Farkle Variants and House Rules

Almost nobody plays exactly the same Farkle. Here are the variations you are most likely to meet, and how to switch each one on in the scorekeeper.

Every setting below lives under House rules on the scorekeeper, and applies to the next game you start. Settle them before the first roll — retrofitting a rule halfway through a game is how friendships end.

Target score

10,000 is standard and takes most groups about 45 minutes. 5,000 makes a brisk half-hour game; 2,500 is about right for one round with children or a quick tiebreaker. Some tables play 20,000 for a long evening.

Getting on the board

The minimum you must bank in a single turn before your score starts counting. 500 is the most common; 350 and 1,000 both have a following, and plenty of casual games drop the rule entirely.

It matters more than it sounds. A 1,000 threshold can leave a player stuck on zero for six or seven turns, which is miserable for them and slow for everyone else. If you are teaching someone the game, consider turning it off for their first few plays.

Four, five and six of a kind

Two systems, both common:

• Doubling. Each die past the third doubles the triple's value. Four 3s are 600, five are 1,200, six are 2,400. Six 1s reach 8,000, which can end a game on the spot.
• Flat. Four of a kind is 1,000, five is 2,000, six is 3,000, whatever the face. Easier to remember and much less swingy.

A third variant occasionally seen: six of a kind wins the game outright. The scorekeeper does not implement that one — if your table plays it, you will know when it happens.

Three pairs

Usually 1,500, sometimes 750 or 1,000, and some tables do not score it at all. Two sub-questions worth settling:

• Does four of a kind plus a pair count? For example 3-3-3-3-6-6. Many tables say yes. The scorekeeper's loose pairs setting controls this.
• Does six of a kind count as three pairs? Same setting. It rarely matters, because six of a kind is usually worth more anyway.

If you disable three pairs, nothing is lost that another reading could have earned: 1-1-5-5-4-4 still scores its 1s and 5s.

Two triplets

Where it is played, two triplets in one roll — 4-4-4-6-6-6 — is worth 2,500, well above the 1,000 the two triples would score separately. Some tables use 1,500 instead; many do not play it at all, in which case the triples simply score on their own.

Four of a kind plus a pair

A less common rule scoring 3-3-3-3-6-6 as a single 1,500-point combination in its own right. It is off by default here because it overlaps heavily with loose three pairs. Turn on whichever your table uses, not both.

The straight

1-2-3-4-5-6 is 1,500 in most house rules. 1,000 and 2,500 both appear. A few groups also play "partial straights" (1-2-3-4-5 for 500); the scorekeeper does not support those, since they interact badly with the rule that every kept die must score.

Farkle penalties

To punish greed, some tables deduct points for Farkling. The two common forms:

• −500 for every Farkle. Harsh and fast-moving.
• −500 or −1,000 after three Farkles in a row. Gentler, and the more popular of the two.

Both are available here. Scores never go below zero in the scorekeeper, even where a penalty would take them there — if your table plays with genuine negative scores, you will need to track that yourself.

The final round

Standard play gives every other player one last turn once someone passes the target, so the first player past the post does not automatically win. Some groups end the game immediately instead. Both are settings here; the final round is on by default because it makes for a much better finish.

Rules this scorekeeper does not cover

In the interests of being straight with you:

• Stealing / piggybacking, where you may continue the previous player's unbanked points rather than starting fresh.
• Partial straights (1-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6).
• Negative scores below zero.
• Six of a kind wins instantly.
• Three Farkles in a row loses your whole score, as opposed to a fixed penalty.

If your table plays one of these and you would like it supported, say so — knowing which variants people actually use is genuinely helpful.