Classic Damn Straight!



A dice game

An exciting and interesting dice game for two or more people.

These instructions are for the original (classic) version. There is another version of the game, “Entrepreneurial Damn Straight” (or “Entrepreneurial Loaves and Biscuits” if you prefer).








Equipment

A total of six dice are required for this game. Five dice are the same color, the other die is a different color. The die of a unique color is called the yeast.
Additionally, a piece of paper and a writing implement are needed for keeping score.



Play of the Game

Turn

A turn consists of a one or more rolls. At the end of a turn the player may score the value of the player's rack.

Rack scoring

There are two factors that determine the value of a rack. The length of the straight is one of the factors. The score for the smallest straight, a straight of length one consisting of a single ace, is one point.
The score for the straight is doubled as each die is added to it. So:

The straight 1 scores one point.
The straight 1,2 scores two points.
The straight 1,2,3 scores four points.
The straight 1,2.3.4 scores eight points.
The straight 1,2,3,4,5 scores sixteen points.
The straight 1,2,3,4,5,6 scores thirty two points.

The score thirty two is so important that it gets its own name. Thirty two points is called a loaf. Sixteen points is commonly referred to as a half loaf.

If the yeast is in the rack, then the value for the straight is multiplied by the number on the yeast.
Here are the scores for all possible racks (the yeast value is underlined):

1 point

1

2 points

1,2

4 points

1,2,3

1,2

8 points

1,2,3,4

1,2,3

12 + 1 points

1,2,3

This is a baker's dozen.

See note below.

Half loaf

1,2,3,4,5

1,2,3,4

24 points

1,2,3,4

1 loaf

1,2,3,4,5,6

1,2,3,4,5

1,2,3,4

Loaf and a half

1,2,3,4,5

2 loaves

1,2,3,4,5,6

1,2,3,4,5

2 and a half loaves

1,2,3,4,5

3 loaves

1,2,3,4,5,6

4 loaves

1,2,3,4,5,6

5 loaves

1,2,3,4,5,6

6 loaves

1,2,3,4,5,6

The Damn Straight

For a Baker's Dozen, the player receives two scores, first twelve points are written and then below that one point is written. This makes the one point score the players biscuit (more on biscuits later).


To begin a turn the player rolls all six dice. After the roll, at least one die must be moved into the rack. Dice must be racked in order (first the one, then the two, then the three, etc). If a die can not be racked then this is a miss (more on that later). Once a die goes into the rack, it can not come out for the rest of the turn.

In addition to the rack a player may also put any number of dice into the bank. A die that is put into the bank may not be rolled again (with one exception), it can only be moved into the rack.  While dice must be racked in order, they need not be banked in order. For example; if the player rolled 2,2,4,1,3,6 on the first roll, then the player would rack the 1 (it would be legal to rack the 2,3, and 4 as well, but there is no advantage in doing that), and bank the 2,3,4, and 6.

After racking and banking the player may reroll any remaining dice. As long as the player has already banked the next number that needs racking, then the player will roll without fear of missing. Continuing with our example, the player rerolls the duplicate 2. The reroll produces a 4. The situation is now:


rack:

1

bank:

2,3,4,6

roll:

4

The player is able to rack by moving the 2 from the bank to the rack.
The player rerolls the 4 and gets a 6. The player then moves the three from the bank to the rack. Now the situation is:

rack:

1,2,3,

bank:

4,6

roll:

6

The player rerolls the 6 and gets a 5. Perfect! Damn Straight! This is the best possible turn. the player then racks the 4, 5 and 6 and scores six loaves for the turn.

The Biscuit

All turns are not so fortunate as the example above. What happens when players miss (are unable to rack after a roll)? There is one more concept that must be understood before this can be addressed. The biscuit is a key element of this game.

A biscuit is the last positive score that a player has made in this round. Each player begins each new round without a biscuit. The first time that a player scores during a round, the player's biscuit is the value of that score. From that point, until the end of the round, the player will have a biscuit. Every time the player makes a positive score, the player's biscuit is set to that value.

