Dice Games for Family Tables and Game Nights

What counts as a dice game

On this page, a dice game is one where the dice are the game. You roll to score, to match, to race or to bluff. There's no board track to move around, or if there's a board, like Shut the Box, it exists to keep score for the dice.

That puts a lot of games on one shelf. As of 2026-10-23, our data has 47 dice-game listings on Amazon US, matched by the name on the listing. They include the big names (Yahtzee, Farkle, Bunco, TENZI, Qwixx, Liar's Dice, Shut the Box, Pass the Pigs) and a few card games that carry a dice-game name.

What they share: short rules, quick setup and a box that travels. What sets them apart is what you do with a roll. That's the first choice to make, so the kinds come next.

Kinds of dice games

Score-card games

You roll, choose how to score the roll, and fill a box on a sheet. Yahtzee is the best-known. Per Hasbro's classic rulebook, you get five dice, up to three rolls a turn, and 13 boxes on the score card to fill, one per turn. The decision is which box to use and which box to sacrifice.

In our data this group is mostly Yahtzee in its many boxes: Winning Moves' Classic Yahtzee (8+, 2 or more players), the Hasbro edition with a collapsible cup and storage case (2+ players, 30 minutes, 80 score sheets on the listing), Triple Yahtzee and the Vintage Bookshelf Edition (both 1+ players with a solo mode), and themed editions from USAopoly (8+, 1+ players, solo mode, 30 minutes on most). Yahtzee Jr. editions list 4+. Our Yahtzee page goes through every edition.

Press-your-luck games

You keep rolling to build a score, and one bad roll can wipe out the turn. Farkle is the classic one in our data, with three listings: Brybelly's set lists a dice cup, 6 dice and 25 scorecards; PlayMonster's lists 6 dice and a cup with a lid; Continuum's Farkle Deluxe lists 36 dice, 6 rolling cups and a rolling tray, for up to 6 players. See the Farkle page for the editions side by side.

Pass the Pigs

The odd one on the shelf: the "dice" are small pig figures, and how they land decides the score. Our data has several listings. Winning Moves' Pass the Pigs lists ages 7+ and 2 or more players; Pass The Pigs: Pig Party lists 4 pairs of pig dice for up to 4 players; Pass The Pigs Big Pigs is a giant edition listed at 8+. There's also a Milton Bradley listing. It's the only dice game I know where the dice have ears.

Roll-and-write games

A roll-and-write game has each player marking their own sheet from shared rolls. Qwixx is the example in our data. Gamewright lists it at 8+, 2 to 5 players and 15 minutes, with 6 dice and a score pad.

Per Gamewright's rules, the player whose turn it is rolls all six dice: two white and four colored. Everyone at the table may use the total of the two white dice to cross off a number on their own sheet. Then the roller may also pair a white die with a colored die. You cross numbers off each colored row from left to right, and anything you skip is gone for good.

The part I like: everyone plays on every roll. Nobody is waiting for their turn, which is the most common complaint about dice games.

Speed games

Everyone rolls at once and races. TENZI is the speed game in our data, with several listings: the Party Pack lists 6 sets of 10 colored dice for 2 to 6 players, the 77 Ways to Play sets add a deck of cards with variations, TENZI Select lists 4 sets of 10 dice, and the 2 Pack lists 8 sets for up to 8 players.

Speed games are loud. TENZI is the only game I know where you can lose without anyone having taken a turn.

Bluffing games

Liar's Dice is the bluffing dice game on this shelf: dice hidden under cups, and a lot of claims about what's under them. Two listings in our data: Brybelly's set lists 6 leather dice cups, 30 dice, a bidding die and a game mat for 2 to 6 players; University Games' wood case lists 4 dice shakers and 20 dice for 2 to 4 players, ages 8+. Our Liar's Dice page has more.

Party dice

Bunco is the dice game for a crowd. Continuum Games' Box of Bunco lists 3 sets of dice, a bell and a score pad for 2 to 12 players, ages 13+. Goliath's Bunco Dice Party Game lists 2 to 16 players and 14+. See the Bunco page.

Dana's ruling: the Bunco bell stays in the box on any morning after a night shift. It has been tested once. It will not be tested again.

