I recently went through some old printouts, and found an e-mail from a friend detailing the rules of the game “You Blew It,” which I had requested because I first played it when visiting her family way back when. The e-mail’s dated 2005, so here’s to recycling paper and posting the rules online instead. Here are the rules:
a) Play with two teams, six dice, a legal pad, and a pen.
b) The goal is to make points with every roll of the dice.
c) The player rolling must save at least one point-worthy die of every roll. If he rolls a combo, he must save all of the dice that are part of the combo.
d) Ones are worth 100 points per die, fives 50 points per die.
e) Three of a kind are worth 100 points multiplied with the number of eyes on the die (equaling 200, 300, 400, 500, or 600), except for three ones, which are worth 1’000 points. Four ones are worth 1’100 points, four fives 550.
f) Rolling 1-2-3-4-5-6 in one roll is worth 1’500 points.
g) Failure to roll any points results in the loss of all the player’s points of his turn and those of his teammates who rolled before him in that round. You Blew It! The player passes the dice to the person to his left.
h) If the player has rolled points, he must decide which point-worthy dice to keep from the roll, and then must decide whether (i) to roll again and risk blowing it or (ii) to end his turn, take the points he has, and pass all dice to the person to his left. (As a rule of thumb, an average turn is 350 points.)
i) If a player makes points with all six dice, whether in one roll (see f)) or sequentially, he must gather up all six and roll again.
j) Play is in rounds, with every player taking turns. Teams can sit together or, to add to the complexity, alternating around the table.
k) A round is completed when the dice have passed around the table once, that is, all players have taken one turn. (Optional: The following round begins with the player who went second in the previous round.)
l) Points the team gained in a round cannot be lost, even when a team member blows it in the following round.
m) Play continues until a team reaches a predefined score at the end of a round. 5’000 points is considered a short game; 10’000 points a normal game.
n) Pick a responsible scorekeeper with a solid understanding of the rules and little fear of chaos. Ideally, he will have two sheets: one for a tally of the final sum of points accumulated by teams in their respective rounds, and one scratch sheet to keep track of the points players gain or lose in their turns.
Have fun playing, and if you have questions, ask me, and I’ll ask the expert!
A further variation of the game is here.
I asked the expert for y’all, who declined identification because she only learned the game from someone else and didn’t wish to flatter her own vanity. She suggested some refinements to my rules and kindly wrote the following sample of a game:
For example, Dick, Jane, and Spot are playing a short game against Tom, Harry, and Stanley. DJS agree that Jane will play last, as she is a conservative gambler and Dick is notoriously bad at dice. THS decide that Stanley will go last, because he has good luck and few inhibitions and Harry is “unsteady” this evening. Play goes as follows:
Round 1: Dick rolls 450 points, passes to Spot. Spot rolls 300 points, passes to Jane. Jane rolls 700 points and decides that’s enough. Tom rolls 800 points, passes to Harry. Harry blows it (having decided that 250 on his first roll wasn’t good enough), passes to Stanley. Stanley rolls 400 points and decides that’s enough. Score: 1450 v. 400
Round 2: Dick blows it (zilch on the first roll), passes to Spot. Spot rolls 250, passes to Jane. Jane rolls 300 and decides that’s enough. Tom rolls 400, passes to Harry. Harry rolls 1250 in one roll (five ones and a five, requiring another turn), then rolls 150 and passes to Stanley.. Stanley rolls 550 and decides that’s enough. Score: 2000 v. 2750
Round 3: Dick rolls 200, passes to Spot. Spot rolls 750 (three individual fives, then three sixes, requiring another turn), then blows it and passes to Jane. Jane rolls 650 and decides that’s enough. Tom rolls 500, passes to Harry. Harry blows it (after initially scoring 400), passes to Stanley.. Stanley rolls 550 and decides that’s enough. Score: 2650 v. 3300
(Brief intermission, wherein drinks and snacks are replenished, and Tom and Harry trade insults to the amusement of Spot)
Round 4: Dick blows it (unhappy with 150), passes to Spot. Spot rolls 850, passes to Jane. Jane rolls 400 and decides that’s enough. Tom rolls 500, passes to Harry. Harry blows it (first accumulating 1000 points), passes to Stanley. Stanley rolls 700 in one roll (three fives and three twos, requiring another turn), then rolls 250 and decides that’s enough. Score: 3900 v. 4250
(Even briefer intermission, during which DJS agree to let Tom and Harry trade positions in the line-up to prevent bloodshed)
Round 5: Dick rolls 250, passes to Spot. Spot rolls 500, passes to Jane. Jane rolls 1500 (1-2-3-4-5-6, requiring another turn), then rolls 50 and decides that’s enough. (Since DJS passed the 5000 mark, this is now the official last round. THS have this one last round to beat the score of 6200.) Harry rolls 1600 (three ones, then three sixes, requiring another turn), then rolls 250 and passes to Tom. Tom blows it (after picking up 350 initial points), passes to Stanley. Name-calling becomes fierce. Stanley rolls 800 (three threes, then three fives, requiring another turn), then 1150 (three ones, then three individual fives, requiring another turn), and then blows it. Score: 6200 v. 4250
With the personal attacks among team THS move from verbal to physical, Dick offers to put on Boondock Saints. Spot refreshes drinks, and Jane tracks down blindfolds for the sensibly sensitive viewers.
I played this when I was a kid at my grandparents house in Ogden Utah. It was so fun. We would play it for hours. I am so happy that you posted the rules because for some reason I was thinking that it took 7 or 8 dice. We also had to get a number of points before getting “ON BOARD”, but I can’t remember what the number was. I think you had to get 700 before getting on board and that is how the game started. Can you ask your friend about that? All of the other rules are exactly as I remember.
Thanks,
Shelly
We start with 350.
We double with each digit. Like 3 one’s is 1,000, 2 is 2,000, 3 is 3,000, etc. or 5’s would be three 5’s 500, two 1,000, three 1,500. Etc for all numbers.
We always play to 10,000 points with everyone getting one more roll. Since Covid began I bet we have played closed to 500 games. We call it Covid wars. And I am beating my husband by 14 games.
If you have anymore questions give me a shout. I am definitely not a expert but can show you how we were taught many years ago
Hi! I just found the rules to this game and the dice in my basement. So excited to start playing again.
I just have a question, how does someone BLOW IT on a round? Isn’t there always a way to get points when you roll the dice? I noticed in your explanation, if someone only rolled 150 points, they’d just take the loss.
Or can you not go over a certain amount of points? Sorry, I’m just not getting it. Thank you in advance!
I have a question about scoring. If one the first roll Tom throws a 1, 3 (4’s) & 2 (5’s), since they are all counters, what score would Tom get.
Also he Jane rolls, 2 (3’s), 2 (4’s) & 2 (6’s) does Jane get to count that as 1500 points.
Here is my email address: lee013188@gmail.com (for the two questions I asked:
1 about scoring. If Tom rolls a 1, 3(4’s) & 2 (5’s), since they are all counters, would Tom get 1,500 & get to roll again?
Also if Jane rolls, 2 (3’s), 2 (4’s) & 2 (6’s) does Jane get to count that as 1500 points.
I don’t have a website.
Hi Ariel,
Tom would get 100 for the 1, 400 for the 3 4s, and 100 for the 2 5s for a total of 600, and he would be required to roll again. (See d), e), and i).)
Jane with her three pairs has a roll worth 0 (zero) points, and blows it. Pairs don’t count for anything. You only get 1500 if you roll a perfect straight on a roll of six dice. (See f) and g).)