DROP DEAD
[source: Skip Frey, "How to Win at Dice Games"]


Despite its name, this is a most entertaining game of 
chance for players of any age who would like to play 
for small stakes or just for fun.

PLAYING TIME: About 5 minutes for each round.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: Any number can play.  The game is 
suitable for head-to-head conflict between two players, 
but competition among a group of six or even more will 
prove most exciting.

NUMBER OF DICE: Five.

EQUIPMENT: Simple tally sheet, with the names of
the players at the top; dice cup.

OBJECT OF GAME: To achieve the highest score in a given 
number of rounds or innings.

TO START: The order of play is not important in this 
game.  Any player may begin.

THE PLAY: Play proceeds clockwise.  A game is not over 
until all five innings have been played out by all 
players.
The first player begins his turn by rolling all five 
dice.  If among the five dice cast, there is neither a 
2 nor a 5, he scores the sum of the faces of the five 
dice, and he rolls again.
Any throw which yields either a 2 or a 5, or both, 
does not score.  The 2's and the 5's are set aside, and 
the remaining dice are recast.
A player's turn continues until all the dice are 
"dead"; that is, until all the dice have shown either a 
2 or a 5. Thus, if a player rolls all 2's and 5's on 
his first turn, he does not score, and he does not cast 
again.

The results of all casts which do not yield a 2 or a 
5 are added to compute the total score for a player's 
turn.


A sample turn might be as follows:

	First cast:	5-5-3-3-1	No score. Two 5s
			are removed and the
			other three dice are
			recast.
	Second cast:	3-4-6	Score 13 points and
			recast all three dice.

	Third cast:	1-2-4	No score. Remove
			the 2 and recast two
			dice.
	Fourth cast:	1-5	No score. Remove
			the 5 and recast one
			die.
	Fifth cast:	3	Score 3 points and
			recast die.

	Sixth cast:	2	No score. Turn is
			completed.

	TOTAL SCORE:	16 points

The game is played for five rounds.  The player with the 
highest total at the end of five innings is the winner.
If "Drop Dead" is played as a gambling game, each player 
contributes a given number of chips to the pot at the 
outset.  The winner collects the pot.
An option is to have the winner collect a stake of so much 
per point from each of his vanquished opponents.  His margin 
of victory will determine the harvest of profits he reaps.
"Drop Dead" is a game of chance, so no strategy hints are 
in order.  However, a word of warning is offered to the 
optimist.
Despite appearances, this is not a high-scoring game.  A 
player's chance of scoring on his first cast is very slim, 
for the odds are heavily against rolling five dice without 
the appearance of a 2 or a 5.
Only when the player is left with a single die do the odds 
favor a successful scoring throw.  There are four favorable 
faces and two unfavorable faces.  Thus the odds are 2-to-1 a 
player will score when rolling only one die.
It is not unusual, though, for a turn to result in no 
score.  A player tallying 20 or more points in a turn has 
done very well, indeed.
Let's look at a simplified analysis of the scoring chances 
of the player who has two dice left to cast.

Each die has two good results for every bad one, but 
a player does not score unless both dice come up good.
The chances for each die may be represented as


First Die
a. good
b. good
c. bad

Second Die
d. good
e. good
f. bad


Successful possibilities with two dice (from the 
diagram above) are: ad, ae, bd, and be.  The total is 
four.  Unsuccessful results are: af, bf, cd, ce, and 
cf.  The total is five.
The odds are thus 5-to4 against a scoring cast with 
two dice.
The odds in favor of a successful throw become 
progressively poorer as the number of dice in the cast 
increases:
The odds are 19-to-8 against a scoring cast with 
three dice.
The odds are 65-to-16 (better than 4-to-1) against a 
scoring cast with four dice.
The odds are 211-to-32 (about 13-to-2) against a 
scoring cast with five dice.