Challenge Dice

Challenge Dice is a family of games played with a standard set of five poker dice. The simplest variation is Forfeit Dice, where losers pay a simple forfeit and roll again (this is basically a drinking game), but rules 7 and 8 suggest variations:

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1. The first player rolls all five dice: this is the out-roll. Rolls are ranked as in poker, except that there are no straights or flushes, and that five-of-a-kind is possible too, of course, ie: five aces is the best possible roll; if you're passed this, just re-roll one of them and hope! (see rule 3, below)

2. Britishers will (correctly) rank five 6s on standard (pitted) dice as the highest hand; Americans may be tempted to rank five 1s, but this is only correct of true poker dice (9TJQKA), not pitted dice. Agree this before you play.

3. On every roll, the roller must meet a challenge: on the outroll, the challenge is to roll a pair or better. Subsequently (a re-roll), the challenge is to BEAT or REPEAT the previous roll. Re-rollers need not roll all five dice, but they must roll at least one of them.

4. If the outroller fails to roll even a pair, the roll is a 'bust': the outroller pays the forfeit and rolls-out again. If a re-roller fails to (at least) equal the previous roll, they pay the forfeit and also become the next outroller.

(Aside: Outrolls bust about 10% of the time. So there's a 1% chance the first player in a two-counter 'short' game (see below) will go bankrupt without even having had the choice of passing the dice to the player to their left. Too bad..)

5. After a successful roll, players may either challenge themselves, or challenge the player to their left. To challenge themselves, players simply re-roll one or more of the dice and hope not to worsen their previous roll. To challenge the next player they announce that they are 'passing' the dice as shown.

6. As a point of etiquette, players should announce and show what they are re-rolling before they pick up those dice.

7. Typical forfeits include being forced to drink a measure of alcohol, or to pay a fine to the kitty (until the meal is paid for, say), or directly to the player on their right (NB: always opposite to the direction the dice are passed). Forfeiters always become the outroller unless they have no more money, in which case the player to their left becomes the next outroller. In this case, the other players may 'bank' (pocket, withdraw) one counter if they now have more than they started with.

(Aside: Traditionally, the new outroller asks if there are any 'bankers?', and the bankers say 'yeah..' sheepishly as they pocket the coin. The 'b' of bankers is often given a Japanese inflection, too.)

8. If the game is played for money, usually two or three equal coins are staked by each player. These are known as the 'short game' and 'long game' respectively, not without reason. Alternatively, lots may be drawn to see who outrolls a short game, and the next (leftward) player given the option to play long (three coins, them only) or short (two, like the others) before the first outroll.

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If you skimmed all that, the interesting rule is #5, where most of the skill enters the picture. It doesn't take much wit to see that if you're passed, say, AAAA9, you'd keep the aces and re-roll the 9. It takes slightly more savvy to draw the implication from the obvious point that, if you rolled a 9 again, you'd keep rolling it until you didn't, because you can't possibly go bust. (You might even risk re-rolling a Ten, too, depending on the number of players..)

Just like poker, the two-player version isn't really worth bothering with except as practice, or unless there's a hell of a lot of money at stake.

squash rackets: ten essential rules

These rules are intended for novice, amateur and generally friendly play.

1. First serve is decided by a spin of the racket, all of which are dissimilarly marked (often with 'your serve' and 'my serve' printed on opposite sides).

2. Points are scored only by the server, whenever the non-server doesn't make a good return; if the server doesn't make a good return, non-server wins the right to serve. Games are scored first-to-nine points, unless eight-all is reached, in which case the then non-serving player may announce "set ten" to force a ten point game. British games never go beyond ten points, except in doubles play (forget it).

3. The server decides which side of the court to serve from first; this is the 'even' side for that game. (Whenever the sum of the scores is even, a player must serve from that side, and vice versa).

4. The out-of-court line is highest, and stretches right around the court, sometimes horizonally, sometimes diagonally. The highest horizontal marks the front of the court. If a ball hits a wall anywhere above this line, or hits the ceiling, it's out.

5. Every shot must hit the front wall before it bounces on the floor. A serve must hit it directly, and always above the front 6ft 'cut line'. A return may strike it indirectly, and need only hit above the front 19in 'tin' line, so called because a metal plate is often fixed below it; this makes an obvious noise when a ball strikes it.

6. To begin a rally, the server throws the ball into the air. A thrown ball must not bounce before it is hit by the server, so a ball thrown by the server but not hit concedes the serve. So does not having at least one foot inside the marked square on that side of the court.

7. A served ball must also, if it is not volleyed (ie hit before it bounces) by the non-server, bounce behind the 'short-line' that forms the front of each service square, and also in the non-server's half of the court.

8. A ball cannot be returned if has bounced twice on the floor after striking the front wall.

9. A ball was not properly returned if it was struck twice, or if it bounced on the floor before hitting the front wall (directly or otherwise).

10. Players must actively allow their opponents to reach the ball and so play a legal shot. A point is granted (or serve awarded) is a player fails to do this. A let (replay) occurs when a player makes a good return but cannot also 'vacate' the court. (Hence, lets are relatively frequent in amateur play).