Qwixx rules — the fast-paced dice game with four colors

You can learn the rules of Qwixx in two minutes, but every roll is a dilemma: do you cross off a number far to the right and give up everything in between, or do you wait — at the risk of the row being locked before your next chance? Below you'll find the complete flow of play, the rules for locking rows, the penalties, and the full scoring.

What do you need?

• Six dice: two white and four colored — red, yellow, green, and blue.
• The Qwixx score pad and a pen for every player.
• 2 to 5 players, ages 8 and up. A game takes about 15 minutes.

The score sheet: four rows

The sheet has four colored rows of eleven numbers:

• Red and yellow: ascending from 2 through 12.
• Green and blue: descending from 12 through 2.

Two rules drive the whole game: you always cross off numbers from left to right, and a number you skip (to the left) is gone for good — you can never go back. The more crosses in a row, the more points that row earns.

How a turn works

The active player rolls all six dice. Then two things happen, in a fixed order:

1. The white roll — for everyone. The active player adds up the two white dice and calls out the sum. All players (including the non-active ones) may now cross off that number in one row of their choice. You may, but you don't have to.
2. The color roll — for the active player only. The active player may then combine one white die with one colored die and cross off that sum in the row of that color. This too is optional.

Then the dice pass to the next player. Watch out: only the active player has a catch to deal with — cross off nothing at all in your entire turn, and a penalty follows.

Locking a row

The last number of a row — the 12 for red and yellow, the 2 for green and blue — is protected: you may only cross it off if you already have at least five crosses in that row. Do it, and three things happen at once:

• You also cross off the lock symbol after the number — it counts as an extra cross toward your points;
• The row is locked for all players: no one can cross off anything in it anymore;
• The die of that color is removed from the game.

The penalty

If the active player crosses off nothing at all in their own turn — not on the white roll and not on the color roll — they must mark a penalty box. Each penalty costs 5 points at the end, and on the fourth penalty the game is over immediately. Non-active players never have to take a penalty: for them, passing is free.

Scoring

The game ends as soon as two rows are locked or someone marks their fourth penalty. For each row, count your crosses (a lock counts as an extra cross) and look up the score:

Each new cross is worth more than the one before: the first earns 1 point, the twelfth a full 12 extra. Finally, subtract 5 points per penalty. The player with the highest total wins.

Variants

• Qwixx Deluxe — with erasable score boards instead of a paper pad.
• Qwixx Mixx & Big Points — extra score pads with shuffled numbers or bonus boxes, for those who know the base sheet by heart.
• Qwixx the card game and Qwixx Longo — the same cross-off idea in other forms.

If you like quick games with a mean push-your-luck decision, also try Pickomino or Farkle (10,000) — or browse all dice games.

Tips & strategy

• Be stingy on the left. The numbers on the left of a row (2 and 3 for red/yellow, 12 and 11 for green/blue) come up rarely; don't skip them too easily, but don't wait forever for them either. A cross on the 7 costs you everything to its left.
• The 7 comes up most often. Two dice together make 7 more often than anything else, and 2 or 12 most rarely — internalize that and you'll cross off smarter. You'll find the full distribution of sums on the dice probability page.
• Count your neighbors' crosses. If another player has five in one color, that row can lock at any moment. Cross off in that color sooner rather than later — or push for the lock yourself if you're ahead.
• A penalty is sometimes fine. Early in the game, a forced cross in the wrong spot often costs more than 5 points in missed opportunities. Do the math before you cross off "just anything".