Goko no Saikoro

Goko no Saikoro (五個の骰子) is a dice game that was designed with the goal to give players more strategic options and control of the game than is usually the case in dice games. A secondary goal was to make a dice game that is not completely multiple solitaire. The resulting game is played with 5 dice, hence the name, which is Japanese for '5 dice'.

Every turn a player decides what 'development' he or she wants to roll for. These 'developments' change the nature of the game. Some allow re-rolling a die, others change how the dice-roll result is converted into a score or points. To achieve a certain development, at least a certain score has to be rolled. This required score increases with each development achieved. If a player rolls particularly high he/she can choose to take points rather than achieve the development he/she was rolling for. If there are no more developments available, the player must roll for points. The game ends when one player chooses to take points for the tenth time. The game takes about 10 minutes per player.