How to Play the Chicago Dice Game

We have another easy dice game. The Chicago dice game may be simple to learn but you might find it difficult to win. But you’ll have fun as you play. You can play with as few or as many as you’d like.

Chicago is a luck based game that has a similar feel to our family favorites Ohio, Mexico and Round The Clock.

For this post we’ll go over what you need, how to play, how to win and what other Chicago rule variations there are.

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What You Need for Chicago

You will need two dice and a score sheet. You can get your free score sheet in our Fun Library. Click in the black box below to get your password into all the fun!

How to Play

Chicago is played in 11 rounds. The two dice are rolled and added together to make a sum. Each round has a new number to roll. As you can’t add two numbers together and get the number 1, 1 is skipped.

In the first round, you are rolling for the number 2. So, for this one you will need to roll double 1s. If you are lucky enough to roll double 1s, you score 2 points. If you don’t roll doubles ones, you score 0 and play moves on.

In the second round, you are rolling for the number 3. For this one you will need to roll a 1 and a 2. If you succeed, you score 3 points. If not, you score 0.

For the third round, you are rolling for 4. For this round you can roll either a 1 and 3 or double 2s.

The game continues with you rolling for the next number in the list all the way to 12.

Winning Chicago

When the last player has rolled for 12, the scores are added up. The player with the higest score wins the game.

Chicago Dice Variations

There are few different ways to play that make it more interesting and easier to score points.

Three Dice

In this rule change, players get to roll three dice but only use two dice to score points. This increases your odds of rolling that rounds number.

Re-Roll

In this variation of Chicago, players roll the two dice and then get to decide to re-roll one of their dice to try again.

Three Dice Re-roll

This is the Chicago game that will have you scoring the most. In this game, players rolls three dice and get to re-roll one of them to better their odds.

Big Game Chicago Dice Game

For this game, you decide on a points value to play to, say 100. Then you play many rounds of the original game (with any rule changes you want) and keep adding the score to previous games. The first player to reach 100 points is the winner.

Big City Fun

The Chicago dice game is a fast paced game of luck. It’s great for two players all the way up a big group. We love to play with everyone having their own dice in their favorite colour. (That way you don’t have to pass the dice around.) If you’d like to try out this method, you can shop dice here; Canadians here.

For more fun dice games, check out Ohio (our family’s favorite), Higher or Lower, and Threes Dice game.

And check out our Family Game Shelf shop for tons of great family fun with seasonal and original games, including our very own Whacky Putt dice mini golf game!