How to Play Dice Football

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Dice Football is a quick two-player football game. Roll the dice, look up the play on your board, and move the ball. The team with the most points after 4 quarters wins.

Quick start

  1. Roll both dice and look up the play on your board.
  2. Move the ball. Each hole on the field is 5 yards.
  3. Gain 10 yards within 4 downs to keep the ball.
  4. Reach the other team’s end zone for a touchdown: 6 points.
  5. Stuck on 4th down? Punt or kick a field goal.

That’s the game. The rest of this page has the details.

What’s in the box

  • 2 dice
  • 8 colored pegs: 4 for each team, in two different colors (silver, gold, or rose gold).
  • 2 black pegs: one tracks the quarter, one tracks the down. Both teams share them.

Each team’s 4 colored pegs are:

  • 1 field peg: the ball when you have it, or the first-down marker when you don’t.
  • 1 possession peg: counts how many times you’ve had the ball.
  • 2 score pegs: one for tens, one for ones.

Your board

Top half: the field and game trackers

  • The field: each hole is 5 yards. The holes zigzag between the two rows.
  • Quarter tracker (marked 1 to 4): the black quarter peg.
  • Down tracker (marked 1 to 4): the black down peg.
  • Possession trackers (marked 1 to 4): Home uses the left one, Visitor uses the right one.
  • Kick Off and Punt boxes: quick reminders of those rules.

Bottom half: the score and the plays

  • Home Score and Visitor Score: a ones row (0 to 9) and a tens box (0 to 50).
  • Dice chart: tells you what happens on each roll.
  • Field Goal and Extra Point boxes: what you need to roll to make a kick.

Set up

  1. Pick a color for each team. Decide who is Home and who is Visitor.
  2. Home defends the left end zone and drives toward the right. Visitor does the opposite.
  3. Put both score pegs for each team on 0.
  4. Put the black quarter peg on 1.
  5. Each player rolls 1 die. The higher roll gets the ball first. The other team kicks off (see Kickoffs).

How to play

Your goal on offense is to move the ball into the other team’s end zone. You get 4 tries (downs) to move the ball 10 yards. Make it, and you get 4 new downs.

  1. Start the drive. Put your field peg where you got the ball. Move your possession peg 1 hole. Set the down peg to 1.
  2. Set the first-down marker. The defense puts its field peg 10 yards (2 holes) ahead of the ball.
  3. Roll both dice and find the play on the dice chart.
  4. Move the ball forward or back by the yards shown. Each hole is 5 yards.
  5. Reach the marker? First down! Set the down peg back to 1 and move the marker 10 yards ahead of the ball.
  6. Didn’t reach it? Move the down peg to the next down and roll again.

Example drive

  • Home gets the ball at its own 20. The Visitor puts its field peg at Home’s 30 as the marker.
  • 1st down, Run +5: the ball moves 1 hole to the 25. Down peg to 2.
  • 2nd down, Pass +10: the ball moves 2 holes to the 35. That’s past the marker, so it’s a first down! Down peg back to 1. Marker moves to the 45.
  • 1st down, QB Sack −5: the ball moves back 1 hole to the 30. Down peg to 2.
  • 2nd down, Flea Flicker +40: the ball moves 8 holes to the Visitor’s 30. First down again!

What each roll means

Gains

Move the ball forward and use up 1 down.

  • Run, Halfback Run: a player runs with the ball. +5 or +10 yards.
  • Reverse Handoff, Double Reverse: trick runs where the ball is handed to a player running the other way. +10 or +20 yards.
  • Pass: the quarterback throws and it’s caught. +10 or +15 yards.
  • Screen Pass: a short throw behind the blockers. +5 or +20 yards.
  • Flea Flicker: a trick play that ends in a long pass. +40 yards.

Does your board say “Strike Out” in the middle column? A small number of early boards have it there. Play it as a Screen Pass: +20 yards.

No gain or a loss

Use up 1 down.

  • Incomplete Pass: the pass hits the ground. The ball stays put.
  • Backfield Tackle: the runner is tackled before getting past the line. −5 yards.
  • QB Sack: the quarterback is tackled before throwing. −5 yards.

Penalties

Move the ball, but don’t move the down peg. You replay the same down.

  • False Start: the offense moved too early. −5 yards.
  • Holding: the offense grabbed a defender. −10 yards.
  • Def. Offsides: the defense moved too early. +5 yards.

Turnovers

The other team gets the ball. See Changing possession below.

  • Fumble: the ball is dropped and the defense recovers it where the play ended.
  • Interception: the defense catches the pass and runs it back 10 yards before being tackled.
  • Punt: the offense kicks the ball away. See 4th down.

Touchdown

The play goes all the way. Move the ball into the end zone. 6 points!

4th down: your choice

On 4th down, pick one before you roll:

  • Go for it: roll a normal play. Miss the marker, and the other team gets the ball where the play ended.
  • Punt: roll 1 die. The ball goes that many times 10 yards (a 4 means 40 yards), and the other team gets it there. If the punt reaches the end zone, they start at their own 20.
  • Kick a field goal: roll both dice. Check the Field Goal box on your board, or see Field goal distances below. Good = 3 points. Missed = the other team gets the ball where you kicked from.

After a touchdown

Pick one and roll both dice:

  • Extra point: 4 or more = 1 point.
  • Two-point conversion: 10 or more = 2 points.

Then kick off to the other team.

Kickoffs

After every touchdown or field goal, the scoring team kicks off to the other team. The receiving team rolls both dice:

  • 2: great return. Start at the 50-yard line.
  • 3 to 11: start at your own 20-yard line.
  • 12: returned all the way for a touchdown!

Changing possession

When the other team gets the ball:

  1. The team that just got the ball puts its field peg where the ball is. That’s the ball now.
  2. The other team’s field peg becomes the first-down marker, 10 yards ahead.
  3. The team with the ball moves its possession peg 1 hole.
  4. Set the down peg to 1.

Keeping score

  • Touchdown: 6 points
  • Extra point: 1 point
  • Two-point conversion: 2 points
  • Field goal: 3 points
  • Safety: 2 points

Your score is your tens peg plus your ones peg. For example, tens on 20 and ones on 7 is 27 points. If your ones peg would go past 9, move your tens peg up 10 and move the ones peg to what’s left over.

Quarters and halftime

  • Each team gets 2 possessions per quarter.
  • When both teams have had their 2 possessions, move the quarter peg forward.
  • Halftime comes after the 2nd quarter. Move both possession pegs back to the start. The team that received the opening kickoff kicks off to start the 2nd half.

Winning

After the 4th quarter, the team with more points wins. A game usually takes 20 to 35 minutes.

Special situations

  • Field goal distances: at the other team’s 20-yard line or closer, you need 6 or more. At their 30 or closer, 8 or more. At their 40 or closer, 10 or more. Farther than their 40 is too far to kick.
  • Close to the end zone: if it’s less than 10 yards away, the goal line is your first-down marker. You have to score to get new downs.
  • Safety: if you get pushed back into your own end zone, the other team scores 2 points. You then kick off to them.
  • Overtime: tied after 4 quarters? Each team gets 1 possession. Still tied? Keep trading possessions until one team is ahead after both have had the ball.