Chinchiller Dice
Chinchiller Dice Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components & Setup
Components:
- 2 chinchiller dice
- 25 × 1 sand (sand tokens worth 1 sand each)
- 40 × 6 sand (sand tokens worth 6 sand each)
- 20 × 24 sand (sand tokens worth 24 sand each)
Setup:
Pile all the sand up as a general supply. Take 24 sand each from the supply.
In the unlikely event that the general supply should ever run out of sand, everyone simply returns the same amount of sand to it.
Decide on a starting player. You will take turns, one after the other, in clockwise order.
One Turn
When it is your turn, you roll the two dice, trying to score as much sand from the general supply as possible. You may re-roll any die that has not landed special side up as often as you like. Sooner or later though you will roll two chinchillers and have to close an eye.
Once both your eyes are closed, you can not re-roll any dice any more when it is your turn again. Instead, your left neighbor will tell you what you have rolled after just one roll. Your neighbor will also be the one who will have to pay for any sand you are scoring while blind. As a result, there is a good chance your neighbor will try to cheat you. It will be up to you to either accept your neighbor's word blindly or to try to catch them in the act. However, if you are greedy while your neighbor is telling the truth, you will be the one losing precious sand.
This game allows you to bluff, i.e. to lie, in exactly one way. Any other form of cheating is strictly forbidden. Please, do not cheat in a little game about cute chinchillers who just want to take a chinchillaxing sand bath!
If it is your turn and at least one of your eyes is still open, take both dice and roll them. Any chinchiller or x2 that you have rolled stays. You can re-roll any die showing (any amount of) sand (any yellow number). If you re-roll, re-roll all dice that are showing sand. You can re-roll (all) the sand as often as you want.
Do not re-roll, if you have rolled either two times x2, two chinchillers, or one chinchiller plus one x2. Results without sand can not be re-rolled!
Once you decide not to re-roll (again), take as much sand as you have rolled with both dice from the general supply. Put all of your sand openly in front of yourself. A x2 doubles the other die's sand. If you have rolled two times x2, that is zero sand (and nothing else happens). If you have rolled a single chinchiller plus any amount of sand, just take the sand from the one die (and nothing else happens).
Example: On his first try Axel rolls a 1 and a 3. He re-rolls and gets a 1 and a 6. He would like to keep the 6 and only re-roll the 1 but that is not possible. ("If you re-roll, re-roll all dice that are showing sand.") Instead he re-rolls both dice and gets a 3 and a 12. Axel decides not to re-roll again and takes 15 sand from the supply.
Example: On her first try Bree rolls a 6 and another 6. She re-rolls and gets a 3 and a chinchiller. She would like to re-roll both dice but that is not possible. ("Any chinchiller or x2 that you have rolled stays.") Instead, she only re-rolls the die that showed 3 sand in the hopes not to roll either a second chinchiller or a x2 on top of the chinchiller she has already rolled. Luckily, she rolls a 6, decides not to re-roll it, and takes 6 sand from the supply.
If you have rolled either two chinchillers or one chinchiller plus a x2 (i.e. if you double the one chinchiller), do not re-roll and do not take any sand. Instead, close one of your eyes until the end of the game. If this happens and your other eye was already closed, you will be blind until the end of the game.
If you find it difficult to squinch a single eye shut, simply put a hand over it. You can easily play this game with just one hand.
Example: On his first try Clay rolls a 3 and a x2. He hopes to score 12 or even 24 sand and re-rolls the die that showed a 3 in order to turn it into a 6 or 12. Unfortunately, he rolls a chinchiller on top of his x2 and has to close one of his eyes.
As soon as there is a single blind player at the table, be sure to let them know how much sand you are taking at the end of your turn as well as when you are closing an eye. Another thing that a blind player can ask you to tell to them is who has how many closed eyes already. However, you do not need to tell them how much sand anybody has in front of them (including how much sand the blind player has themselves).
If it is your turn and you are blind already, let a player who can still see hand the dice to you. Roll both dice once. Do not re-roll, if you are blind. The closest neighbor of yours to your left who is not blind yet will tell you "how much sand you have rolled." However, your neighbor will only tell you the sum (not the results of the individual dice) and your neighbor is free to lie to you regarding what you have rolled.
Keep in mind that once you are blind, any result with just x2 and/or chinchillers means that you have rolled zero sand.
If you accept what your neighbor has told you, your neighbor will give you as much sand as that neighbor has said you rolled from in front of them, i.e. from their own sand (and not the general supply). Only if that neighbor has not collected enough sand yet to fully pay you, they will give you all of their sand plus the missing amount of sand from the general supply.
Example: Dora is blind already and rolls a 6 and a 12. Her left neighbor Eric is not blind yet. Since he does not want to pay Dora 18 sand he tells her that she has rolled a sum of 9 sand. Dora accepts this and gets 9 sand from Eric.
Example A: Fay is blind and rolls a 1 and a chinchiller. Her neighbor Gus tells her that she has rolled a sum of 1 sand. She does not accept this. As a result, Gus does not have to pay her 1 sand but instead he takes 6 sand from her.
Example B: Holly is blind and rolls a 3 and a 6. Her neighbor Ian tells her that she has rolled a sum of 9 sand. She does not accept this. As a result, Ian does not have to pay her the 9 sand. Neither does Ian get to take anything from Holly though.
Example C: Joy is blind and rolls a 12 and another 12. Her neighbor Kurt tells her that she has rolled a sum of 9 sand. She does not accept this. As a result, Kurt has to pay her the full 24 sand that she has actually rolled. On top of that Kurt has to close an eye.
The one and only time that you are allowed, even expected, to try to cheat in this game is when you are telling a blind player what they have rolled. In particular, never cheat when you are handling sand!
If you do not accept what your neighbor has told you, check what you have actually rolled. You may open your eyes briefly for this purpose. There are three possibilities:
- A: Your neighbor told you truthfully that you rolled less than six sand? You get no sand and on top of that your neighbor takes six sand from you (plus sand from the general supply, if necessary) for themselves.
- B: Your neighbor told you truthfully that you rolled six or more sand? You get no sand (but do not have to pay any sand either).
- C: Your neighbor lied and told you any other amount of sand than you have actually rolled? Your neighbor pays you what you have rolled from their own sand (plus sand from the general supply, if necessary) and also closes one of their eyes.
If you are greedy on a low call, you have got to pay. If you are greedy on a reasonably high call, the fact that you are not getting paid is already punishment enough.
Then it is the next player's turn.
The End
The game ends once you have all closed both of your eyes, i.e. when nobody can see any longer. Whoever has the most sand wins.
In case of a tie, the tied player who closed their second eye later wins.
Speaking as a professional chinchiller, I strongly advise you to play multiple games in a row. Once everybody has been the starting player the same number of times, whoever has collected the most sand total wins. Just do not forget to record scores between games. My recommendation?
- 2 players: 3x starting player each.
- 3 players: 2x starting player each.
- 4 or 5 players: 1x starting player each.