Learn Shut the Box: Tutorial

On your turn, you roll two dice. Then you must flip down one or more tiles whose values add up exactly to the dice total.

Here the player rolled a 3 and a 5, totaling 8. They could flip down:

- Tile 8 alone

- Tiles 3 and 5

- Tiles 2 and 6

- Tiles 1 and 7

- Tiles 1, 2, and 5

- Tiles 1, 3, and 4

- Any other combination of up tiles summing to 8

After flipping, you roll again with the tiles that remain up.

Which tiles you choose to flip down matters! A good strategy is to flip high-value tiles first, since they contribute the most to your score if left standing.

Here the dice total is 8. Flipping tile 8 removes the single highest-value tile. Flipping 3 + 5 removes two tiles but leaves the 8 standing -- which could hurt you later.

Think ahead: which tiles will be easiest to match with future rolls?

When only tiles 1 through 6 remain (tiles 7, 8, and 9 are all flipped down), you may choose to roll one die instead of two. This makes it easier to match small totals.

With two dice the minimum roll is 2 and maximum is 12. With one die the range is 1 to 6 -- much more manageable when only small tiles remain.

Here tiles 7, 8, and 9 are already down. The player can now opt for a single die roll.

If you roll and no combination of remaining up tiles adds up to the dice total, your turn is over. Your score is the sum of all tiles still standing.

Here the player has tiles 4, 6, 7, and 9 remaining (total = 26) and rolled an 11. The only way to make 11 from {4, 6, 7, 9} is 4+7 = 11. Lucky! But if they had rolled a 10, no combination works and they would be stuck with 26 points.

Lower scores are better -- getting stuck with high tiles is costly.

The ultimate goal is to flip down all 9 tiles -- this is called shutting the box and gives a perfect score of 0!

Here the player has only tile 3 remaining. If they roll a total of 3, they can flip it down and shut the box completely.

Shutting the box is rare and extremely satisfying. It guarantees a win (or at least a tie with another player who also shut the box).

In a multiplayer game, each player takes their entire turn (rolling and flipping until stuck or the box is shut) before play passes to the next player.

Each player starts with a fresh set of 9 tiles. After all players have finished, scores are compared.

Here Player 1 finished with a score of 11 (tiles 2, 4, 5 remaining). Now it is Player 2's turn with all tiles still up. Player 2 needs a score of 10 or less to win.

The game ends when all players have completed their turns. The player with the lowest score wins!

Strategy tips:

- Flip high tiles first when possible -- they are the most damaging if left standing.

- Use single die rolls when eligible (tiles 7-9 are down) to improve your odds.

- Think about combinations -- sometimes flipping two smaller tiles is better than one large tile, giving you more flexibility later.

Here Player 1 wins with a score of 6 (only tiles 2 and 4 remain) versus Player 2's score of 15.