Game for Five "Nice Dice"

Players: Two upwards

This game is sometimes known as "Fives and Twos." It is a fun game with simple adding up. The player whose turn is next can have the great pleasure of grabbing the dice that show up the fives and twos.

This game is played in rounds the number of which is decided by everybody at the beginning.

The player whose turn it is rolls all five dice. If any fives or twos appear, these are removed and the rest of the spots are added. The player rolls again until all the dice are lost to fives or twos and their score written on the pad. Then the dice are passed to the next player.

Game for two "Nice Dice"

Players: Two

This game has always been a schoolboy favourite and very popular with a lot of adults. Special dice are produced for this game but it is very simple to play it with "Nice Dice."

The players decide who will be batting first and who will act as umpire and scorer. The person batting rolls their die and the umpire keeps note of the score. On the batting die, 1,2,3,4,6 score runs for the batsman. If a 5 is rolled the umpire has to make a decision. They do this by rolling their die. If the die shows 2,3,4,5, then this is "out" and batter loses one life then continues on. If a one is rolled this is "not out" so the game just continues. If a six is rolled this is a no ball, the umpire awards one run and the game carries on. The batter has ten lives and when these have all been lost, the runs are added and the players swap roles.

Winning: the player with the most runs wins.

Game for one "Nice Dice"

Players: two upwards

This is a fun game for young or old alike and can be played anywhere.

The players write down on a piece of paper the numbers 1 to 6. The players take it in turns to roll the die. The players can only start to cross off their numbers once they have rolled a one and then must roll the rest in sequence (2,3,4,5,6). If a player rolls a four but needs a three this roll does not count and the die is passed on.

Winning: the player to be the first to cross off all their numbers.

Game for two "Nice Dice"

Players: two upwards

This is a simple game which can be very exciting if one player comes from behind to win.

The players write the numbers 1 to 6 on a piece of paper. This represents the six sets of doubles that can be rolled. The first person rolls the dice. If a double is thrown they cross that double off their piece of paper, so if a double four is thrown the player crosses off the number four. If the player rolls a double or not, the dice are passed round to the next player.

Game for Six "Nice Dice"

Players: Two upwards

Another name for this game is "Zilch" because that's the score you get if you're too greedy. This game does look complicated when you first look at it, but stick with it because this is a good game and can become very exciting towards the end.

The first player rolls all six dice and puts the scoring ones to one side, and then rolls the remaining dice. The scoring dice are put with the other scoring dice. This is repeated until the player wants to "STAY" or rolls no scoring dice. If all six dice score (in one throw or several), the player may pick them all up and roll again.

A player must score a minimum of 350 points in each turn. Once 350 points has been scored the player can then "STAY" and make a note of the score, or they may continue.

Game for two "Nice Dice"

Players: Two upwards

Sometimes known as "Chicago," this is a very simple game for young and old alike, and can be won by somebody in the last round even if they haven't scored in any of the other rounds.

This game is played over eleven rounds because there are eleven possible scoring combinations with two dice. (2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,)

In the first round the players have to try and roll a two, in the second they have to roll a three and so on until the last round. If a player rolls the number they are trying for in that round, that score is added to their points. E.g. if in round four the player rolls a five, they score five points.

Game for two "Nice Dice"

Players: two upwards

This game is another easy game to play, but not always easy to finish.

Each player notes on a piece of paper (playing cards can also be used by each player for the numbers) the combinations 6/1, 5/2 and 4/3. These are the possible combinations that can make seven with two dice. Each player takes it in turns to roll the dice. If one of the combinations is rolled then the player either crosses it off their paper or turns the cards over. The dice are then given to the next player. If the player does not throw any of the combinations, or rolls a combination they previously rolled, then they do nothing and play passes on.

Game for one "Nice Dice." Paper and pencil per person

Players: two to six

This game was once so popular that beetle drives were organised and special cards were printed, and if you look around today in traditional toy shops it is still possible to find some.

Rolls of the dice for specific body parts are:

1 = Body x 1

2 = head x 1

3 = one leg x 6

4 = one eye x 2

5 = one feeler x 2 

6 = tail x 1

Winning: the first player to complete a beetle.

Each player needs two "Nice Dice" and a calculator or paper and pencil.

Players: two to five

This was called calculator pontoon by some people in the late 80's because everybody seemed to have one and they could be used for this game. These days, you could use the built-in calculator in your mobile phone and check your stocks and shares between games!

All the players roll their dice at the same time and act upon what their dice show. Each player then chooses one of his dice to be the number entered on the calculator (or written down), and the other one will be the arithmetic action. This will be either addition for even numbers (2,4,6) or subtraction for odd numbers (1,3,5). So if a player rolls a 5 and 6, this could be played as "5 plus" or "6 minus". The next roll will supply the next figure for the sum and the next action.

Winning: the first person to reach a total of 21 is the winner.