Pig (the dice game)
Pig (the dice game): quick guide and game info
Pig is a dice game built around one simple decision: Roll or Hold?
Keep rolling and your score gets higher. Press Hold and those points are safely added to your total. But roll the pig face before you bank them and everything you’ve earned during that turn disappears. Our version lets you play against Marty, Martin or Martimus, choose a target of 50, 100 or 150 points, and settle the competition in a One Off, Best of 3 or Best of 5 series.
The rules couldn’t be much simpler. Knowing when to stop is the difficult part.
About Our Pig
Evergreen Arcade’s Pig gives you three opponents with different approaches to risk. Marty tends to bank his points relatively early, Martin is willing to push his turns further, while Martimus pays more attention to how the game is developing and adjusts how much risk he’s willing to take.
You can also choose how long you want the game to last:
Short – 50 points
Classic – 100 points
Long – 150 points
Then choose a One Off, Best of 3 or Best of 5 match. On every turn, you face the same choice as your opponent: keep rolling to increase your Turn Score or Hold and make those points permanent. Just remember that the pig is always waiting.
Choose Your Opponent
The three difficulty levels approach the Roll-or-Hold decision differently.
Easy – Marty prefers a relatively cautious approach. He’ll build up a reasonable Turn Score before banking it, but he doesn’t pay much attention to the wider situation. Whether he’s comfortably ahead, badly behind or approaching the target, Marty tends to stick with the same general plan. That makes him a good opponent when you’re learning how to balance risk and reward.
Medium – Martin is more willing to push his luck. He generally lets his Turn Score grow higher before deciding he’s earned enough to Hold. That gives him the potential for bigger turns than Marty, but every extra roll also gives the pig another opportunity to wipe those points away. Like Marty, Martin mostly concentrates on his current turn rather than changing his approach according to the overall score.
Hard – Martimus is considerably more aware of what’s happening in the game. He normally has a healthy appetite for risk, but he can change his approach depending on the situation. Fall well ahead and Martimus may become more aggressive in an attempt to catch you. Let him get close to victory with a lead, however, and he’s more likely to protect what he’s earned rather than risk throwing away a winning position. That makes him less predictable than Marty or Martin and a much tougher opponent to manage over a full game.
Target Score and Series Type
Before the game begins, choose how many points are needed to win.
Short – 50 Points. Short games can move quickly. A single strong turn can create a substantial lead, and there isn’t always much time to recover from an unlucky run of pigs. Choose 50 when you want a quick game.
Classic – 100 Points. Classic gives you more room for the lead to move back and forth. One bad turn hurts, but there’s usually enough game remaining to recover. It’s a good middle ground when you want enough time for the risk-versus-reward decisions to develop without committing to the longest game.
Long – 150 Points. Long gives both players considerably more opportunities to build leads, lose them and fight their way back. Individual turns still matter, but one unlucky pig is less likely to decide the entire game. Choose 150 when you want the longest contest.
One Off, Best of 3 or Best of 5?
You can also choose how many games make up the match.
- One Off: One game decides the winner.
- Best of 3: The first player to win two games takes the series.
- Best of 5: The first player to win three games takes the series.
The target score applies to each individual game. So if you’re playing a Best of 5 at 100 points, you’ll need to defeat your opponent in three separate races to 100 before you can claim the series.
Game Layout and Setup
Choose your opponent, target score and match length before beginning.
During the game, you’ll see your Total Score and your current Turn Score. These are not the same thing. Your Total Score contains points you’ve already banked. Those points are safe. Your Turn Score contains only the points you’ve accumulated during your current turn. Those points remain at risk until you press Hold.
Press Roll to throw the die. If you roll 2–6, the number is added to your Turn Score and you can decide whether to Roll again or Hold.
If you press Hold, the Turn Score is added to your Total Score and your opponent takes a turn.
If you roll the pig face, your Turn Score is wiped out and your turn ends immediately.
Your previously banked Total Score is not affected.
How to Play Pig (the Dice Game)
The goal is to reach the selected target before your opponent.
On your turn:
- Press Roll.
- Add the result to your Turn Score.
- Decide whether to Roll again or Hold.
- If you Hold, your Turn Score is safely added to your Total Score.
- If you roll the pig, your Turn Score becomes zero and your turn ends.
Then your opponent gets the same opportunity.