Early in a round, when a player has not yet got a biscuit, if the player misses, then the player will get no score for the round. A miss can happen on the very first roll if the initial roll does not contain any aces.

If a player has racked something, but  does not have the next number in sequence in the bank, then there is a chance that the player could miss if the player were to roll again. It is at this point that player must decide whether or not to roll again, knowing that this might be the last chance to score the current rack.

If a player has a biscuit, then after the player's first miss on a turn, the player has a second decision to make. The player can stop now and take a score of zero for the turn or the player can say "I'll risk my biscuit!" and continue the turn.

After a biscuit has been risked on the turn, if the player misses again during the turn the player will have the amount of the current biscuit subtracted from the player's score.

Turn Scoring

There are three possibilities at the end of a turn:

There is a fine point here regarding the biscuit. When a player risks and subsequently loses her biscuit. She loses the number of points in her biscuit. Her actual biscuit remains unchanged! Here is an example that illustrates that:


Alice first scores 1 loaf on the first turn in a round. Her biscuit is 1 loaf.
On her next turn she scores 1 point, her biscuit is now 1 point.
On her next tuirn she risks and loses her biscuit, 1 point is subtracted from her score but her biscuit remains at 1 point.
On her next turn, she again risks and loses her biscuit, 1 point is again subtracted from her score.


There is no limit to the number of times that a player may risk (and possibly lose) her biscuit.

Swapping in the Yeast

In general, once a die has been banked, the only way it can come out  of the bank is by going into the rack. There is one exception to this rule. When the yeast is one of the dice being rolled (because it is neither racked nor banked yet) and it comes up the same as a die that is currently in the bank, the player may swap the yeast into the the bank and take the matching die out of the bank.

The reverse is not allowed. The yeast may never be swapped out of the bank.

The yeast swap may occur before the required racking for that roll. In the following situation:


biscuit:

none

rack:

1,2,3,4

bank:

5

roll:

5

The player may swap the yeast into the bank, then rack the yeasty 5, and then end the turn scoring two and a half loaves.

Strict Biscuit Risking

The Strict Biscuit Risking rule states that a player may only risk their biscuit only after that player has just missed and there is no die in the rack that can legally be racked. Strict Biscuit Risking is the law of the land.

Of course, if the players agree before the game that they wish to play under the Permissive Biscuit Risking option, they are free to do so. This option gives the player an advantage in the following sorts of situations:



biscuit:

1 point

rack:

1,2,3,4

bank:

5

roll:

2

The player has not yet risked her biscuit. Under the Strict Biscuit Risking rule, the player must rack the 5 in the bank and then decide whether or not to continue rolling. Under the Permissive Biscuit Risking option, the player may risk her biscuit and roll again. If she rolls a 6 she gets the damn straight, but the real advantage comes when she rolls a 5. Now she can swap the 5 into the bank, rack it, and quit her turn with two and a half loaves.

Turn Examples

1: This is a player's initial roll in a round.


biscuit:

none

rack:


bank:


roll:

3,3,4,4,5,6

The player cannot rack and has no biscuit to risk. The turn is over. No points are scored.

2: There are often choices to be made even when there is no biscuit.


biscuit:

none

rack:


bank:


roll:

1,3,4,4,6,6

This player made really wanted to get a small biscuit because that would give much more flexibility later in the round. So, after racking the 1, the player elected to stop rolling and take the one point. If the player were to have rolled again and missed (did not roll a 2) then the turn would have been over and the player still would have no biscuit.

3: Other players may have made different choices on the same roll.


biscuit:

none

rack:


bank:


roll:

1,3,4,4,6,6

This player racked the ace, banked the 3 and yeasty 4 and rolled the rest.
The result is shown in the next example.

4:


biscuit:

none

rack:

1

bank:

3, 4

roll:

2,3,4

This player got his 2 and racks it. The player now has two free rolls because the next two numbers are in the bank. The player rerolls the unbanked 3 and 4 and rolls a pair of aces. The player then racks the 3 from the bank and rolls again. This time he rolls 2,6. The 4 from the bank gets racked and the player decides to stop with a loaf in the rack.

