Qwixx – A Fast Family Dice Game
I have a special affinity for small games that fit in my purse, and can be played almost anywhere. Usually these games involve dice, cards, or small bits of paper (aka Roll and Writes). The Qwixx dice game comes in a box slightly larger than a deck of cards. It’s fairly easy, somewhat addicting, and is a great game for anyone over 7 years old.
Qwixx falls into the category of “Roll and Write Game”… which means that a player rolls the dice, and records a result on a score pad. What makes Qwixx a fun roll and write, is that everyone has a chance to score, even if it’s not their turn to roll. That makes this a great game for keeping everyone engaged … even when waiting their turn.
Qwixx Dice Game
The bright orange Qwixx box is solid (ie, not so flimsy that it will fall apart if it bounces around in your purse) and has a magnet closure. Inside you will find… 6 dice (2 white, 1 blue, 1 green, 1 red and 1 yellow), a score pad (with 100 sheets) and complete instructions. What you DON’T get is a pen. But… since I generally have 3 or 4 pens, markers and even a broken crayon in my bag, it’s not an issue.
How to Play Qwixx
Each player gets a score sheet. They are 2 sided, so each one can be used twice… but fair warning, if you keep score with a marker, the blots might seep through. You will notice that there are rows of numbers in different colors. Red and yellow go left to right from low to high…. Blue and green go high to low.
what comes in the Qwixx box…
The object is to cross off as many numbers in a row as possible before it is “locked up”. Numbers are crossed off left to right.
Decide who goes first…..
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If it’s YOUR TURN, you are the active player. Roll all 6 dice and then you call out the sum of the white dice. So, for example, if you roll a 5 and a 3, you call out 8. Any player (active and non-active) may mark number 8 on their scoresheet.
The common number is 8 (5+3)
Then the active player can look at the combinations of other dice to decide what other numbers they wish to cross off. You may cross off a number from ONE combination… so, using the example above, if you rolled a white 5, you can combine that number with the red 2 (to make 7), the yellow 6 (to make 11), the green 3 (to make 8) or the blue 5 (to make 10). OR you can combine the colored dice with the white 3.
Look at your score sheet… you must cross off at least 1 number… or take a penalty.
What makes this tricky is that it has to go left to right. So for red and yellow, you are looking for low numbers initially… while blue and green want high. If you have already crossed off the red 5, you can’t go back to cross off the red 3.
The common number (white dice) add up to 3… which is already crossed off in red and yellow.
Other combinations are possible with the colored dice… red 5 (4+1), yellow 6 (5+1), green 7 (2+5) and blue 8 (5+3) ….Red 9 (5+4) is a bad move.
Once a player has crossed off 5 numbers in any colored row, they can close the color… this means that if they roll the number on the far right… 12 for red and yellow, 2 for blue and green…. then the color is removed from the game. When 2 colors have been removed, the game is over. If you can’t fill in a number, you have to pass.
The universal number, 3 is no good… but you can use red 5 (2+3)
Add up how many numbers you were able to cross off in each row… fill in the handy score sheet… subtract 5 points for each time you had to pass… The winner is the person with the highest number of points.
Why I like Qwixx
Like I said, I do love portable games. We’ve played Qwixx in restaurants, bars, cars, on airplanes and at airports while waiting for flights. We even toss it in to the Game Night mix. You just need space to roll dice, and a the ability to mark your score sheet.
While the game is relatively simple, there is strategy that must be applied… you don’t want to take numbers too far down the line, because that means giving up slots…… on the other hand, you don’t want to take a penalty. The game is a nice way to teach probability and reasoning.
Who can play the Qwixx Dice Game?
The box says that the game is for ages 8 and up. And unless you have a kid who is particularly good at reasoning and games, that might be best. Supposedly this is for 2-5 players, but I don’t see why you can’t hand out more score sheets…. except that it will take longer to go around.
The game takes only about 15 – 20 minutes to play, which makes it a nice filler game.
Where Can I buy the Qwixx Dice Game?
Amazon carries Qwixx!
Qwixx – A Fast Family Dice Game
Don’t forget to order Extra Score Sheets!–> Qwixx Score Pads
Other Qwixx Games
Qwixx Delux is the standard Qwixx game… just BIGGER! Instead of score sheets, this version comes with 8 larger score boards with dry-erase markers. If you play a LOT at home, this is the set for you.
Qwixx BIG Points is a new variation on the Qwixx game. There’s an extra line of numbers between the red and yellow line.. and again between the blue and green lines. Use these Lines to get even MORE points!
Qwixx Deluxe A Fast Family Dice Game
Qwixx: Big Points
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AboutGamer
Great review. I think games like this are very helpful when a family has to wait for something, like, as you say, for a meal in a restaurant. This is so much better than having everyone on their phones because playing together as a family is good interaction you might not have otherwise.
I’ve never played this game it really looks like fun. It reminds me a bit of Yahtzee which I used to spend hours playing with my friends when I was younger.
It is, a bit… you do have dice, and you are crossing off items for points. You just don’t need to get combinations of runs or pairs.
I’ve banned phones from the dinner table… and that includes at restaurants. But, I need to substitute something, so we play games… which leads to conversation.
I laminated two playing sheets together (back to back) & use dry erase markers. This way I never run out of sheets & can play to my hearts content.