Racing Zilch Rules vs5

RACING ZILCH

Zilch is a traditional dice game with various versions, names and rules, all revolving around the same principle of rolling six dice to score and if you fail to score, you get nothing, or more colloquially, `Zilch!`.

Racing Zilch is Zilch put onto a race track, rather than just being scored on pen and paper. It makes it much more visible & heaps more fun.

So ........ On your marks .... Get set ....

GO!

SETUP: Zilch Board

You can of course use anything for counters.

These are Typewriter Folk!

6 Dice

Counters

Place your counters on the Start line and then throw to see who starts. Turns are clockwise from there.

The board scores to 5000, that is once around and over the Finish line.

Every square is 100, with the 50`s being on the line between them.

PLAY:

Throw the six dice and put at least one scoring dice to the side. Throw the remaining dice again and repeat, adding to your score. If all your dice are put to one side, then you can throw all your 6 dice again and once again continue to add to the score. If you throw no scoring dice then it is Zilch; your go ends and you lose all of your score for that turn.

You cannot move - that is `cash in` your score, unless you have scored at least 350. To start, that is to get off the starting line and into the race, you must score at least 450 points. That extra 100 can make a lot of difference!

The first player to cross the finish line triggers the Run in. Everyone else has one final go to try & overtake that player. As there is then nothing to lose, the other players roll until they Zilch, unless they overtake and become the new leader, in which case they should usually stop rolling in case they Zilch and lose all of that last turn, going back to where they started.

To make it more visually interesting for the Run in, you can move the pieces as they score each roll; stopping them where they finally Zilch, showing you second, third places etc. As soon as you overtake the leader though you are back to potentially Zilching and losing everything that go.

scores 100

scores 50

SCORES:

Three of a kind scores 100 x dice value. So three fours scores 400 etc Except for three Ones which scores 1000!

There are two special scores which can only be thrown on the first roll ( i.e. with all six dice. They are a full Straight 1,2,3,4,5,6 and three pairs, e.g. two fours, two threes and two sixes. The pairs can be the same value, e.g. two fours, two fours and two fives. These score 1500 each!

Choosing what to keep. Whilst it is tempting to keep everything

that scores that you roll, often it is better to keep only the hundreds until you have at least 350. Also note that throwing three dice is better odds than throwing two dice, as you can then score with triples as well as the 1`s and 5`s.

If you want to run a series, for example best out of five races, then you can either count the number of wins, or you can give points for places. Thus if there are four players then a win is four points, second is three points etc.

HANDY COLLOQUIAL TERMS: Doing a Hamlet - a major contemplation! To roll or not to roll, that is the question. Whether tis better to risk it all & possibly zoom ahead (or maybe catch up), or be safe & not sorry, for 350 is indeed better than nothing!

Round the Clock - to score with all six dice and roll them all again A Dogs Dinner - Rolling six dice and getting nothing but a 5.

An Angel Delight - looks good, but isn`t! It so looked like a Special Hand....

Painful to watch - a run of Dog`s Dinners! `Wee Toughie` optional extras: If you want to add a little extra hazard en route, then you can make all of the `thousand` squares a 450 to move, just as at the start. `Roadblocks` - decide how many Pieces on the same square block the way so that no-one else can pass (other pieces then have to stop on the square behind).

Play a three piece roadblock for Regular and two pieces for Extra Ouch!

CRAZY RACING ZILCH Racing Zilch with Laps, Special Squares and Roadblocks.

Special Squares:

The Boot : - Extra Go, Purple Squares : - 450 to move The Patented Banana Oil Slick Pothole:

Roll a dice to determine your fate.

1 or 2 - Stuck in the Hole - 500 to move.

3 or 4 - Miss a go.

5 or 6 - Extra Go

Laps:

Roadblocks:

The board is only 4000 squares long, so you can run 1, 2 or 3 lap races, either as a series, or roll each time, to see how many laps to race.

Choose whether 2 or 3 cars block the road so no-one else can pass. They have to wait a square behind.

If playing with young children then you can play by moving around the board with a single dice throw and an extra go for a six. Or you could get simpler to play Race games, (although with more interesting boards), from the Games page on the website - www.clownjewels.co.uk