Farkle: Settle the Argument

Farkle is unusual among the games on this site in a specific way: there is no single publisher or governing body whose rulebook counts as "official." It's a folk dice game that's been printed, boxed and app-ified by dozens of different companies, each with their own scorecard, and those scorecards genuinely disagree with each other on several points below. Where that's true, this page says so rather than picking a winner.

Do I need a minimum score just to get "on the board"?

Where sources genuinely conflict: most published versions require a first score of at least 500 or 1,000 points banked in a single turn before a player's points start counting toward their total at all — anything scored below that threshold in an early turn is simply lost. But the exact number is not standardized: 500 and 1,000 are both common, and a handful of casual rulesets skip the entry minimum entirely. This is worth agreeing on explicitly before play starts, because it meaningfully changes how cautiously the first few turns should be played.

If I Farkle, do I lose only that roll's points or everything banked so far this turn?

Where nearly every ruleset agrees: rolling a set of dice with no scoring combination at all — a "Farkle" — forfeits every point accumulated during that entire turn, not just the most recent roll. A player sitting on 800 unbanked points who then Farkles loses all 800, not just whatever the last roll would have been worth. This part is close to universal across published versions, which is why it's the one rule almost nobody argues about.

What happens if I score with all six dice in one roll?

Where nearly every ruleset agrees: using all six dice for scoring combinations in a single roll — "hot dice" — earns the player a fresh roll of all six dice again, with their previously banked points for the turn carried forward untouched. This is close to universal.

Where sources conflict: whether hot dice is mandatory (you must keep rolling) or the turn can be voluntarily banked immediately after triggering it. Most rulesets treat continuing as optional, same as any other point in the turn, but a few published versions require the player to take the extra roll. Confirm this specific point before a session, since it affects how much risk a cautious player can choose to avoid.

Does a straight (1-2-3-4-5-6) or three pairs score anything?

Where sources genuinely conflict, no tidy answer exists: some published Farkle rulesets award a large bonus (often 1,500 or 2,500 points) for rolling all six dice as a straight sequence, and a separate bonus (often 750 or 1,000) for three pairs in one roll. Other equally common rulesets include neither bonus at all, scoring only the standard singles, triples and higher-count combinations. Because these bonuses can be worth more than any single triple, whether a table plays with them meaningfully changes optimal strategy — this is genuinely not a "correct" versus "house rule" situation, just two different, both legitimate, published traditions.

How much is four, five or six of a kind actually worth?

Where sources genuinely conflict: the baseline that's closest to universal is that three of a kind scores the die's face value times 100, except three 1s, which score 1,000. Past that, rule sets diverge in two different directions: some double the triple's value for a fourth matching die, triple it for a fifth, and quadruple it for a sixth (so four 5s would be 1,000 rather than three 5s' 500); others instead use flat jumps regardless of the exact face — commonly 1,000 for four of a kind, 2,000 for five, and 3,000 for six, no matter which number is showing. These produce noticeably different scores for the same roll, so a table playing for real stakes should settle on one method before the game starts, not mid-turn.

Can I choose to only bank some of the scoring dice and set the rest aside unscored?

Where nearly every ruleset agrees: yes — a player isn't required to score every die that could be scored on a given roll. Setting aside a lone scoring 5 while leaving four other dice for a fresh roll (hoping for a bigger combination) is standard, legal strategy, not a rule violation. The one universal constraint is that at least one scoring die or combination must be set aside from every roll — rolling and setting nothing aside at all isn't legal, since it would let a player see a roll and simply reroll it for free.

If two players tie for the win, does anyone actually win?

Where sources conflict: most published versions treat Farkle as a race to a target total (commonly 10,000), and since only one player can be the first to bank a turn that crosses the target, exact ties at the finish are rare — but they can still happen if two players are already past the target and the rules require every remaining player to get one final turn once someone crosses it. Some rulesets break that tie with a sudden-death extra round; others simply declare the player with the higher final total the winner even if both crossed the line, with no replay. Neither is more "official" than the other — confirm which final-round convention a table intends to use before the target score is reached, not after.

Quick reference

• Farkle wipes the entire turn's unbanked points: near-universal.
• Hot dice grants a fresh six-dice roll with points carried: near-universal; mandatory vs. optional continuation genuinely varies.
• Entry minimum to start scoring: genuinely varies (commonly 500 or 1,000, sometimes none) — agree on it first.
• Straight and three-pairs bonuses: genuinely absent from many published rulesets — don't assume either exists.
• Four/five/six of a kind values: genuinely two different common conventions (doubling vs. flat jumps) — pick one before playing for stakes.

Because there's no single publisher rulebook to defer to, the full Farkle rules and scoring breakdown on this site state clearly, at each point, which convention is being used.