Play Ten Thousand Online

What Is Ten Thousand?

Ten Thousand is the classic six-dice push-your-luck game: roll, set aside the dice that score, and then decide whether to bank the points or roll the rest for more. A roll with no scoring dice is a bust (a “zilch,” a “zonk,” a “farkle” depending on whose table you are at), and the turn’s running total is lost. The first player to bank 10,000 points sets off a final round, and the highest total wins.

Structurally it is identical to Farkle; what changes is the scoring table and the entry threshold. In Ten Thousand three 1s are worth a full 1,000 points, extra matching dice double the value of a triple, three pairs pay a modest 750, and you must score 500 in one turn before your first points count. Those changes make big single-roll combinations more valuable, make the opening turns tenser, and shift the strategy in ways worth understanding.

If you know Yahtzee you will recognize the dice and the combinations; the difference is that there is no scorecard, only a race. If you know Pig you already understand the one decision that drives the game.

A Short History of Ten Thousand

Ten Thousand is a folk game with no known inventor. Its French name, Dix Mille, is often cited as the original, and the game remains a staple in France, Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland. Stories that it arrived in North America on French ships in the 1600s, or that dice and rules dating to the 1700s were found at Fort de Chartres in Illinois, are repeated widely but have no documented source; treat them as legend.

What is clear is that by the twentieth century the game was being played across North America and Europe under a crowd of names: 10,000, Greed, Zilch, Zonk, Squelch, Hot Dice and, in German-speaking countries, Volle Lotte among others. Each community wrote down its own scoring table, which is why two groups who both say they play “Ten Thousand” can disagree about almost every line.

The commercial versions came later. Pocket Farkel has been sold since 1996 by Legendary Games, and the boxed Farkle from PlayMonster (formerly Patch Products, founded 1985) turned one particular table into a widely recognized standard. Custom-dice cousins such as Cosmic Wimpout keep the same roll-and-bank rhythm with symbols instead of pips. The table used on this page is the classic folk version that most rule collections describe under the Ten Thousand name.

Ten Thousand Rules

Equipment

• Six six-sided dice
• Pencil and paper for banked scores
• A dice cup, if you like the sound

Object

Be the player with the highest score after someone reaches 10,000 and each other player has taken one final turn.

How a Turn Works

1. Roll all six dice.
2. Set aside at least one scoring die or combination. Scoring dice are 1s, 5s, three or more of a kind, a 1-6 straight and three pairs. You may set aside more than one group, but never a die that does not score.
3. Bank or roll. Add the value of what you set aside to your running total. Then stop and bank it, or roll the dice that remain.
4. Repeat until you bank or bust. Combinations only count within a single roll; a 1 from your first roll and two 1s from the next do not make three 1s.
5. Bust. If a roll shows no scoring dice, the turn ends and the running total is lost. Previously banked points are safe.
6. Hot dice. If all six dice are set aside, roll all six again and keep adding to the same running total, as many times as it happens.
7. Entry threshold. Until you have banked once, you may only bank a running total of 500 or more. Below 500 you must keep rolling.

Ending the Game

When a player banks a total of 10,000 or more, each other player gets one last turn to beat it. Highest score wins. If the final-turn player merely ties, the player who reached 10,000 first wins.

Scoring Table

This is the table used by the Dice.now game. Combinations must appear in a single roll.

Two triplets in one roll (for example 2-2-2-6-6-6) simply score as two separate three of a kinds, 200 + 600 = 800, and use all six dice for hot dice. Four of a kind plus a pair scores the four of a kind only; the pair is dead unless it is 1s or 5s.

