6 Dice Games to Play with an Online Dice Roller (Full Rules)

You can play most classic dice games with an online dice roller. It rolls up to six dice and shows every value and the total; the only thing missing is a way to keep dice between rolls, so write kept values on paper, lower the dice count and roll the rest. Here are five well-known family games plus a built-in score match, each with standard rules, an example turn and exact steps for the Roll Dice tool.

The six games at a glance

Game	Dice	Players	Time (approx.)	Best for
Pig	1	2+	15–30 min	Push-your-luck decisions
Going to Boston	3	2+	2–3 min per round	Young players practising addition
Ship, Captain and Crew	5	2+	5–10 min	A little strategy for older kids and adults
Drop Dead	5	2+	10–15 min	Suspense and mental arithmetic
Beat That	2–3	2+	5 min	Place-value practice for younger kids
Score match (built in)	1–6	2–8	2–5 min	No paper needed: the tool keeps score

How to play “keep” games without a hold button

Choose 1–6 dice with the − and + buttons and tap Roll Dice; the roller shows each value and the total. Use the default Classic mode for the first five games below.

On a phone you can also switch on shake control in the page (iPhones ask for motion permission first); tapping the button always works.

1. Pig: one die, how far will you push?

Players: 2 or more. Dice: 1. Goal: be the first to reach 100 points.

1. On your turn, roll the die as many times as you like, adding each roll to a running turn total.
2. If you roll a 1, your turn ends and you score nothing for that turn.
3. After any roll that isn't a 1 you may stop, or “hold”. Your turn total is added to your score and the die passes on.
4. The first player to reach 100 or more wins.

Example turn: Maya has 41 points. She rolls 4, 6 and 3 for a turn total of 13 and holds, so her score becomes 54. On her next turn she rolls 5, 2 and then a 1: those 7 points are lost and she stays on 54.

On the online roller: set the count to 1 and tap Roll Dice repeatedly. Say the running turn total out loud and write it down only when the player holds.

Strategy note: a roll that isn't a 1 adds 4 points on average, while a 1 (one time in six) wipes out the turn total. The two balance at a turn total of 20, so holding at about 20 gives the best average per turn. Near the end, play to the target instead.

Variants: for a shorter game, play to 50. Two-Dice Pig, one of the variants on Wikipedia's Pig page, uses two dice: a single 1 ends the turn with no score, and a double 1 also wipes out your total.

2. Going to Boston: keep the highest die

Players: 2 or more. Dice: 3. Goal: the highest three-dice total.

1. Roll all three dice and set aside the highest one. If two or three dice tie for highest, keep only one of them.
2. Roll the remaining two dice and set aside the higher one.
3. Roll the last die. Add the three kept dice: that is your score for the round.
4. When everyone has had a turn, the highest score wins the round. Tied players break the tie with extra rolls.

Agree in advance how many rounds to play, and whether you count rounds won or add up everyone's scores.

Example turn: Leo rolls 5, 2, 5 and keeps one 5. He rolls the other two, gets 6 and 1, and keeps the 6. His last die shows 3. Score: 5 + 6 + 3 = 14.

On the online roller: start with 3 dice and roll. Write down the highest value, tap − to go to 2 dice and roll; write down the higher value, tap − to go to 1 die and roll. Add the three numbers, then tap + twice for the next player.

Variant: for arithmetic practice, some teachers use a multiplication version: add the first two kept dice and multiply by the last one.

3. Ship, Captain and Crew: 6, then 5, then 4

Players: 2 or more. Dice: 5. Goal: collect a ship (6), a captain (5) and a crew (4), then score as much “cargo” as possible with the other two dice.

1. You get up to three rolls per turn. Start by rolling all five dice.
2. Keep a 6 (the ship) when you roll one. A 5 can be kept only once you have a 6, and a 4 only once you have a 6 and a 5. Several dice can be kept from one roll if the order works, so 6, 5 and 4 together all count.
3. Re-roll the dice you didn't keep.
4. Once you have 6, 5 and 4, the other two dice are your cargo and their sum is your score. If you still have rolls left, you may stop or re-roll both cargo dice, but you must take the new total even if it is lower.
5. If you don't have 6, 5 and 4 after three rolls, you score 0.
6. After everyone has had a turn, the highest score wins. Tied players each take another turn until there is one winner.

