Pig (dice game)

The game of Pig is played with a single six-sided die.

Pig is a simple dice game first described in print by John Scarne in 1945.[1] Players take turns to roll a single dice as many times as they wish, adding all roll results to a running total, but losing their gained score for the turn if they roll a 1.

As with many games of folk origin, Pig is played with many rule variations, including the use of two dice instead of one. Commercial variants of two-dice Pig include Pass the Pigs, Pig Dice,[2] and Skunk.[3] Pig is commonly used by mathematics teachers to teach probability concepts.

Pig is one of a family of dice games described by Reiner Knizia as "jeopardy dice games", where the dominant type of decision is whether or not to jeopardize previous gains by rolling for potential greater gains.[4]

  1. ^ Scarne, John (1945). Scarne on Dice. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Military Service Publishing Co.
  2. ^ Pig at BoardGameGeek
  3. ^ Pig at BoardGameGeek
  4. ^ Reiner Knizia, Dice Games Properly Explained. Elliot Right-Way Books, 1999