Diavolo
Diavolo Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
The last player with a gem is the winner.
Game Summary
Every turn the dice are rolled. The special "Order" die gives an instruction to the players allowing them to work out which of the coloured "imp" pieces they should grab (as quickly as possible). Players taking the wrong colour imp (or no imp at all) will lose one of their gems. The last player with a gem will be the winner. For groups of 2 or 3 play is modified as explained at the end of these rules.
Game Components
- 9 normal dice in 3 colours (3 black, 3 white, 3 red)
- 1 gray "Order" die
- 10 "imp" pieces in four colours (3 black, 3 white, 3 red, 1 gray)
- 30 red gems for scoring
- This rules booklet
Set-Up
The ten imp pieces are placed randomly in the middle of the table. Each player receives 5 red gems which they put in front of themself. The youngest player starts and rolls the ten dice to begin the first turn.
Playing a Turn
The 9 coloured dice are rolled at the same time as the gray Order die. The result of the Order die gives an instruction to the players, telling them which coloured imp piece they need to grab.
- Greatest sum: Players must grab an imp of the same colour as the group of dice whose faces add up to the highest total.
- Smallest sum: Players must grab an imp of the same colour as the group of dice whose faces add up to the lowest total.
- Greatest difference: Players must grab an imp of the same colour as the group of dice with the largest difference between the lowest value die and the highest value die.
- Most odd: Players must grab an imp of the same colour as the group of dice with the most odd faces (i.e. 1, 3 or 5).
- Highest value: Players must grab an imp of the same colour as the group of dice which contains the die with the highest value.
- Closest to the Order die: Players must grab an imp of the same colour as the die which is nearest to the Order die.
If the result of any of these instructions is a tie then the players must grab the gray imp.
Warning: Players can take only one imp and once taken it cannot be released or replaced with another.
Example of a Turn
The black dice show 2, 3 and 6. The red dice show 3, 5 and 5. The white dice show 1, 5 and 6.
- If the instruction is "greatest sum" then players must grab a red imp (the sum of the red dice is 13, white 12 and black 11).
- If the instruction is "smallest sum" then players must grab a black imp (the sum of the red dice is 13, white 12 and black 11).
- If the instruction is "greatest difference" players must grab a white imp (the difference between the highest and lowest black dice is 4, whilst for red it is 2 and for white it is 5).
- If the instruction is "most odd" then players must grab a red imp (all 3 red dice are odd whilst only 2 white dice and 1 black die are odd).
- If the instruction is "highest value" then players must grab the gray imp (black and white tie for the highest value as both groups contain a result of 6).
- If the instruction is "closest to the Order die" then players must grab a red imp (the die nearest to the Order die is red).
Scoring
If a player has taken an imp of the wrong colour they lose a gem (which is put back in the box). Similarly if a player did not grab an imp they also lose a gem. If there was a tie then the player who managed to grab the gray imp wins a gem from the box (but no player can have more than 5 gems).
Following Turns
A new turn now begins with the player to the left of the previous player throwing the dice. Play progresses in this way until the end of the game.
End of the Game
When a player has no gems remaining they are eliminated from the game. When there are only 2 or 3 players left in the game some imps are removed from play:
- With 3 players only two imps of each colour are used (although only one gray imp).
- With 2 players one imp of each colour is used (including the gray).
The last player with a gem is the winner. If several players lose their last gem at the same time then there is no winner (so each "big" imp must pay for their own glass of Diavolo).
With 2 or 3 Players ... and Other Variants
- With 2 players use only one imp of each colour, including gray.
- With 3 players use only two imps of each colour, plus the single gray imp. Once a player is eliminated remove one of each of the black, white and red imps.
- When playing with younger children 2 dice of each colour can be used instead of 3.
For the first few games, to make life simpler, players can roll the Order die before the coloured dice.