FAMILY GAMES Using the SQUARE SHOOTERS® Dice

1. The Classic SQUARE SHOOTERS® Game

The NEW SQUARE SHOOTERS® game is designed for ages 8+ and can be played by one or more players. The full game set is coming soon, but if you want to try it now using your SQUARE SHOOTERS® dice, here’s how…

Game materials:

The SQUARE SHOOTERS® Dice

42 game cards, including:

• 34 “target” cards. TARGET CARDS show typical playing card “hands” that the players will try to roll during their turn.
• 8 “shootout” cards. SHOOTOUT CARDS bring surprising twists to the game that can change your luck!

Scorekeeping chips:

Object:

• Win chips by rolling the correct target hand during each round of play. A round consists of every player taking a turn. The player who has won the most chips at the end of EIGHT ROUNDS is the winner!

Note: If you’d like to play for more or less time, just increase or decrease the number of rounds.

Rules:

• Decide who goes first, then play passes to the left.
• Shuffle the game cards and place in a pile face down where everybody can reach them but they won’t get knocked over by the tumbling dice!
• On your turn, flip over a card. If one of the “TARGET” cards is turned, the player who turned the card has three rolls of the dice to try to match the hand that is shown on that card. All nine dice can be rolled by the player.

Two ways to win chips!

• If the player matches the EXACT HAND shown on the target card in three rolls or less, the player wins the total chips indicated on the target card.
• If the player matches the TYPE OF HAND shown on the target card in three rolls or less, the player wins one-half the total chips indicated on the target card.

For instance, if the target hand is “Four of a Kind” and shows four aces, the player could roll four 10’s (or four of any other rank), and they win one-half the total chips indicated.

So you have a choice to make: go for the exact hand and the most chips (harder), or go for the type of hand shown and get at least some chips (easier). Some people make this choice when they see what happens after their first roll of the dice!

• Bonus: If the player rolls the exact hand shown in less than three rolls, the player gets a two (2) chip bonus! Note that you don’t get the bonus if you use a joker to complete your hand.
• Let younger players win more chips by giving them all of the chips indicated on a target card, even if they only roll the type of hand shown, but not the exact hand. If the adults in the group stick to the original instructions but the kids have an easier chance to win chips, it’s more fun for everyone!

• After the first and second rolls, the player may choose to leave a die or dice on the table and only roll the remaining dice. A player would do this because the die or dice left on the table are the best choices for trying to roll the target hand for that round. A player can always pick up and roll all nine dice for the second and third rolls.

• Standard game play assumes that the jokers are wild: one or both jokers can be used to match the target!
• Or, the players can agree to exclude the jokers from play to make it more difficult to match a hand.

• Players who do not roll either the exact target hand or the type of hand shown on their card get no chips for that round.
• Here is what happens if a player draws one of the 8 “shootout” cards:

There are four different types of shootout cards:
1) Double-Down, 2) Quick-Draw, 3) Showdown, and 4) Joker Card.

• DOUBLE-DOWN: When you draw this card, you keep it until you want to use it. Set the card aside and draw again to continue your turn as usual. Whenever you are taking a turn, you can play this card after you make your first roll and after you select the dice from that roll that you are keeping to make your hand. You must play this card before your second roll. If you win chips during that turn, the chips you won according to the usual rules are doubled!
• QUICK DRAW: When you draw this card, you keep it until you want to use it. Set the card aside and draw again to continue your turn as usual. Whenever an opponent is taking a turn, you can play this card after the opponent makes his first roll and selects the dice that he is keeping from that roll to make his hand. You must play this card before the opponent's second roll. If the opponent wins chips during that turn, you will be given the same number of chips as your opponent has won. (You both receive the winning chip quantity.)
• SHOWDOWN: When you draw this card, you choose one player to face you in a "showdown" contest. You each have 3 rolls of the dice to roll the best possible hand as ranked in FIGURE 1. The player rolling the best hand wins up to 6 chips from the other player. If the losing player does not have 6 chips, the winning player collects all of the chips owned by the losing player at that time (in this case, the losing player will not “owe” any more chips to the winning player later). When you draw this card -- this is your turn -- you do not draw another card and roll as usual.
• JOKER CARD: When you draw this card, you keep it until you want to use it. Set the card aside and draw again to continue your turn as usual. Whenever you are taking a turn, this card acts as a wild card to help you complete any hand. You can play this card to complete any hand just like if you had rolled a joker with the dice.

• When a player’s turn is complete, players discards all game cards used during the turn, face down in a discard pile. The cards in the discount pile may need to be reshuffled and used again to complete the game.

Tiebreaker: If two or more players have the same chip count at the end of all eight rounds, then the tied players square off in more rounds of play until one player wins more chips than another!

If you need more chips, just use pennies!

Target Hand Summary

“Target hands” are the hands you are trying to roll during each round. These target hands are printed on the 34 target cards. Square Shooters® includes several target cards for seven types of playing card hands. These hands are shown in FIGURE 1, and are ranked in order of difficulty to achieve. The hands that are more difficult to roll earn more chips than the easier hands!

FIGURE 1

A Fun Variation to the Classic SQUARE SHOOTERS® Game

In the classic game, each player turns their own game card and tries for the target hand they turn over. Each player can obviously turn target cards that are worth different chips, which brings a level of chance to the game in addition to the chance of the dice roll itself.

But a fun alternative is for the players to agree to roll the same target hand during each round. The first player turns over a game card, and then all players try to roll that card. This way, everybody has the same chance to roll for the same amount of chips.

After each player is done rolling in a round, then a different person chooses a new card for the group (choosing the game cards proceeds in order, moving left from the first player who chose a card).

If a “shootout” card is turned, then that player can keep the shootout card and then draws again. The shootout card belongs only to the player who selected it, and he can play it at any time as described above in the instructions for the classic game.