Farkle, or Farkel, is a dice game similar to or synonymous with 1000/5000/10000, Cosmic Wimpout, Greed, Hot Dice, Squelch, Zilch, or Zonk. It has been marketed commercially since 1996 under the brand name Pocket Farkel by Legendary Games Inc. The game is believed to have arrived on French sailing ships in the 1600s, and has been passed down in families as a folk game ever since. As such, while the basic rules are well-established, there is a wide range of variation in scoring and play.

Equipment

History

According to the official Pocket Farkel game documents, scholars believe the game arrived on French sailing ships in the 1600s and has been passed down in families ever since. The game has also been suggested to originate from Iceland through the purported English nobleman Sir Albert Farkle, who is said to have first played it there in the 1300s or 1400s, but this is not considered credible. Another claim is that the game originates in Texas, based on the fact that farkleberries grow there and the game could purportedly be played with dried farkleberries. However, as a folk game passed down through families, the game has a number names, and even if the name stems from farkleberries it could have been acquired later as the game passed through Texas. Equipment and instructions to play Farkle dating to the 1700s have been found at Fort Chartres, Illinois.

Play

Farkle is played by two or more players, with each player in succession having a turn at throwing the dice. Each player's turn results in a score and the scores for each player accumulate until they reach or exceed 10,000, although this number varies. Once a player has achieved a winning point total, each other player has one last turn to score enough points to surpass that high-score.

Standard scoring

The following scores for single dice or combinations of dice are widely established, in that they are common to all or nearly all of the above-cited descriptions of Farkle scoring. They are found in Playing Grandma's Games by Arnold. For example, if a player throws, they could do any of the following: This is not an exhaustive list of plays based on that throw, but it covers the most likely ones. If the player continues throwing, as in any of the above cases except the last, they risk farkling and thus losing all accumulated points. On the other hand, if they score five dice and have only one die to throw, they have a 1 in 3 chance of scoring a single or a single, and then having scored all six dice they will have "hot dice" and can throw all six dice again to further increase their score. Each scoring combination must be achieved in a single throw. For example, if a player has already set aside two individual ´s and then throws a third with the four dice remaining, they do not have a triplet of ´s for a score of 1000 but merely three individual ´s for a score of 300.

Scoring variations

Since farkle is a folk game, variant rules are used in different playing communities. While the standard rules described above are widely used, even they are not universal. For example, the commercially marketed game of Pocket Farkel differs in that three ´s are scored as 300 rather than 1000. In addition, some players score one or more combinations of dice beyond the standard ones. Those variations include the following. Like the standard combinations, any of these variant combinations must be achieved in a single throw. These are the variations listed in the above-cited descriptions of Farkle scoring, but further variations presumably exist. Since it is a folk game, players are free to agree upon whatever scores they choose for whatever combinations they choose to recognize.

Play variations

Some Farkle rules also incorporate one or more of the following variations in the sequence of play.

Probabilities

An optimal strategy for winning a game of Farkle has been determined.

Effects of scoring variations

Scoring additional combinations such as straights and three pairs increases the speed of play by awarding high scores for low probability events that otherwise would score little or nothing (for example, a straight with standard scoring is worth only 150 for the single and single ). To assess the impact of scoring variations, the following table shows the average score on the initial throw of six dice, assuming that all scoring dice are banked and ignoring any additional scores that would be made on a re-roll of hot dice. The first row shows the average score with standard scoring, and the other rows show the increment in that average for each scoring variant that is used in play. The numbers in the table are calculated based on the following scores for variant combinations: The impact of four or five of a kind is substantially similar if they are scored as 1000 and 2000, respectively. If lower scores are awarded for straights or three pairs, the impact on average scoring will be proportionately lower. The above table somewhat overstates the impact of straight and three pairs on the overall speed of play, as they only score on the initial throw of six dice.

Video game versions

A video game implementation of Farkle can be found in the popular RPG, Kingdom Come: Deliverance. In 2020, a video game version of Farkle was announced as one of the six games included with the Intellivision Amico console. As the console has faced numerous delays, this version remains unreleased.

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