Farkle Questions and Answers
The questions that come up at the table, and the ones people ask about this scorekeeper.
Rules of the game
Is a single 2, 3, 4 or 6 worth anything?
No. Only 1s (100) and 5s (50) score on their own. Everything else needs at least three of a kind, or to be part of a straight, three pairs or two triplets.
Is a pair worth anything?
Not by itself. Two 4s score nothing. Three pairs together score 1,500 in most house rules, but any single pair on its own is dead weight — and keeping one is an illegal move, since every die you keep must be part of a scoring combination.
Do I have to keep every scoring die?
No, and you usually should not. You must keep at least one scoring die per roll. Keeping fewer leaves you more dice to reroll, which sharply lowers your chance of Farkling — see the strategy page for the numbers.
Can I keep a non-scoring die with a scoring one?
No. Every die you set aside has to be part of a combination that scores. You cannot tuck a 3 in alongside three 1s. The scorekeeper enforces this: if your kept dice do not all score, it will not let you reroll or bank.
Does a straight beat three pairs?
They cannot both apply to the same six dice — a straight has no pairs in it. Where two readings genuinely overlap, such as 2-2-2-3-3-3 being either two triplets (2,500) or three pairs (1,500), you take the higher one. The scorekeeper always finds the best reading automatically.
What exactly are hot dice?
When every die still in play scores and you set all of them aside, you pick all six back up and keep rolling, carrying your accumulated points. It can happen repeatedly in one turn. Note it applies to the dice in play, not all six: if you have two dice left and both are 1s, that is hot dice.
What happens if I Farkle with 2,000 on the table?
You lose all 2,000. Points are not yours until you bank them. This is the entire game in one sentence.
Do I lose points for Farkling?
Not under standard rules — you just lose that turn's accumulated points. Some tables add a penalty, commonly −500 or −1,000 after three Farkles in a row. It is off by default here and switchable under house rules.
What is the 500 rule?
Most tables require you to bank at least 500 in a single turn before any of your points count. Until you do, your score stays at zero however many turns you bank. Once you are on the board you can bank any amount. Some groups use 350 or 1,000, and some drop it entirely.
Does the first player to 10,000 win?
Not immediately. Everyone else gets one final turn to beat them, so a trailing player can still steal it. If two players finish level on the top score, it is a tie.
Is Farkle the same as Greed, Zilch or Ten Thousand?
Near enough. They are all names for the same traditional six-dice game, with small differences in which combinations score and what the target is. The variants page covers the common differences, most of which you can configure here.
Using this scorekeeper
Does it roll the dice for me?
Only if you want it to. It is built for real dice: you roll, then tap the dice you are keeping. There is an App rolls mode on the first screen for practice or solo play, where it rolls, spots Farkles itself, and can suggest the best dice to keep.
Why does tapping a 2 not add any points?
Because a single 2 is worth nothing. Tap the second and third 2 and all three become 200 at once. Until the dice you have kept form a complete scoring combination, the total will not move and the reroll and bank buttons stay disabled.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no sign-up, no login, and no server storing your games. Everything lives in your own browser.
Will it work without internet?
Yes. Once you have loaded the page it caches itself and runs offline. Add it to your home screen and it behaves like an installed app — useful at a cabin, on a plane, or anywhere the signal is poor.
Can I share the leaderboard with other people?
Not currently. Scores are stored in the browser on the device you played on, so they do not sync between your phone and a laptop, and clearing your browser data clears them. A shared leaderboard would need accounts and a server, which this deliberately does not have.
I made a mistake — can I undo it?
Yes. Undo steps back through your last actions, including individual dice you added to the keep pile and whole banked turns.
My family plays a rule you do not support. Can you add it?
Possibly — tell us which one. The variants page lists what is and is not supported today, deliberately including the gaps.
Is it free?
Yes, completely, and there is nothing to buy. The site is supported by advertising, which is why you may see ads around the edges of the page — never inside the scorekeeper itself.