Shut the Box
The pub classic. Nine tiles, two dice: shut tiles matching each roll until nothing fits, and the tiles left standing count against you. Low is good, and zero is glory.
One link, live dice, up to six players.
How to play
- All nine tiles start up. Roll two dice, then shut any set of open tiles adding up to exactly the roll: a 9 can be the 9, the 4 and 5, or the 1, 3 and 5.
- Keep rolling and shutting. The moment no set of open tiles matches your roll, the round ends.
- The open tiles are your score for the round, and low is good. Shut all nine and you have shut the box: a perfect zero.
- Once the 7, 8 and 9 are all down, you may roll a single die instead of two.
- Five rounds each, lowest total wins the match. A tie plays extra rounds until it breaks. Solo is the same five rounds against nothing but the odds.
The solved game
Shut the Box is small enough to solve completely: there are only 512 possible tile positions, so every choice can be computed rather than guessed. Playing perfectly, the expected score for a round is exactly 11.01, and the box shuts entirely 9.67% of the time. Both figures are computed from the full solution, not simulated, in keeping with how every number on this site is produced.
Two habits carry most of that perfection. Shut high tiles early: the 7, 8 and 9 are the hardest to place later and unlock the one-die option once they are down. And when the roll offers a choice, prefer the set that leaves flexible small tiles standing, because the 1, 2 and 3 can combine to match almost anything.
About the computer player
Because the game is solved, this computer plays it perfectly: the optimal shut for every roll and the optimal one-die-or-two choice, straight from the solution above. That is fairer than it sounds. Your dice are your own, its dice are its own, and with a perfect player still scoring about 11 a round, the luck of the roll decides most matches. The “Shut the best for me” button hands you the same perfect move, so you can play the computer as an equal from your first game.