Example turn: Sam rolls 6, 4, 4, 2, 1. He keeps the 6 but can't keep a 4 yet, because he has no 5. Second roll, four dice: 5, 4, 3, 1. He keeps the 5 and the 4 together. His cargo is 3 + 1 = 4 and he has one roll left, so he re-rolls both cargo dice and gets 6 and 5. His score is 11.

On the online roller: roll 5 dice, write down what you keep (for example “6”) and tap − once per kept die. Once you are down to 2 dice, the roller's total is your cargo. Count your rolls: three is the limit.

Variant: some groups allow re-rolling just one cargo die; agree before you start.

4. Drop Dead: watch out for 2s and 5s

Players: 2 or more. Dice: 5. Goal: the highest total score.

1. Roll all five dice.
2. If no die shows a 2 or a 5, add the total of the dice to your score and roll them all again.
3. If any die shows a 2 or a 5, you score nothing for that roll, and every 2 and 5 is removed from play. Roll the dice that remain.
4. When every die has been removed you have “dropped dead”, and the next player takes a turn.
5. When everyone has had a turn (or after an agreed number of rounds), the highest total wins.

Example turn: Priya rolls 6, 4, 3, 1, 6: no 2s or 5s, so she scores 20. Next roll: 4, 5, 3, 6, 2. No score, and the 5 and the 2 are removed. With three dice she rolls 6, 6, 1 and scores 13, making 33. Then 5, 3, 4: no score, one die goes. With two dice she rolls 2 and 5, both are removed, and her turn ends on 33.

On the online roller: start with 5 dice. When a roll has no 2 or 5, add the displayed total to your score. When it does, add nothing and tap − once for each 2 and 5. Reset to 5 dice for the next player.

5. Beat That: make the biggest number

Players: 2 or more. Dice: 2, or 3 for a harder version. Goal: build a bigger number than the other players.

1. Roll the dice and arrange the digits to make the largest number you can.
2. Write it down and challenge the next player: “Beat that!”
3. The highest number wins the round and earns a point. Play an agreed number of rounds.

Example: Ella rolls 3 and 5 and makes 53. Noah rolls 6 and 2 and makes 62, so he wins the round. With three dice, a roll of 4, 1, 6 becomes 641.

On the online roller: set 2 or 3 dice and read the individual values; ignore the total, since digits are placed side by side, not added.

Variant: make the smallest number instead, so 4, 1, 6 becomes 146.

6. Score match: let the roller keep score

For a quick contest with no paper, use the roller's built-in mode. It isn't a traditional named game, just “highest total wins”.

1. Switch from Classic to Score match.
2. Enter 2–8 players, one per line, and choose 1, 3 or 5 Rounds per player.
3. Set the number of dice before the first roll, then tap Apply players · New round.
4. Players tap Roll Dice in turn; the tool shows who is next, adds up the totals and names the winner after the last round. Ties share the win.

Example: three players, two dice, three rounds each. Ana rolls 7, 9 and 4 (20), Ben rolls 11, 3 and 8 (22), and Chen rolls 6, 10 and 6 (22). Ben and Chen share the win.

Who goes first, and is the roller fair?

To choose the first player, everyone rolls one die; highest starts and ties roll again. To set the whole turn order at once, the Card Picker's Player draw mode orders players from the lowest card up.

The roller uses the browser's pseudo-random generator, Math.random(): not meant for security uses, but well suited to family games. How random number generators work explains the difference.

Quick takeaway

Pick by group: Beat That or Going to Boston for young children, Pig or Drop Dead for suspense, Ship, Captain and Crew for strategy. Appoint a scorekeeper, let − and + stand in for kept dice, and see the party games guide for more ideas.