5: There are more options when the biscuit is small.

biscuit:

1 point

rack:

1

bank:

2

roll:

4,4,5,6

This player racks the 2 and banks the 4,5,6. She now has two rolls with the remaining dice to roll the needed three. Of course, if she needs to take the second roll, she will be risking her one point biscuit, but that is no big deal.

6: The bigger the biscuit, the less likely the player is to risk it.


biscuit:

4 loaves

rack:


bank:


roll:

2,4,4,4,5,6

This was the player's first roll and he missed. He elects to take a score of zero for the turn rather than risk his four loaf biscuit.



Round

A round consists of a set of turns for each player. There is no set number of turns that comprise a round. Some rounds are over in a single turn, some rounds take many turns.

The winner of a round is the first player who, when the player's turn comes around, is all alone in the lead and has a score that is six loaves or more.

Actually, many rounds end a little before that point. To be more exact, a round is ended also when a player has more than six loaves and there is no player left who can tie or go ahead of the leader even if they score a perfect six loaf turn.

Here are a few examples:

  1. In a two person game, Alice has four loaves and Bob has two loaves. Alice scores five loaves. This gives Alice a total of nine loaves. Even if Bob was to have  a perfect turn and roll a Damn Straight and score six loaves, Alice would still be ahead  nine loaves to eight loaves when it came to be her turn again. So Bob does not get a chance to roll again. The round is over and Alice has won.

  2. In a two person game, Alice has five loaves, Bob has one loaf. Bob scores five loaves on his turn. This gives him six loaves. Alice is within striking distance (since Bob is less than six loaves ahead of Alice. Alice takes her turn and scores two loaves.  Now she is a loaf ahead of Bob. Bob now takes his turn and scores one loaf.  Now they are tied. Alice scores nothing on her next turn (her initial roll has no aces in it, and she is unwilling to risk her biscuit, since if she were to lose her biscuit Bob would win the round). Bob then scores one point on his turn. This puts Bob one point ahead of Alice. Alice then scores no points on her turn (even after risking her biscuit). Bob wins the round.

  3. In a three person game Alice has one point, Bob has four loaves, Charlie has nothing. Alice gets a Damn Straight on her turn. Bob scores nothing on his turn. The round is now over since Charlie is not in striking distance.

  4. In a three person game Alice has one point, Bob has nothing, Charlie has five loaves. Alice Gets a Damn Straight on her turn so she has six loaves, one point. Even though Bob can not go ahead of Alice on this turn he still gets to roll hoping that Charlie will come through and prolong the round. So Bob takes his turn and also gets the perfect six loaf score. Charlie takes his turn and scores two loaves. The score is now Alice: six loaves plus one, Bob: six loaves, Charlie: seven loaves. Alice then scores nothing on her turn and then Bob scores two loaves to take the lead. Both Charlie and Alice get nothing on their next turns so Bob wins the round.

Courtesy

When a player is ahead, and has scored enough on a turn so that she clinches the round (because nobody else can catch her), she stops rolling at the point that the round is clinched. So if Alice has five loaves and Bob has nothing, if Alice rolls 1,2,3,4,5,5 on her first roll she simply takes her loaf and a half and ends the round.
There is no point in repeatedly rolling the extra die to see if she could get three loaves.



Starting the first round

Before the first round, all players roll the yeast (the die of a unique color) to see who gets to have the first turn in the first round. If one player has the highest roll, that player gets to go first.
If there is a tie, then all players remember their score and roll the yeast again.
If one player has the highest total, then that player gets to go first.

As long as there is a tie for the highest total, all players roll again, adding their latest roll to their total. This continues until there is one player with the highest total.
The player with the highest total goes first in the first round.

Turns always pass clockwise among the players. This means that turns pass to the left.



Starting subsequent rounds

The player who won the the previous round always gets the last first move in the next round. This means that the person to the left of the winner of the previous round gets to go first in the next round.