Shut the Box

A wooden board with a row of numbered tiles, shut one by one with the help of the dice. Two listings in our data: the AMEROUS board lists a 4-way board with 12 dice for 1 to 4 players and a solo mode; Regal Games' version lists 8+ and 2 or more players. Both are wood. The Shut the Box page compares them.

Electronic handhelds

Eight listings are electronic Yahtzee handhelds: one Hasbro Yahtzee Handheld Digital and seven Milton Bradley handhelds from older years, one marked as resale stock. None of their listings state players, age or play time.

What to look at on a dice-game listing

Player count

This is the field to check first. Dice games spread widely: 1 to 4 for a Shut the Box board, 2 to 5 for Qwixx, 2 to 6 for a TENZI Party Pack, up to 16 for Bunco. A few listings state only a minimum ("2 or more"). Several state nothing, and then the rulebook or the box photo is the place to look.

If your group is often bigger than six, Bunco and the larger TENZI sets are the ones that list it.

Age

The ages listed in our data run from 4+ (Yahtzee Jr.) and 7+ (Pass the Pigs) up to 21+ (Yahtzee On the Rocks, an adult edition). In between, 8+ is the most common: Qwixx, Regal's Shut the Box, Liar's Dice in the wood case and the themed Yahtzee editions. The two Bunco sets start at 13+ and 14+. Many dice-game listings don't state an age at all.

Play time

Few dice-game listings state a play time. Where they do, it's short: 15 minutes for Qwixx, 20 for Yahtzee On the Rocks, 30 for the Hasbro Yahtzee set and most themed Yahtzee editions. Dice games fit before dinner, after dinner or while the oven timer runs.

What's in the box

Read the components line. It tells you how many dice, how many cups and whether score sheets are included. Score sheets are the part that runs out. The Hasbro Yahtzee set lists 80 score sheets, Brybelly's Farkle lists 25 scorecards, Qwixx lists one score pad. If your family plays every week, count the sheets.

Cups matter too. A cup with a lid, like PlayMonster's Farkle, doubles as storage. A rolling tray, like the one in the Farkle Deluxe set, keeps dice on the table.

Marisol's take: "A die is a cube with a contract. Six faces, equal odds, no exceptions. I respect a contract." She has asked for the rolling tray anyway.

Solo mode

Several listings say 1 player or list a solo mode: the AMEROUS Shut The Box, Triple Yahtzee, the Yahtzee Vintage Bookshelf Edition and the USAopoly Yahtzee editions. The electronic handhelds are one-person games by design.

Material

Most dice games are plastic dice in a cardboard or tin box. Two Shut the Box listings and the Liar's Dice wood case list wood. Brybelly's Liar's Dice set lists leather cups. Material changes how it feels and sounds on the table, not how the game plays.

Dice games that are really card games

A few listings in this group use a dice-game name on a card game:

• Yahtzee Frenzy (Hasbro): listed as a matching and speed card game, 8+, 2 to 4 players
• TENZI SLAPZI Full-Sized Edition: 185 cards, a matching and speed game for 2 to 8
• TENZI ITZI: a word card game for 2 to 8

Yahtzee Words, from Winning Moves, is a word game that keeps the dice: its listing says 7 letter dice, a score pad and a pencil, ages 8+.

They're fine games, but if you want something to roll, skip this group.

Safety: dice are small parts

Check the age label on the listing. Toys with small parts are a choking hazard for children under 3, and the CPSC counts small items like dice among the parts that need that warning. Count the dice back into the cup after every game, especially in a house with a toddler.

Who should skip dice games

Skip this shelf if your group wants to win by planning alone. Every dice game has luck in it, and a good plan can lose to one bad roll.

Skip the score-card and roll-and-write games for kids who can't add yet. Yahtzee, Farkle and Qwixx all need quick sums. The two Yahtzee Jr. editions, at 4+, are the youngest-starting dice games in our data; Pass the Pigs is next at 7+.

And skip Bunco for a table of three. It's built for a crowd, and its listings start at 13+.

Makers in this group

Dice games in our data come from many makers, among them Hasbro, Milton Bradley and Gamewright, plus Winning Moves, TENZI, Brybelly, PlayMonster, Continuum Games, Goliath, University Games, USAopoly, WS Game Company, AMEROUS and Regal Games. The table sorts them by the page rule, not by maker.

Keep the cup by the door. Somebody will ask for one more game.