I love mini-games.
You can play them in real life, you can inject them into taverns and pubs in your game, and they can serve as a nice change of pace between haggling with Kings and slaying Dragons (or slaying Kings and haggling with Dragons, depending on how your campaign is going). Here's three for you to steal and play with in-game or out. I've used these in pub settings, for carousing during downtime, or even for the BBEG to wager the macguffin against the PC's souls.
King's Keep
A deception / gambling game in the same vein as Liar’s Dice or Pirate’s Dice.
Setup: Both players have a cup and four dice (4d6).
Gameplay: Play begins when both players secretly roll three of their dice (3d6) via the cup. After seeing what they rolled in secret, both players roll the fourth dice (1d6) out in the open. Then, on a count to three, both players simultaneously do one of the following:
Yell “Keep" and keep the dice that was publicly rolled.
Yell “King” and ‘give’ the publicly rolled dice to the other player.
Goal: The winner is the player whose sum dice total is closest to 18 without going over, counting all the dice they have at the end of the round.
Strategy: When it comes to keeping (Keep) or giving (King) the dice, the idea is that you either want to force the other play to bust, or believe they’ll try to give you the dice to bust.
In the result of a tie: It’s a tie. Play again.
FIVES
This one is a very fast-paced, high stakes game that is completely up to chance. Each player needs five six-sided die (5d6). Each player rolls all their dice at the same time, and count how many fives they roll. Repeat for two more rounds. The player with the most fives at the end of the game wins.
Let Loose
Players compete to hit a pre-determined target number for multiple rounds. Each player needs a few D6s, and the game requires a 7 piece set of game dice.
Setup:The game requires one each of a d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12; these are the Target die. Each player needs at least 3d6.
Gameplay: Roll each Target die to determine the difficulty for that shot (in ascending order).
On each turn, a player can either choose to shoot an arrow (roll 1d6), or take their Time by not rolling, but adding an additional die to their roll on the next shot.
Goal: If a player hits, they move up to the next Target. First to hit each target wins.
* Dice are rolled simultaneously as all players have an equal number of turns.
* The most dice you can roll for any given shot is 3d6.
Example game:
Legolas and Robin Hood are playing
Target Die are rolled, resulting in the following Target #'s in order: 4, 4, 6, 9, 3
Round 1:
1. Legolas chooses to fire, and rolls a 3: Miss
2. Robin Hood chooses to take his time: On the next round, he can roll 2d6
Round 2:
1. Legolas chooses to fire and rolls a 6: Hit!
2. Robin Hood chooses to fire and rolls an 8: Hit!
3. Both players move to next target
Round 3:
1. Legolas chooses to take his time
2. Robin Hood chooses to fire and rolls a 5: Hit!
3. Robin Hood moves on to the next target
4. Legolas is now behind and needs to catch up.
So on and so forth until one player hits all 5 targets to win the game.
You can play them in real life, you can inject them into taverns and pubs in your game, and they can serve as a nice change of pace between haggling with Kings and slaying Dragons (or slaying Kings and haggling with Dragons, depending on how your campaign is going). Here's three for you to steal and play with in-game or out. I've used these in pub settings, for carousing during downtime, or even for the BBEG to wager the macguffin against the PC's souls.
King's Keep
A deception / gambling game in the same vein as Liar’s Dice or Pirate’s Dice.
Setup: Both players have a cup and four dice (4d6).
Gameplay: Play begins when both players secretly roll three of their dice (3d6) via the cup. After seeing what they rolled in secret, both players roll the fourth dice (1d6) out in the open. Then, on a count to three, both players simultaneously do one of the following:
Yell “Keep" and keep the dice that was publicly rolled.
Yell “King” and ‘give’ the publicly rolled dice to the other player.
Goal: The winner is the player whose sum dice total is closest to 18 without going over, counting all the dice they have at the end of the round.
Strategy: When it comes to keeping (Keep) or giving (King) the dice, the idea is that you either want to force the other play to bust, or believe they’ll try to give you the dice to bust.
In the result of a tie: It’s a tie. Play again.
FIVES
This one is a very fast-paced, high stakes game that is completely up to chance. Each player needs five six-sided die (5d6). Each player rolls all their dice at the same time, and count how many fives they roll. Repeat for two more rounds. The player with the most fives at the end of the game wins.
Let Loose
Players compete to hit a pre-determined target number for multiple rounds. Each player needs a few D6s, and the game requires a 7 piece set of game dice.
Setup:The game requires one each of a d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12; these are the Target die. Each player needs at least 3d6.
Gameplay: Roll each Target die to determine the difficulty for that shot (in ascending order).
On each turn, a player can either choose to shoot an arrow (roll 1d6), or take their Time by not rolling, but adding an additional die to their roll on the next shot.
Goal: If a player hits, they move up to the next Target. First to hit each target wins.
* Dice are rolled simultaneously as all players have an equal number of turns.
* The most dice you can roll for any given shot is 3d6.
Example game:
Legolas and Robin Hood are playing
Target Die are rolled, resulting in the following Target #'s in order: 4, 4, 6, 9, 3
Round 1:
1. Legolas chooses to fire, and rolls a 3: Miss
2. Robin Hood chooses to take his time: On the next round, he can roll 2d6
Round 2:
1. Legolas chooses to fire and rolls a 6: Hit!
2. Robin Hood chooses to fire and rolls an 8: Hit!
3. Both players move to next target
Round 3:
1. Legolas chooses to take his time
2. Robin Hood chooses to fire and rolls a 5: Hit!
3. Robin Hood moves on to the next target
4. Legolas is now behind and needs to catch up.
So on and so forth until one player hits all 5 targets to win the game.
Let Loose is wonderful! I've been thinking about mini-games and gambling as well, and I can't help but feel that since the rest of "reality" is simulated by dice rolls, having these games a part of it as well feels a little... odd? As such, I've had a lot of fun running something I call "Potion Roulette": if you don't drink one of the many failed potions, diluted poisons or spoiled wines on the table, you are out. Last person at the table gets the pot.
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