Current Rules for Tao Dice

A Dice Game for Two to Six Players

Each player starts with:

• A rolling tube and twelve-sided die of the matching color
• Two 6-sided dice
• 4 black stones
• 2 white 'reroll' stones

In addition there should be a two-sided token that does not start out in play.

Gameplay:

Gameplay consists of three levels: A game consists of several matches. A match is won when one player is in posession of all of the stones. Each match is made up of several rounds, where players bet stones in to a common pot, and the winner of the round takes the pot.

Playing a Round:

Part One

• All players ante one stone into the pot (in the center). When anteing, white and black stones are exactly the same.
• All players roll their two 6-sided dice in their tubes, standing the tubes upside-down so the player can see their own roll by looking down the top, but other player cannot see the roll.
• At this time any player may 'raise' the pot, by putting in one more stone. If any player chooses to do so, then each player must do the same ('calling' the raise), or 'fold' and drop out of the round by 'scooping' their dice up into their tube and placing it open-end up.
• If nobody offers to put a stone in, then each player must specifically say 'pass'. 'Passing' proceeds clockwise, starting with the current token-holder or, if this is the first round (and no player has the token), the player whose birthday is next.
• Only one player can 'raise' in this stage of the game. Once one player has raised, no other player can 're-raise'. This ensures that nobody can bet more than one stone in this part (except when the bid multiplier is in effect).
• If a player does raise the pot, each player must 'call' or 'fold' in turn. If a player chooses to call or fold ahead of their turn, that's fine. But a player can insist that each player who 'should' go before them actually makes their play before the player must make their own.
• White Reroll Stones If a player chooses to raise or call by placing a white stone instead of a black, then they must reroll their two 6-sided dice after everyone else has called or folded. The choice of whether to play a white or black stone is not tied to which color was used for the initial 'raise'. Both stones have the same value. the only difference is that players adding a white stone to the pot must reroll.
• After bidding is done, players who added white stones reroll their 6-sided dice.

Part Two

• All players ('active' players who have not folded) roll their 12-sided die into the center where other players can see the result.
• Bidding goes around again, using the same rules as the first round: Any player can choose to raise a single stone. If any player raises, then each player must call or fold.
• Only one player can 'raise' in this stage of the game. Once one player has raised, no other player can 're-raise'. This ensures that nobody can bet more than one stone in this part (except when the bid multiplier is in effect).
• If a player raises or calls with a white stone in this round, they must reroll the 12-sided die. They cannot choose to reroll the 6-sided dice instead.
• After all bidding is done, those who must reroll their 12-sided dice do so.
• After all rolling is done, those players who are still in the game lift their dice tubes, and their score is the combined total of their two 6-sided dice and their 12-sided die.
• The player with the highest total collects all the stones in the pot.
• All players with stones are now active again and must ante up for the next round.

Special Cases:

In Case Of A Tie: If two or more players tie with the highest score at the end of a round, those players (and no other players) start a new round, carrying over the current pot as the ante for the next round. Though these players don't have to pay an additional ante for this 'tiebreaker' round, all other betting proceeds as normal.

If a player runs out of stones ('Gratis Rule'): If a player has at least one stone before anteing, they must ante. If, over the course of that round, they have to call a raise but are unable to do so because they have no stones left, they can continue the round without folding, even if other players raise. When a player ends a round and has no dice, they are out for the remainder of the match, until one player wins the match, and the stones are redistributed. If a player is out of stones but has tied for the highest score for the round, the 'Gratis Rule' continues into the tie-breaking round(s).

Privacy: When folding, a player has no obligation to show their 6-sided roll to the other players, though they may do so if they wish. If a player doesn't fold, and makes it to the end of the round, where scores are tallied, they must show te other players their 6-sided dice, even if they know they haven't won the round.

Bid Multiplier: When playing with 4 or more players, the 'bid multiplier' rule is in play. Whenever two players have been eliminated from the match because they run out of stones, the number of stones required for an ante or bid goes up by one. For example, if playing with 4 players, once two players are out the ante becomes two stones, and each raise or call becomes two stones exactly. Two notes: First, if a player doesn't have enough stones to raise, match, or ante(ie they only have one stone and two are called for) they can use their one by virtue of the 'Gratis Rule'. Second, when raising or calling with a bid multiplier of 2 or more, the player must re-roll if any of the stones they add are white, and no matter how many white stones they deposit, they only reroll once for that bid. Similarly, when playing with 6 players, the bid multiplier raises to 2 when only 4 players remain, and raises to 3 when only two players remain.

Winning a Match: When a round ends and only one player has stones left, that player has won the match.

When playing with two players:

• If the match winner does not already have the token, they get it.
• If the match winner already had the token, then they win the game.

When playing with more than two players:

• If the match winner does not already have the token, they get it with the silver side up.
• If they have the token with the silver side up, then they turn it to gold-side up.
• If the match winner already had the token gold-side up, then they win the game.

Alternatively, shorter games can be played by just playing a single match, or seeing who can win two matches first.