Martinetti
Ohio
The numbers from one to twelve have to be taken in order, each made from the dice thrown — alone or as a sum of several.
Players work along the numbers from one to twelve, and they can only be taken in order. A turn is a throw of three dice, and the question is whether the can be made from them: it may come up on a single die or as the sum of two or three.
A successful turn does not end: make the required number and look in the same throw for the next. So a throw like 1-2-3 early in a game climbs three steps at once — the one is there, the two is there, the three is there — and with luck a sum as well.
It gets harder further on: an eight can be made from three dice in only so many ways, and twelve only from sixes, so the last numbers of a game are where players stall.
Six-sided dice
Under these rules: Three dice.
Ordinary gaming dice, pipped from one to six.
The most widespread randomiser people have invented. Opposite faces add up to seven — not a rule of any game but a convention of manufacture, and the thing by which a die is recognised.
Rules of Martinetti
What you need
Three dice and a track of numbers from one to twelve — drawing it on paper is enough.
A turn
The player throws all three dice and looks for their required number: on a single die or as a sum of several.
Made it, and they advance and look at once for the next number in the same throw. This continues while the throw keeps supplying what is needed.
As soon as the next number cannot be made, the turn passes to the opponent.
Dice within a throw
Each die takes part in making one number per throw: those used are set aside.
End of the game
Having reached twelve, a player turns round and works back to one. The first one home wins.
Worth knowing
The length of the track and the number of players differ between accounts; the two-player version with the return leg is given here. Whether a die may serve two consecutive numbers is agreed beforehand — usually not.
Glossary of terms
- An interception
- Another player's right to take a number the mover could have made and failed to notice.
- The required number
- The next one the player has to take. Until it is taken, nothing moves further along the track.