Shut the Box Dice Game Rules

You need two dice and a box with tiles numbered 1 to 9, all standing open at the start. Some boxes run to 10 or 12 tiles and play no differently. A pen and a sheet of paper stand in perfectly well for the box: write the numbers out and cross them off, or cover them with coins.

One player is enough, and four is about the limit before the waiting gets tedious, although six can share a box. Decide who starts, then pass the dice clockwise. Everything on the box adds up to 45, and that is the pile you are chipping away at.

Roll both dice and add the pips. Now shut any open tiles that come to exactly that total. Say the dice show 4 and 5. That is 9, and with the box untouched you can take the 9 by itself, 8 and 1, 7 and 2, 6 and 3, 5 and 4, 6 with 2 and 1, 5 with 3 and 1, or 4 with 3 and 2.

How you break up the total is your call, but it has to be covered in full. Half a total is worth nothing.

Then roll again. The turn keeps going as long as you find tiles to shut, and it ends the moment a roll cannot be covered by what is left. With 1, 5 and 9 open, a 4 finishes you. The 4 tile is already down, and 3 with 1 needs a 3 you no longer have.

Both dice have to go in while 7, 8 or 9 is still open. Once all three are down, the rest of the turn is your choice: one die or two.

With nothing above 6 left on the box, a single die usually lands on something you can cover, whereas two dice easily add up past anything you have. If the 2 is all that remains, one die is the only way to reach it.

Add up the numbers still showing when the turn ends. That is your score for the round, and low is what you want. Left with 2, 3 and 5 you score 10. Left with nothing but the 1, you score 1.

Get every tile down and you have shut the box for a score of 0, the best result there is.

A round gives every player one turn, and the lowest score takes it. Shut the box and the round is settled on the spot, with the others left holding their dice.

Five rounds added together is the usual game, and the lowest total wins it. Some prefer to play on until somebody shuts the box, and hand that player the win.

English pubs have played this for money for generations, and chips do the job just as well at home. Everyone drops an agreed number of chips into the pot before the round, and the winner of the round collects it.

Shutting the box pays double by tradition, two stakes from every other player. Matchsticks or buttons work fine, and with nothing but a scoresheet the round is played for pride.

These rules cover the classic box: two dice, tiles 1 to 9, and a free hand in how the total is split. One die becomes an option once 7, 8 and 9 are shut, and the score is whatever is left standing, totalled over five rounds. The version where each die counts on its own is under Variants.