Farkle Strategy and Tips

Only the dice that score

Lesson 1

The first thing to learn in Farkle is that only two faces score on their own: a 1 is worth 100 and a 5 is worth 50. A 2, 3, 4 or 6 is worth nothing unless it joins a group such as three of a kind or a straight, and on this board those dice cannot even be tapped. Once you can tell the tappable dice from the dead ones, you can read a roll at a glance.

Setting dice aside has one rule: every die you select has to be used by the score. You cannot slip a 2 in beside a 1 and a 5, and the moment a dead die joins the selection both buttons switch off. Changing your mind is one more tap on the same die.

Here the 1 and the 5 score. Select both, bank them, and put 150 into your total. Leaving a scoring die in the roll shrinks what the turn can become.

Groups are taken together

Lesson 2

Faces that are worthless alone become large scores in a group. Three of a kind is the face times 100, except three 1s which are 1,000. In the default standard table four of a kind is twice that triple, five is four times and six is eight times, so four 2s are 400 and four 1s are 2,000.

Two combinations need all six dice: a 1–6 straight is 1,500 and three pairs are 1,000. Two triples are simply added together. If the table is set to Fixed instead, four alike is 1,000, five is 2,000, six is 3,000, three pairs are 1,500, and four of a kind with a pair or two triples score as their own combinations.

On this board, tapping a die selects the smallest scoring group that contains it. A 1 or a 5 comes on its own; a 2 or a 3 brings its triple or its straight along. Tapping again releases the whole group. The board never picks the best combination for you, so add another die yourself when you want to stretch the score.

This roll is a straight from 1 to 6. Tap any die to take all six, and bank the 1,500.

Roll on, or bank

Lesson 3

How dangerous a reroll is depends on how many dice you leave in. Six dice almost always give you something, but two dice miss often, and a single die only helps if it lands on a 1 or a 5.

The rule of thumb is simple. If this turn is already worth 300 or more and you would be rolling two dice or fewer, bank it. If you have only picked up 100 or 150 so far, rolling two is still reasonable, because you are risking very little. The more you have set aside, the more a farkle costs you.

Here you have 400 set aside already. The two 1s add 200 for a turn worth 600, and everything left in the roll is dead. This is a bank. Take the points and make them safe.

What a farkle costs

Lesson 4

A farkle is a roll that contains no scoring dice at all. The instant it happens, everything you had set aside this turn drops to zero. Only the unbanked points go; whatever you banked on earlier turns is safe. That is why deciding when to stop is the heart of the game.

Farkles bite hardest when you get greedy with one or two dice left. Holding 850 and rolling five dice is not the same gamble as holding 850 and rolling one, even though it is the same single reroll. The chance of losing it all changes several times over.

This lesson lets you feel it. You already hold 850. Keep the 1 and roll the remaining five, and watch a roll with nothing in it take all 950 away. Next time you will want to bank first.