How to Score: Worked Examples

• 1 – 1 – 1 – 4 – 6 – 2. Three 1s: 1,000 with three dice left. A strong opening that gets you on the board in one go.
• 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 3 – 6. Four 1s: double the triple, 2,000, with two dice left. Bank it; that is a fifth of the game.
• 5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 2. Five 5s: 500 × 2 × 2 = 2,000, and the 2 is dead. One die left; bank.
• 1 – 5 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 6. A straight for 1,500 and hot dice. Taking the 1 and the 5 for 150 is the classic beginner’s error.
• 2 – 2 – 4 – 4 – 6 – 6. Three pairs, 750, hot dice. Without the three-pairs rule this roll is a bust.
• 1 – 1 – 5 – 5 – 3 – 3. Also three pairs: 750 beats the 300 you would get from the singles, and you keep all six dice.
• 4 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 5 – 5. Four 4s (800) plus two 5s (100) = 900 using all six dice: hot dice.
• 4 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 3 – 3. Four 4s = 800 but the 3s do not score. Two dice left. This is not three pairs in the version played here.
• Opening turn: 250 with three dice left. Not on the board yet, so you cannot bank. You must roll the three dice (27.8% bust chance) and hope to reach 500.

The Odds

The numbers below were computed by enumerating every possible roll under the table above.

Probability of busting

“Average points from the roll” is the expected value of the best scoring selection, counting busts as zero. The bust chances are the same as in Farkle because both games score 1s, 5s, triples, straights and three pairs; the averages differ because the tables differ. Note that with four and five dice this table pays more than Farkle’s, because three 1s are 1,000 and four of a kind doubles.

Notable six-dice rolls

Break-even running totals

With a running total T and n dice to roll, the expected change from one more roll is about (average points) − (bust chance × T). Setting that to zero:

• 1 die: 25 ÷ 0.667 ≈ 37
• 2 dice: 50 ÷ 0.444 ≈ 113
• 3 dice: 87 ÷ 0.278 ≈ 312
• 4 dice: 144 ÷ 0.157 ≈ 912
• 5 dice: 226 ÷ 0.077 ≈ 2,925
• 6 dice: 382 ÷ 0.023 ≈ 16,500

These are single-roll figures that ignore the rolls after this one and the value of hot dice, so they slightly understate the case for rolling, but they are the right order of magnitude.

The entry threshold in numbers

Simulating a turn that keeps rolling until it reaches a target, using a sensible set-aside policy:

• Rolling until 300 succeeds about 85% of the time.
• Rolling until 500 succeeds about 56% of the time, and the successful turns average around 790 points.
• Rolling until 1,000 succeeds about 31% of the time.

So the 500-point entry rule costs the average player roughly one wasted turn at the start of the game, and a house rule of 1,000 costs about two.

Ten Thousand Strategy

1. Get on the board, then change gears

While you are below the threshold the decision is made for you: roll. Once you are on the board, switch immediately to the break-even table. Players who keep rolling “because it worked on the first turn” give back their lead within a few turns.

2. Bank at 300 with three dice, 900 with four

The break-even figures above are the core of the game. With three dice left, 300 on the table is the point where one more roll stops paying; with four dice the line is about 900; with five it is nearly 3,000. With one or two dice, bank almost anything.

3. Always roll hot dice

Six dice bust only 2.31% of the time and average about 382 points. Even with 3,000 on the table the expected loss from a bust is 69 points against an expected gain of 382. The only time to decline is when banking wins the game.

4. Keep dice in play; do not grab lone 5s

Setting aside a single 5 gains 50 points and costs a die. The next roll with five dice averages 226 and busts 7.7% of the time; with four dice it averages 144 and busts 15.7%. That 82-point difference (plus the lower bust risk) is worth far more than 50. Set aside the minimum that keeps the most dice rolling, unless you plan to bank now.

5. Weigh 1s as 100 and a die

The same logic applies to single 1s, but more weakly: 100 points is closer to what a die is worth. With six dice showing a single 1 and nothing else, keep the 1 and roll five; with two 1s, keeping both and rolling four is usually right because 200 now beats the small difference between four and five dice.

6. Play the scoreboard late

Past about 7,000, switch from maximizing points to maximizing win probability. Behind by 2,000 or more, raise your banking threshold and take the rolls you would normally decline; a bust costs you little when you are losing anyway. Ahead, tighten up and bank early. On your final turn after an opponent has reached 10,000, only a total that beats theirs is worth anything: roll until you have it or bust.

7. Read the whole roll before touching a die

Check six-dice rolls for a straight, three pairs and multiple triples before setting anything aside. A straight is 1,500 with hot dice; three pairs is 750 with hot dice. Both are easy to miss when the eye lands on a 1 and a 5.

