Threes Dice Game Rules: How to Play and Strategy
Nov 10, 2026 · The Editors
How to play Threes, the five-dice game where low wins and threes count as zero: the rules, scoring, a worked example, which dice to keep, and how it compares with other dice games.
Threes is a simple dice game where the lowest score wins and every three you roll counts as zero. All you need is five dice. A turn takes under a minute, and the decisions — keep this two or roll it again? — are just interesting enough to keep a table going for an hour.
What you need
- Five standard dice and a cup or tray to roll them in.
- Players: two or more. Agree an order and go round the table.
How to play Threes
- Roll all five dice.
- Keep at least one. After each roll, set aside at least one die. You may keep more. Kept dice cannot be rolled again.
- Roll the rest, keeping at least one each time, until all five dice are kept. That is at most five rolls.
- Add up your score. Threes count as zero. Every other die counts its face value.
The player with the lowest total wins the round. The best possible score is 0 — five threes, sometimes called "shooting the moon". Ties usually roll again.
Threes scoring table
| Die face | Points |
|---|---|
| 3 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 4 |
| 5 | 5 |
| 6 | 6 |
Example turn
You roll 3, 1, 5, 6, 4. You keep the 3 and the 1 (1 point so far) and roll three dice: 2, 6, 3. You keep the 3 and the 2 (3 points so far) and roll the last die: a 5. It must be kept, so your score is 0 + 1 + 0 + 2 + 5 = 8.
Threes dice game strategy
Every face of a die is equally likely, so a die you roll again scores, on average, (1 + 2 + 0 + 4 + 5 + 6) ÷ 6 = 3 points. That gives a simple rule:
- Always keep threes. Zero cannot be beaten.
- Keep ones and twos. They score less than the average re-roll.
- Re-roll fours, fives and sixes while you still have rolls left — on average a fresh roll does better.
- But you must keep one die per roll. If a roll shows only high numbers, keep the lowest and roll the rest.
- Play to the score you need. If the best score so far is 5, a 4 kept early may be fine; if it is 1, you will need to gamble.
Threes vs similar dice games
| Game | Dice | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Threes | 5 | Lowest total, threes = 0 |
| Midnight (1-4-24) | 6 | Highest total after a 1 and a 4 |
| Yacht | 5 | Most points across scoring boxes |
| Pig | 1 or 2 | First to the target score |
Threes is often played for small stakes: each player puts a chip in, and the low score takes the pot. Without stakes, play a set number of rounds and keep a running total — still lowest wins.
A cup with five dice
A leather dice cup with a lid comes with five dice, the right number for Threes and for poker dice, and the lid keeps them together between games. For six-dice games like Farkle and Midnight, the six-dice cup set has one more die.
