Pig (dice)

Pig is a jeopardy (risk) dice game played with one die.  In jeopardy dice games, a player decides to roll or hold (stop rolling).  A player that rolls risks a turn total, and may gain a higher turn total or score nothing.  A player that holds scores the turn total.

John Scarne wrote about Pig as a common dice game in 1945.Scarne, John. 1945. Scarne on Dice. Harrisburg, PA: Military Service Publishing Co.  Optimal (perfect) play has been computed.Todd W. Neller and Clifton G.M. Presser.  Optimal Play of the Dice Game Pig, The UMAP Journal 25(1) (2004), pp. 25–47.  
Teachers often use Pig for fun lessons.Links to Pig websites Computer Science Resources for the Game of Pig

 Rules 
On a player's turn, a player can roll or hold:
roll: The player can roll a die.
When a player rolls a 1 (called a "pig"), the turn ends and the player score does not change (i.e. player loses all the points collected in that continuous turn).
When a player rolls a 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, the turn continues and the player adds the roll to the turn total.
hold: The player says "hold" and gives the die to the next player.
When a player "holds", the turn ends and the player adds the turn total to the score.

The first player to score 100 or more points wins.

 Example play 

For example, Ann just now begins a game (i.e. has zero points) with her turn and rolls 5.  She could hold and score 5 points, but she decides to roll again.  Next, Ann rolls a 2.  She could hold with a turn total of 7 points (2 + 5 = 7), but she decides to roll again.  Next, Ann rolls a 1 ("pig").  She must end her turn and her score goes back to the initial zero.  She hands the dice to the next player, Bob.

Bob rolls a 4, 5, 3, 5, and 5.  He then decides to hold.  Bob adds 4 + 5 + 3 + 5 + 5 = 22 points to his score.

References


 Other websites 
 The Game of Pig website
 Pig applet

Category:Dice games