The first player to reach the target score wins the game.
Every ordinary roll gives you more points. Every additional roll also gives the pig another chance. That’s the entire dilemma.
The Pig Face
In our version, the number 1 is represented by a pig face.
It behaves exactly as the dangerous roll in Pig should: roll it and your current Turn Score disappears.
For example, imagine you’ve accumulated 18 points during your turn.
You decide to Roll again.
If you roll a 5, your Turn Score rises to 23 and you face the decision again.
If you roll the pig instead, those 18 unbanked points are gone and play passes to your opponent.
Anything already in your Total Score remains safe.
How to Improve Your Pig (the Dice Game) Strategy
Pig involves plenty of luck, but your Roll-or-Hold decisions determine how much risk you’re willing to accept.
Know What You’re Actually Risking
A Turn Score of 3 isn’t much to lose. A Turn Score of 25 is a very different matter. Before every additional roll, think about what you’re putting at risk rather than focusing only on what you might gain. The larger your Turn Score becomes, the more painful a pig will be.
Remember That Every Roll Can End the Turn
Every roll has the same danger: the pig can appear and wipe out your unbanked points. Rolling successfully several times in a row doesn’t make the next roll safe. If you’ve already built a Turn Score you’d be happy to add permanently to your total, Hold deserves serious consideration.
Your Opponent’s Score Matters
You don’t have to use exactly the same strategy throughout the entire game. If you have a comfortable lead and your opponent is far from the target, you may not need an enormous turn. If you’re badly behind and your opponent is approaching victory, playing too cautiously may simply allow them to finish before you can catch up. Sometimes the situation calls for protecting points. Sometimes it calls for taking a chance.
Think About How Many Points You Actually Need
As you approach the target, pay attention to the exact gap. If you only need a modest number of points to win, there may be little reason to keep chasing a huge Turn Score. The objective isn’t to finish with the biggest turn. It’s to reach the target first.
More Pig (the Dice Game) Strategy
Don’t Let One Bad Turn Change Everything
Rolling a pig after building a large Turn Score can be frustrating. That doesn’t mean the next turn needs to become wildly aggressive. Each new turn gives you another opportunity to build and bank points. Especially in 100- and 150-point games, there’s often plenty of time for the score to swing back in your favour.
Adjust to the Match
Your strategy can also change depending on who you’re playing. Marty tends to be relatively cautious. Martin is more willing to push for larger turns. Martimus is the opponent most likely to alter his approach according to how the game is going. Pay attention to the scoreboard rather than playing every turn in isolation.
Is There a Perfect Time to Hold?
That’s the question at the heart of Pig. You can use probability and expected values to develop mathematical strategies for the game, but actual matches don’t always present the same situation. How far are you from the target? How far is your opponent? How much have you already accumulated this turn? Are you comfortably ahead or desperately trying to catch up? Those questions can make a risky Roll look attractive in one situation and completely unnecessary in another. There isn’t one magic Turn Score that automatically makes Hold the correct choice every time.
And that’s what makes such a simple dice game surprisingly interesting.
A Little Bit of Pig (the Dice Game) History
Pig belongs to the family of dice games often described as push-your-luck games: games where players repeatedly choose between keeping what they’ve already earned or risking it for the possibility of more.
The game was described in print by American magician and games expert John Scarne during the 20th century, although simple dice games based around risking accumulated points have been played in different forms for generations.
Unlike many dice games, Pig doesn’t require complicated combinations or a large scorecard. You roll. You decide whether to keep going. Eventually, either you Hold or the die makes the decision for you.
Why Does Our Die Have a Pig on It?
There’s also a small family connection behind the way we’ve designed our version. My grandfather, who was born in the early 1900s, remembered people drawing a pig on the 1 side of the die when playing the game. That’s why our digital die doesn’t show an ordinary 1. Roll the unlucky side and you’ll see the pig and hear the oink instead.
Whether that was a widespread tradition or simply one of the ways the game was played where he encountered it, I can’t say for certain. But it’s a little piece of the game that was passed down to me, so I’ve kept it in our version.
Different versions of Pig have appeared with alternative target scores, multiplayer rules and other variations, but the central Roll-or-Hold dilemma remains remarkably effective.
Our version adds three computer opponents, three target scores and several match lengths while keeping that little pig on the die.
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