Bunco
The great American living-room dice game: twelve players, three tables, three dice, and a lot of shouting. Roll for your table below, and print the score sheets for your Bunco night.
Rolling for
1s
This turn
0
Three dice, chasing 1s
How to play Bunco
Bunco is a social game first and a dice game second, which is exactly why it has survived a century of kitchen tables. The classic setup is twelve players at three tables of four, playing in pairs with the partner across from you. House rules vary from club to club; this is the common table, stated plainly.
- The game runs in six rounds. In round one everybody rolls for 1s, in round two for 2s, and so on up to 6s.
- On your turn, roll three dice. Score a point for every die matching the round’s number, and keep rolling as long as you score at least one point. Roll nothing and the dice pass left.
- All three dice showing the round’s number is a bunco: 21 points, and you shout it. All three showing any other matching number is a mini bunco, worth 5.
- The head table rings the bell to start each round and ends it the moment a pair there reaches 21 points. Everyone finishes the roll in progress, tallies a win or a loss for the round, then winners move up a table, one player at each table shifts seats so partners change, and the next round begins.
- After all six rounds, count wins, losses and buncos on the score cards. Prizes traditionally go to the most wins, the most buncos, and cheerfully to the most losses.
Printable score sheets
Four cards to a page, dashed lines to cut along, a row per round with space for wins, losses and buncos. Print three pages and a twelve player night is covered.
BUNCO SCORE CARD
Name ____________________
| Round | Win | Loss | Buncos |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | |||
| 2s | |||
| 3s | |||
| 4s | |||
| 5s | |||
| 6s | |||
| Total |
randomdiceroll.com/games/bunco/
BUNCO SCORE CARD
Name ____________________
| Round | Win | Loss | Buncos |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | |||
| 2s | |||
| 3s | |||
| 4s | |||
| 5s | |||
| 6s | |||
| Total |
randomdiceroll.com/games/bunco/
BUNCO SCORE CARD
Name ____________________
| Round | Win | Loss | Buncos |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | |||
| 2s | |||
| 3s | |||
| 4s | |||
| 5s | |||
| 6s | |||
| Total |
randomdiceroll.com/games/bunco/
BUNCO SCORE CARD
Name ____________________
| Round | Win | Loss | Buncos |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | |||
| 2s | |||
| 3s | |||
| 4s | |||
| 5s | |||
| 6s | |||
| Total |
randomdiceroll.com/games/bunco/
Four cards per page. A twelve player night needs three pages.
The odds at a Bunco table
Exact figures over the 216 ways three dice can land, computed rather than copied, in keeping with how every number on this site is produced:
| One roll of three dice | Chance |
|---|---|
| Bunco, all three match the round | 0.46% |
| Mini bunco, three of another kind | 2.31% |
| Exactly two dice match | 6.94% |
| Exactly one die matches | 34.72% |
| Any score at all, keep rolling | 44.44% |
A bunco comes up about once every 216 rolls, which across a twelve player night is rare enough to deserve the shout and common enough that somebody usually gets one. And since the odds are the same for every player at every table, Bunco is pure shared luck: the whole game is the company.
Playing tonight?
The roller above handles a table that forgot its dice, and the rest of the site covers everything else a games night needs: solo dice games with computer opponents, live multiplayer rooms you can share by link, and a fresh daily challenge for the morning after.