How to Play the Dice Sticks Game

It’s no secret that we love dice games around here. We love card games too. And today we want to tell you about our newest game that combines the two: Dice Sticks game.

We, like many of you, love the card game Sticks. And one cold January morning while in the shower it came to me: what if there was a game like Sticks that you could play with dice? With that idea, I quickly set to work creating it. It’s now a family favorite and often gets pulled out for our Friday night dice game.

Let’s learn how to play Dice Sticks and get you in the fun loop!

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What You Need For Dice Sticks

First, you will need to get the template to make the sticks from our Family Game Shelf shop. We have also included a template to make cards instead of sticks if you prefer. (The template comes with the full game instructions too.) You will need also wooden sticks and glue or tape to make the sticks.

Next, you will need 16 dice (12 if for a 2 or 3 person game). If you need more dice, shop here; Canadians here. We love playing where everyone has their own favorite colour of dice.

Last, you may wish to have a bag to hold the sticks in. A pencil case or drawstring bag works great.

Playing Dice Sticks

To start, everyone pulls on sick out of the page. This is their mission. They are allowed to look at it but should keep it secret from the other players.

Next, divide the dice evenly to all players. In a two player game, each player should have 6 dice. For a three players game each player gets 4 dice and in a four player game, everyone gets 4 dice. If there are any unused dice, set them aside for the game.

Now, each player should roll one dice to see who will play first. The high roll gets to start.

On your turn, roll all of your dice. Now you can choose one dice to put in the middle. The object is to get all the numbers on your Dice Stick in the middle.

The next player now rolls all of her dice and chooses one to put in the middle. Play continues in this manner for the game.

When a player rolls a combination where they don’t wish to put anything in the middle, he may now take one dice from the middle and add it to his rolling pile. On your turn you must either add one dice to the middle or take one out.

When a player has put all of her dice in the middle and it’s her turn, she chooses one dice from the middle to take and roll. If she rolls a number she likes, she can re-add the dice to the middle. On the other hand, if she doesn’t wish to add the dice to the middle, she keeps it as her rolling dice and play moves to her left.

Pro Tip: To make it easier to see what is in the middle, place the dice in numerical order and add rows when multiple of a number are added.

When the dice in the middle match the dice on your Dice Stick, then you proclaim “I win” and turn over your stick to show the matching numbers. It does not have to be your turn to do this. For example, if the middle is only lacking a 2 to match what is on your stick, and another player places a 2 in the middle, you win.

Round Two

After a player has won a round, he gets to keep his stick and puts it to the side. Now, all the dice are returned to the players. There are two ways to proceed from here.

1 – All other players return their sticks to the bag or form a discard pile. In this case, everyone gets a new Dice Stick and play starts again.

2 – Only the player who completed their Dice Stick pulls another stick from the bag. All other players keep their stick and continue to try to complete their mission.

Either way, the play starts again with players adding or taking a dice from the center until someone completes their mission.

Winning Dice Sticks

For a short game, the player who first completes 3 Dice Stick missions wins the game. If you want to play a longer game, play to someone completes 5 Dice Stick missions. For a two player game, you may wish to play to 5 or 7.

Roll For Fun

I hope you’ve liked our Dice Sticks game. It’s an easy to learn and play game, but can be frustrating in the best way and will be a for-sure-hit on your next game night.

To get your copy of the Dice Sticks game, visit our Family Game Shelf Shop here and get ready for some epic fun on game night!