Schocken

You need three dice, a dice cup and 13 beer mats as penalty tokens in the middle of the table. The aim is to collect as few mats as possible. For the first round everyone throws once and the lowest throw starts.

How a round works

1. The starting player throws up to three times, hidden under the cup. Good dice can be set aside face up while the rest are rethrown.
2. The starter’s number of throws applies to everyone: stop after one throw and the others only get one try too.
3. Turning sixes: two sixes from the same throw may be turned into a one, three sixes into two ones – only if another throw is still allowed.
4. Everyone reveals. The worst throw takes as many mats as the best throw is worth.
5. The loser of the round starts the next one.

Throws from high to low

Throw	Dice	Mats for the loser
Schock out	1-1-1	all of them – the half is lost at once
Schock 6 to Schock 2	1-1-6 to 1-1-2	6 to 2 (value of the third die)
General	three of a kind, e.g. 4-4-4	3
Straight	4-5-6 down to 1-2-3	2
Number	anything else, read as a number: 6-4-1 is 641	1

On a tie, whoever equalled later loses – unless they needed fewer throws.

Halves and the final

At first the mats come from the middle. Once it’s empty, the round winner passes their mats to the loser, and anyone without mats is out for that half. Whoever ends up with all 13 mats loses the first half. The second half works the same way. If the same person loses both halves, they lose the game – otherwise the two half-losers play a final.

As a drinking game

Traditionally the overall loser buys the next round. As a drinking game, take one sip per mat you receive. Drop a die off the table and you drink.

Variations

• Jule: 4-2-1 counts as a special throw worth seven mats.
• Straight from one throw: a straight only counts if all three dice landed together.
• Single half: for short nights, play just one half with no final.

Tips

Almost always keep your ones – they’re the way to a Schock. House rules differ from pub to pub, so agree on them before you start.