Game

A game is composed of rounds.
For a two person game, the game winner is the first person to win four rounds.
For a three person game, the game winner is the first person to win three rounds.
For a game with four or more people, the game winner is the first person to win two rounds.

The Scorepad

Scores are kept in a vertical column for each player. For most small scores (1,2,4,8,12, and 24) the score is just written as a number. The other scores are all written with a circle around them (for formatting reasons, I have underlined these entries instead of circling them as you would on a score pad).

Here are the scorepad entries for the large scores:


+

Half loaf

1

One loaf

1+

One and a half loaves

2

Two loaves

2+

Two and a half loaves

3

Three loaves

4

Four loaves

5

Five loaves

6

Six loaves


When a player loses his biscuit, the scorekeeper simply crosses out the previous score by putting a line through it. If the previous score in the round already has a line through it, then a new entry will be added in the player's column that is preceded by a minus sign.

Here is part of a scorepad:

Alice    Bob
1           2+
-1          2
-1          4
-1
-1
5
                                   Bob won

Alice was having a tough round. She had a small biscuit and kept risking it and losing it. Bob, on the other hand, scored well without having a small biscuit. The players may not have the same number of entries for a game as no entry is made when a player scores zero points.

Bob won the hand, but Alice could have caught up if she had scored four or more loaves on her last roll. She most certainly risked her five loaf biscuit and lost it but the five loaf entry was not crossed out. This only happens on the last turn of the round. When the last player of the hand is behind by six loaves or less, that player is forced to risk the old biscuit, but as a courtesy it is not scratched out.  This in no way affects the outcome of the round.

Below is an image of an image of a score pad for a game between two people. Notice the barbs on the lines between the rounds. They show who won the last round, and how many rounds that that player has won.




Here is a score pad for a three person game (a game where each player only scored six loaves or nothing each turn). Note that with three or more people or more the barbs are no longer used. Instead, the number of rounds that a player has won is written in a rectangle hanging from the dividing line between the rounds.












Box Rules

Damn Straight is an ideal game to take camping or backpacking. In both cases you must be prepared by having a nice rolling surface. When I am camping, I have a small box (a See's Candy box) that is about 5" by 10". When I am backpacking I take some tiny dice and a plastic coffee can lid (about 6" in diameter).

In both cases, it is undesirable to have the dice flying about the wilderness due to over-exuberance while rolling. So, any dice that do not make it into the box (or lid) are out for the rest of that turn!

Similarly when playing on a table the players may agree to play table rules. If a player is rolling a dice and it goes onto the floor, it is out for the round. You are not allowed to use your arm to keep the rolling die on the table!





Glossary

activating the yeast

If the yeast is in the bank but there is no guarantee that it can make it into the rack because at least one of the smaller numbers has not been saved yet to the bank or rack, than that yeast is not yet activated. When the missing number is rolled and saved then the yeast becomes activated.

baguette

A rack of 1,2,3,4,5,6

batard

A rack of 1,2,3,4

biscuit in the box

An expression meaning that the player has risked the biscuit on this turn

Endgame

The endgame begins in each round when the first player reaches the six loaf threshold.

long loaf

A baguette

Mini-biscuit

A small biscuit that a player can risk with little fear

oven

Another word for the bank

pentaloaf

A rack worth five loaves 1,2,3,4,5,6

quadraloaf

A rack worth four loaves 1,2,3,4,5,6

Rack after roll

A reminder that the only way to get positive points in a turn is to be able to rack a die after the last roll. Part of the famous children's ditty “Rack after Role gets you nearer your Goal”.

short loaf

A rack of 1,2,3,4 worth one loaf

swapping in the yeast

Trading the yeast for a matching die that is already in the bank

tri-loaf

A rack worth three loaves 1,2,3,4,5,6

Yeast

The one die that is a different color from all the other dice.



History

This game was created by Jon Hale in August 2007.
Copyright 2007-2015 - Jon Hale.

Version 150505.