How To Play the Going to Boston Dice Game

We have an easy dice game for you to toady that the whole family can play: Going to Boston.

Going to Boston joins the other easy to play games with places in their titles like Ohio, Everest, Mexico, and Chicago. All fun games.

In this post we’ll tell you what you need, the rules, and how to play Going to Boston. Let’s get into it.

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What you Need for Going to Boston

You will need three dice and a pen and paper to keep score. We have a free score sheet from our Fun Library to make scoring easier here (you can get your password by signing up in the black box below). We love to play where everyone has their own set of dice in their favorite colour. You can shop dice here; Canadians here.

Playing Going to Boston

Before playing, players need to decide on how many rounds will they play. Five or ten rounds makes a nice sized game.

The first player rolls all three dice. The highest dice roll is put on the side and the other two dice are re-rolled. (If there are more than one of the highest roll only one is kept.) From the second roll, the highest dice is again put to the side and the last dice is then re-rolled. After the third roll all the dice are added together and this is the first players score.

Next, the second player repeats the process and records her score. A round is over when all players have had a chance to score.

Winning Going to Boston

At the end of the agreed on rounds, the player who has won the most rounds wins. A second way to determine a winner of Going to Boston is to add up all the round totals and see who has the highest over all total. That player would then be the winner.

Alternative Variations

To keep things interesting, or to create more of a challenge in math practice, there are a few options to Going to Boston.

Add Two then Multiply

Roll the three dice, keep the highest. Re-roll the two dice and then keep the highest. Add those two dice together and re-roll the third dice. Take the number that was rolled on the last dice and then multiply it by the sum of the first two dice to get the score for the round.

Add Two then Subtract

Similar to the variation above, the first two rolls are done the same as in regular Going to Boston and added together. Next, the third dice is rolled and then subtracted from the sum of the first two dice rolls.

Multiply

In this variation, play is the same as in the regular Going to Boston, except instead of adding the dice are multiplied together. For example 4 x 5 = 20, 20 x 2 = 40. 40 is the round total.

The Scenic Route

In this variation, the lowest dice is kept instead of the highest. Otherwise, play is the same. The highest score still wins the round.

Roll Onto Fun

Going to Boston is a fast, easy game that you can use to sneak in math practice. You could also change the name of the game to a different location if that suits you better. This would be fun to do before a vacation. How ever you like to play, this game is a hit with players of all ages.

For more fun try the Ohio, Mexico and Everest dice games. Be sure to visit our Family Game Shelf Shop for tons of fun with seasonal, original and escape room kits, like our Whacky Putt dice mini golf game!

For even more family fun, download our FREE Quick Play Reference book for dice games in our Fun Library! This booklet is handy to have on hand as a reference to our favorite dice games.