Farkle strategy: when to bank and when to roll

Every Farkle decision is the same question: is the points I could gain worth the points I could lose? This guide uses the six-dice game on our Farkle rules page, with its scoring table and 500-point entry threshold.

How risky is each roll?

The chance that a roll scores nothing depends on how many dice you roll. These figures use the scoring table on our rules page.

Dice you roll	Chance of a farkle
6	2.3%
5	7.7%
4	15.7%
3	27.8%
2	44.4%
1	66.7%

With one die you farkle two times out of three, since only a 1 or a 5 scores. With six dice a farkle is rare.

The basic trade-off

Rolling risks your whole unbanked turn score to try for more. The more you have collected, the more a farkle costs, and the fewer dice you have, the more likely it is.

Rules of thumb, not guarantees:

• Five or six dice: keep rolling. The risk is low.
• Three or four dice: roll if your turn total is small, and bank once you hold a few hundred points.
• One or two dice: bank unless you have very little to lose or you are far behind.

Do not always keep every scoring die

If your roll contains a single 5 and other scoring dice, taking only the best-scoring dice and rolling the rest can be better than setting all of them aside. More dice in your hand means a lower farkle risk on the next roll. A lone 5 is worth 50 points, but keeping it costs you a die.

Hot dice

When all six dice have scored, you may roll all six again. That is a low-risk roll, so it is usually worth taking unless your turn score is already very large.

The entry threshold

You cannot score until you bank at least 500 in one turn. Until then, banking a smaller total does nothing, so keep rolling past 300 or 400 if you have several dice left.

The endgame

When someone reaches 10,000, every other player gets one last turn. If you are behind at that point, you must take risks, because banking a modest total will not catch up. If you are the one in the lead, bank your turn and let the others chase.

Check the table first

Combination values vary between groups. Before you play, agree the scoring table, or your risk estimates will be wrong.