dice combination that adds up to seven. However, both the 1 and the 3 count toward a point of seven. On the second pass, the player can choose to roll just one of the dice or any two dice. Let's say they choose to roll the 1 and a 3. On the second pass they roll a 5 and a 4. They have made their point because the remaining 3 and the 4 add up to seven. The player adds seven for the round.

As the point increases past seven, it becomes harder to roll, because fewer combinations of two dice will add up to the point. The last point, twelve, is as hard to make as the first point, two. That's because the only combination of two dice that add up to twelve is 6+6. However, making a point of twelve results in the highest score possible in any round - twelve.