What is Classic scoring?
Classic scoring plays Farkle on the plainest score sheet. You still roll six dice, set aside scoring dice after every roll and choose between banking your turn total and rolling the rest, and a roll with nothing to score is still a farkle that wipes out the turn. What changes is what scores: only single ones (100 each), single fives (50 each) and sets of three or more of a kind.
Three of a kind scores as in the standard game: 100 times the number, and 1,000 for three ones. Each die of the same number beyond the three adds the value of the three once more, so four twos are worth 400, five twos 600 and six twos 800, where the standard game doubles the value for every extra die. A straight from one to six and three pairs have no value of their own: a straight scores only its one and its five, and three pairs without a one or a five, such as 2-2-3-3-4-4, are a farkle. With fewer combinations on the sheet, more rolls come up empty and every turn leans harder on ones and fives.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Farkle | Classic scoring |
|---|---|---|
| Four, five and six of a kind | Standard FarkleEach extra die doubles the value of the three: four twos 400, five twos 800, six twos 1,600, six ones 8,000. | Classic scoringEach extra die adds the value of the three again: four twos 400, five twos 600, six twos 800, six ones 4,000. |
| Straight | Standard Farkle1-2-3-4-5-6 in one roll of six dice scores 1,500, and every die counts, so you may roll all six again. | Classic scoringNo value of its own: only the one (100) and the five (50) in it score. |
| Three pairs | Standard FarkleThree pairs in one roll of six dice score 1,500, and every die counts, so you may roll all six again. | Classic scoringNo value of its own: only ones and fives among them score, so three pairs without either are a farkle. |
| Other options | Standard FarkleYou need 500 in one turn to get on the board, the game ends at 10,000, and a farkle costs only the points of that turn. | Classic scoringThe same options work with this sheet and can be set alongside it: an entry minimum of none, 500 or 1,000, a target of 5,000 or 10,000, and a penalty of 500 or 1,000 points for three farkles in a row. |
History
Farkle is a folk dice game with no governing body, played under many names, among them Ten Thousand, Zilch, Hot Dice and Dix Mille. Its rule sheets agree on the core of the game: six dice, ones worth 100, fives worth 50, three of a kind worth 100 times the number, and the risk of losing the whole turn on a roll that scores nothing. Beyond that core they differ from one table to the next.
This sheet keeps only the core. Published rules score dice beyond three of a kind in several ways: some double the value for each extra die, as the standard game here does, some give fixed points, and some, as here, multiply the three of a kind by two, three and four for four, five and six dice. Straights and three pairs are additions that many score sheets list but not all of them.