How to Play Qwixx Dice Game

How to Play Qwixx Dice Game

Learn to play Qwixx, the fast and super fun family dice game beloved by kids and adults of all ages.

When we think of dice games, the first to come to mind is usually either Yahtzee or Craps, depending on your age and propensity for casino gambling. Today, we’re going to be dealing with a different dice game popular among Canadian families. It’s called Qwixx, and as the name implies, it’s a fast-paced game where the action keeps rolling on every play.

Qwixx is a game labeled for 2-5 players, ages 8+, taking an average of 15 minutes to play. You can actually have as many players as you want. So long as everyone has a score sheet, you’re good to go. The game won’t get boring while you wait, as each player gets an opportunity to mark a score with every roll of the dice.

• Free Printable Qwixx Score Cards
• Free Online Qwixx Score Keeper
• More fun dice games similar to Yahtzee

How to Play Qwixx

The object of the game is to have the highest score. To accomplish this, you want to cross out the most numerical positions on your score sheet. This is done by rolling color-coded dice, adding the totals of two dice together to achieve a color and number. But it’s not as easy as it sounds.

The Dice

There are 6 dice in the game of Qwixx. Two of them are white, and the other four are colored; red, blue, yellow and green. These colors correspond with the colored number lines on each score card, as shown below.

Look carefully at this score card. You’ll notice the top two lines, red and yellow, are numbered 2 thru 12, while the bottom two lines, green and blue, are numbered in reversed order, 12 thru 2. This is no mere coincidence, of course.

Crossing Off Numbers

The sum of the pips on two dice will determine the number to be crossed off. When crossing out numbers, you want to cross out those farthest to the left first. It’s not required to cross out all of them, but once you mark a number off, no numbers to the left on that color line can be marked. Only numbers to the right of all other crossed out numbers (in the same color line) can be marked.

For example, if you mark the 6 on the blue line, all numbers left of the 6 that aren’t already marked become dead. You can now only mark off numbers 2 thru 5. Marking the blue 4 would then limit your choices to blue 2 or 3 only.

Locking Colors

You’ll notice a padlock symbol to the right of each color line. Players can only mark this section, locking the color, if you have at least 5 numbers crossed off on that line, including the last number closest to the lock (12 for red and yellow; 2 for blue and green).

Once a color has been locked, no one can cross off a number of this color for the rest of the game. Doing so will greatly restrict your opponents’ ability to score, so it’s a good idea to aim for this.

Playing the Game

Everyone rolls one die to start. The player who rolls highest goes first. This player will pick up and roll all 6 dice. Every player will participate as follows:

All Players: Every player will look at the sum of the two white dice only. Each player has the option to cross off this number on any color line of their score sheet.

Rolling Player: After scoring (or skipping over) the white dice, this player can combine any one of the colored dice with either of the white dice. The sum of the pips on those two dice determines the number, and the color of the chosen colored dice determines the color.

For instance, if the player chooses White 5 and Green 3, they will cross out the Green 8 on their score sheet, as shown in the example on the right.

Aside from the pair of white dice, only one number can be crossed off on a player’s turn. If a player cannot or does not want to cross off any numbers on their turn, they must mark one of the four Penalty Boxes on the bottom-right of the score sheet. Beware, each forfeited play will incur -5 points later in the game.

Ending a Game

A game of Qwuixx will end when 1) all four colors are locked; or 2) a single player has marked all four of their penalty boxes. Once the game is over, all players must tally their score.

Scoring in Qwixx

Score is taken by counting the amount of numbers crossed off in each colored section. At the bottom of the score sheet is a chart that displays how many points you earn for crossing off different amounts of numbers.

The corresponding score is marked in the color-coded scoring sections for each color. These points are all added together, Then, the player subtracts 5 points for all marks in their penalty box. The final total becomes the score.

A sample score sheet might look like this:

You can generally expect the score to be higher with fewer players, and lower with more players. Because of this, the Qwixx family dice game is generally preferred among smaller crowds of 2-4 players.