Learn to Play Threes
The simple but strategic dice game that's ideal for the bar
A good bar game needs to get a few things right. It needs to be easy to learn, so that anyone can quickly join in. It needs to involve just enough strategy to ensure your decisions matter, but not so much that it becomes too difficult to play after a few beers. Finally, it should require pocketable equipment that can be deployed and played entirely on a bar table with minimal setup.
Enter Threes, a game that requires only 5 dice, has rules that are trivial to learn, and has enough strategy and variety to stay fresh and interesting across many rounds. As such, I often carry a dice pouch (pictured above) specifically for the purpose of playing Threes on a moment’s notice. It also happens to lend itself well to low-stakes betting, such as playing each round for a dollar.
Threes
Players compete for the lowest score while rolling five dice. Dice are added together based on their face values (1-6), except for 3, which is worth 0. If a player rolls all sixes (6-6-6-6-6), they “shoot the moon” and immediately win the game.
Each player’s turn works as follows:
Roll all five dice
Set aside between one and five dice, which become locked in and cannot be rolled again
Roll all remaining dice
Repeat #2-3 until there are no remaining dice to be rolled
The player with the lowest score wins. If players are tied after a round, they play again with double the stakes to settle the tie.
My strategy is usually to save rolls of 1 and 3 early on, but re-roll all other numbers. Then at some point during the rolling, I’ll start saving rolls of 2 as well, since the probability increases that you’re going to need to keep a larger number if you re-roll.
What to drink while playing Threes
While Threes can of course be played while drinking anything, my drink of choice for the game is a beer & shot — in other words, a Boilermaker but without any obligation to attempt to consume both the whiskey and beer at once. Grab a cheap beer (Budweiser or Miller High Life both work great) and your favorite whiskey and savor them slowly together while playing some Threes. Good luck!