Common Mistakes

• Banking under 500 on your first turn. You cannot; the game will not let you, and neither will your opponents.
• Grabbing every scoring die. Fifty points for a 5 is rarely worth a die when you intend to keep rolling.
• Rolling one die with a big total. Two out of three single-die rolls bust. With 300 or more on the table, bank unless it is a must-win final turn.
• Combining dice across rolls. A pair of 6s set aside earlier does not become three 6s later. You cannot set aside non-scoring dice in the first place.
• Confusing tables. If you learned Farkle, remember that three 1s are 1,000 here, three pairs are 750, and four of a kind doubles rather than jumping to a flat 1,000.
• Forgetting the final round. Reaching 10,000 does not end the game; the other player still gets a turn.

Variants and House Rules

Because Ten Thousand is a folk game, almost every line of the table has a variant somewhere:

• Three pairs at 500, 600, 800, 1,000 or 1,500. Some tables also count four of a kind plus a pair as three pairs.
• Straights at 1,000, 2,000 or 3,000, or scored as two separate half-straights (1-2-3 and 4-5-6) in some regions.
• Flat four/five/six of a kind at 1,000 / 2,000 / 3,000, as in the official Farkle table.
• Three 1s = 300. The Farkle value; some British “Greed” tables use it too.
• Entry threshold of 350, 750 or 1,000, or none at all.
• Three-bust penalty. Lose 500 or 1,000 after three busts in a row.
• Exact finish (“welfare”). You must land exactly on 10,000; overshooting forfeits the turn’s points, sometimes to the lowest-scoring player.
• Piggybacking. Start your turn with the dice the previous player left on the table, adding to their abandoned running total if your roll scores.

For neighboring games, Farkle is the same engine with the PlayMonster table; Zombie Dice applies the same push-your-luck logic to custom dice; King of Tokyo mixes Yahtzee-style re-rolls with monster combat; and Yahtzee is the scorecard game that shares Ten Thousand’s combinations without its risk.

Glossary

• Bust / zilch / zonk / farkle: A roll with no scoring dice, and the loss of the turn’s running total.
• Running total: Points set aside so far this turn; not safe until banked.
• Bank: End the turn and add the running total to your score.
• On the board: Having banked at least once, after meeting the 500-point entry threshold.
• Hot dice: All six dice set aside as scoring dice, earning a fresh roll of all six.
• Dead dice: Dice that do not score, such as a lone 4 or a pair of 3s.
• Final round: The one turn each other player receives after someone reaches 10,000.

Play Ten Thousand Online on Dice.now

The game at the top of this page is a two-player race to 10,000 against the computer, using the classic Ten Thousand table above: 1s and 5s, three 1s for 1,000, other triples at face × 100, doubling for each extra matching die (so six 1s are worth 8,000), a straight for 1,500 and three different pairs for 750. Four of a kind plus a pair is scored as the four of a kind alone; two triplets are scored as two separate triples.

The 500-point entry rule is enforced and shown in the status bar: until you have banked once, the Bank button stays disabled below 500 and the message line tells you how far you have to go. Tap dice to set them aside; the game shows what the selection is worth, rejects selections that include a dead die, and offers a Select best button that picks the highest-scoring set-aside. Then Roll the remaining dice or Bank. Setting aside all six turns the roll button into a hot-dice roll. A bust is flagged in red and clears the running total. When either player reaches 10,000 the other gets one final turn, and on a tie the player who got there first wins.

The computer plays in the open, with every roll, set-aside and decision written to the game log. It must satisfy the same entry rule you do. Once on the board it banks at 300 or more with three or fewer dice left, at 1,000 with four and at 2,500 with five, always rolls hot dice, raises its bar to 600 when it is 2,000 or more behind and you have passed 7,000, and on its final turn rolls until it has beaten your total or busted. It chooses which dice to keep by weighing points against the bust risk of the dice that would remain, so it will keep a single 1 and roll five dice rather than take a 5 as well.

Rolls use your browser’s cryptographic random number generator. Your best final score and your win-loss record are stored on your device only. Ready? Roll the dice.