How to Play Dice Hockey

Dice Hockey is a quick two-player hockey game. Roll the dice, look up the play on your board, and move the puck. The team with the most goals after 3 periods wins.

In a lot of dice hockey games, you just roll to see who scores. Not this one. Every roll moves the puck. You drive it up the ice, take your shot, and fight for it back when it bounces away.

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What’s in the box

• A folding board with two panels: the rink, and the score and dice chart.
• 2 dice
• 3 black pegs: the puck, the turn peg, and the period peg. Both teams share them.
• 4 colored pegs: 2 for each team, in two different colors (silver, gold, or rose gold).

Each team’s 2 colored pegs are:

• 1 score peg: counts your goals.
• 1 possession peg: shows if you’re on attack or defense. It’s also your penalty box peg.

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Your board

Panel 1: the rink

• The ice: 15 holes in a row. The Home zone (5 holes), the Neutral zone (5 holes), and the Visitor zone (5 holes). The puck starts in the center hole.
• The goals: the last hole at each end is the goal. The end hole in the Home zone is Home’s goal. The end hole in the Visitor zone is Visitor’s goal.
• Turn tracker (marked 1 to 8): the black turn peg.
• Period tracker (marked 1, 2, 3, OT): the black period peg.
• Penalty box: where a team’s peg goes when it gets a penalty.

Panel 2: the score and the plays

• Home and Visitor score tracks: where you count goals.
• Possession tracker (Attack and Defense): shows who has the puck.
• High Die chart and Doubles chart: tell you what happens on each roll.
• Overshoot, Goal, and Icing: quick reminders of those rules.

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Set up

1. Pick a color for each team. Decide who is Home and who is Visitor.
2. Home defends the Home goal and shoots at the Visitor goal. Visitor does the opposite.
3. Put the black puck peg in the center hole.
4. Put the black turn peg on 1 and the black period peg on 1.
5. Put each team’s score peg at the start of its score track.
6. Each team rolls 1 die. The higher roll gets the puck first. Put that team’s possession peg on Attack and the other team’s on Defense.

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How to play

The team with the puck is on attack. The other team is on defense. Only the attack rolls.

1. Roll both dice. Each roll is one turn.
2. Sort the dice. The bigger number is the High Die. It tells you what happens. The smaller number is the Low Die. It tells you how far.
3. Find the High Die on the chart and move the puck. See What each roll means below.
4. Rolled doubles? Check the Doubles chart too.
5. Move the turn peg forward 1.

Forward always means toward the goal the attack is shooting at.

Counting to the goal: count the holes from the puck to the goal, and count the goal hole too. If the puck has 2 holes in front of it and then the goal, it’s 3 spaces from the goal.

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What each roll means

High Die 2, 3, or 4: Drive the Puck Forward

Move the puck forward by the Low Die.

A drive can’t score. If it would reach or pass the goal, that’s an overshoot. See below.

Overshoot (drives only)

If a drive would reach or pass the goal, it’s not a goal. Move the puck into the goal hole, then bounce it back out by the spaces you have left. The other team gets the puck.

• Example: The puck is 2 spaces from the goal. You drive 3. Move 2 into the goal hole, then bounce back 1.
• If the drive lands exactly in the goal hole, the puck stays there. The other team still gets the puck.

High Die 5: Shot at Goal

Move the puck forward by the Low Die.

High Die 6: Breakaway

Move the puck forward by double the Low Die.

Goal or save?

Shots and breakaways work the same way:

• Reach or pass the goal hole: Goal! See Scoring a goal below.
• Fall short: Save! The goalie stops it. The puck stays where it stopped, and the other team gets the puck.

The closer you are, the better your chances. That’s why you drive the puck in before you shoot.

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Doubles

Doubles happen on top of the normal High Die play. The one exception is Icing.

1-1 (snake eyes): Icing

The puck doesn’t move. Roll 1 die to see who gets the puck: 1 to 3, Home gets it. 4 to 6, Visitor gets it. Icing is not a penalty.

2-2, 3-3, or 5-5: Penalty

The defense gets a penalty. Put the defense’s possession peg in the penalty box for 2 turns. The attack gets a power play (see below).

The normal play still happens: a drive for 2-2 and 3-3, a shot for 5-5.

4-4 or 6-6: Fight!

Both teams go to the penalty box for 2 turns. Nobody gets a power play.

The normal play still happens: a drive for 4-4, a breakaway for 6-6.

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Power plays

A power play lasts for the next 2 turns. The roll that caused the penalty doesn’t count. Count every turn, no matter who has the puck. The board reminds you: Penalty: +1 attack for 2 turns.

When the power play team rolls during those 2 turns:

• Add 1 to the Low Die. Use the new number for everything: how far a drive or shot goes, and how far an overshoot bounces back.
• Breakaway: double the Low Die first, then add 1.
• Save: the power play team keeps the puck and keeps shooting.

Rolled another penalty while a power play is still going? The power play gets longer. The bonus stays at +1. It never becomes +2.

If the period ends during a power play, the turns left carry over into the next period, just like real hockey.

The penalty box doesn’t track who has the puck. While a peg is in the box, just remember who has it. When the 2 turns are up, move the peg back to the possession tracker.

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Scoring a goal

1. Move the scoring team’s score peg up 1.
2. Put the puck back in the center hole.
3. The team that got scored on gets the puck.

Example turns

Home has the puck, 3 spaces from the Visitor goal.

• Home rolls 4 and 2: High Die 4 is a drive. Move the puck forward 2. Now it’s 1 space from the goal.
• Home rolls 5 and 3: High Die 5 is a shot. The Low Die is 3, which passes the goal. Goal! Home’s score peg moves up 1. The puck goes to center, and Visitor gets it.
• Visitor rolls 3 and 3: Doubles! That’s a penalty on Home. Home’s peg goes in the penalty box. Visitor also drives the puck forward 3, and gets a power play for the next 2 turns. The puck is now 4 spaces from Home’s goal.
• Visitor rolls 5 and 2: A shot. The power play makes the Low Die 3. That’s 1 short of the goal, so Home’s goalie makes the save. The puck stops 1 space from the goal. Visitor is on the power play, so Visitor keeps the puck.

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Periods

• The game has 3 periods.
• Each period is 8 turns total. That’s 8 rolls between both teams, not 8 each. Move the turn peg after every roll.
• The period ends as soon as turn 8 is done, even in the middle of a play. It’s just like the clock running out.
• To start the next period, move the period peg up 1 and the turn peg back to 1. The team that’s behind gets the puck. If the score is tied, each team rolls 1 die. The higher roll gets the puck.

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Overtime

Tied after 3 periods? Move the period peg to OT and play sudden death. There’s no turn limit. Keep playing until somebody scores. The first goal wins.

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Winning

After 3 periods, the team with more goals wins. If the game goes to overtime, the first team to score wins.

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Quick reference