How to play Chicago: rules, scoring and tips for the three-dice game

How to play, step by step

1. 1Throw all three dice. The starting player throws all three dice from the cup.
2. 2Hold or throw again. Keep the dice you like and throw the rest. You can throw up to three times in total, and you can put a held die back before your next throw.
3. 3Set the limit. The starter’s number of throws is the limit for the round. If they stop after one throw, everyone else gets one throw too; otherwise everyone gets three.
4. 4Pass the cup. When you are happy with your score, or out of throws, pass the cup to the next player.
5. 5Find the lowest score. When everyone has thrown, the lowest score takes a coaster. On a tie, the player who threw later counts as lower.
6. 6Start the next round. The player who took the coaster starts the next round.

Scoring in Chicago

Add up your three dice, but two faces are worth far more than their pips. That makes 1s the dice to chase and 6s the next best thing.

A throw with no 1s and no 6s is called a Fish. It can never score more than 15, so it loses to any hand that has a 1 or a 6 in it.

Example hands, from best to worst

Some common results and how they rank:

What counts as a Chicago?

A Chicago is three 1s in a single throw of all three dice. Holding two 1s and throwing the third into a 1 gives you 300, a great score, but not a Chicago.

When someone throws a Chicago, they win the round immediately. The lowest score among the other players still takes a coaster.

Odds worth knowing

A few numbers that help you decide when to stop:

• The chance of a Chicago on any one throw of three dice is 1 in 216, about 0.46%.
• Throwing all three dice three times, the chance of at least one Chicago is about 1.4%.
• Three fresh dice show at least one 1 about 42% of the time.
• Three fresh dice give a Fish about 30% of the time (64 of 216 outcomes).

Strategy tips

Chicago is mostly luck, but a few choices matter:

• As the starter, a good first throw is a weapon. Stopping after one throw limits everyone else to one throw too, so a solid score like 160 or more is often worth keeping.
• Hold your 1s. A single 1 is worth more than any two other dice combined.
• Throwing last is no advantage on ties. The later player counts as lower, so you need to beat the current lowest score, not just match it.
• Late in the round, only beat the lowest score. You don’t need the best hand, just not the worst. If you are already above the current lowest, stopping is safe.

Variants

Plain pips: some tables count every die at face value, so 6 · 6 · 6 at 18 is the best normal hand. You can switch to this in the settings of our Chicago game.

Ending the game: coasters only count rounds lost, so agree on a finish before you start, such as first to five coasters loses, or play until a fixed time.

Not to be confused with the other Chicago: another dice game shares the name. It uses two dice and is played over eleven rounds, each aiming for one of the totals 2 to 12. The rules here are the three-dice game.

Play Chicago on one phone

Our online Chicago needs no setup and no dice. Open it, throw by tapping Roll or swiping across the table, tap dice to hold them and tap Pass to hand the phone on. In the first round every Pass adds a new player to the scoreboard, and late arrivals can join between rounds. Dice are thrown with your browser’s secure random number generator.

Frequently asked questions