Portuguese Poker Dice

Getting Started

• Portuguese Poker Dice uses a standard set of five poker dice showing: 9, 10, J, Q, K, A
• First, download and print a scorecard and write the players' names at the top of each grid
• The scorecard has categories (rows) for each die face (A, K, Q, J, X, IX) and combinations (FH=full house, S=straight), with columns for Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, and a Total column

• The players should decide how many rounds to play, usually 3, but 2 if time is limited (a full game of 3 rounds takes about 30 minutes). If only playing 2, cross out the 3rd column. (Note that the term “round” here could be misleading as the game isn’t strictly played in “rounds”. Just think of them as columns of squares that need to fill up for the game to end. 2 rounds = 2 columns, 3 rounds = 3 columns.)
• Players all roll the dice, with the highest roll going first. Play goes clockwise from player to player
• Each player gets exactly 3 rolls per turn
• Each player must mark at least one score on their scorecard during their turn
• A player can only put scores in squares that are “open” (haven’t been filled yet)

Scoring

Basic Scoring

• Each die face normally adds 2 dice points when scoring
• 9s can be used as wildcards (counting as any other face you choose), but wildcards only add 1 dice point each. (Of course, 9s can always be used as their own “natural” face as well.)
• At the end of their turn (or possibly earlier if they manage to score more than once in a turn; see below), players mark their dice points along with any bonus multipliers on their scorecard
• At the end of the game, players multiply the dice points in each square by the face values of the category:

Multiple Scoring

• If you manage to use all your dice for a score before your 3rd roll, pick up all the dice and roll again for an additional score that turn
• If the new roll scores for the same dice face as the last, score them all in the same square. Otherwise mark it in a different square.
• You could potentially score 3 times in a single turn this way, but that would take some extreme luck. Usually a player only scores once per turn.

Scoring Bonuses

• If you’re lucky enough to be able to score all 5 dice on a single roll without a wildcard 9, this is called scoring “by hand” (“de mão” in Portuguese) and is worth an extra 2x bonus! This includes full houses, straights, and 5-of-a-kind.
• 5-of-a-kind adds a 2x bonus
• If desired, a 5-of-a-kind can be “split” into a full house, but keeps its 2x bonus

Crossing Out

• Instead of taking points, you can opt to cross out (draw a diagonal line through) any open square on your scorecard grid to score 0 points there
• This is often done with 9s since they’re worth the fewest points, but can be done with any category you like
• You can only cross out one square per turn. (This prevents a player from artificially ending the game early.)
• Crossed-out squares count as “filled” and cannot be used again

Combinations

Example Turns

Tips & Strategy

Ending the Game

1. Game ends when one player fills all squares (after everyone gets same number of turns)
2. Multiply dice points by category multipliers
3. Add up all calculated scores
4. Highest total wins!

Game Variations