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The Going To Boston Dice Game: Step By Step Breakdown & Tips

Going To Boston Dice Game

The classic dice game of Going To Boston, also known as Yankee Grab or Newmarket, is one of the best dice games that you can play with your family and friends. And while the Going To Boston dice game is generally simple to understand, struggles can come with the less obvious rules as well as standoffs and how to settle them. Still, if you’re new to this dice game, we have everything you need to know right here, from how to play Going to Boston to extra things such as its game variants. So without further ado, let’s dive in.

Going to Boston is an easy dice game that doesn’t require much to get started.

Equipment Needed

The only things you’ll need for a game of Going To Boston are:

  • Three dice
  • Pen and paper to track the player’s score
  • Two or more players

The dice for Going To Boston can be regular table dice or even the Yardzee dice, which makes the game even more fun. That being said, if you have yard dice, you should check our yard dice game reviews for the best games.

If you’re missing any of the things on the list of necessities for a game of Going To Boston, you can find it all on a smartphone easily, from a dice roller to a score counter.

Objective

The objective of Going To Boston is simple – you have to win the most rounds because the one who wins most of them wins the game.

If you want to make things more interesting, you, your friends and family can also compete for the highest score, which sums up your score in each round of the game into a total score at the end.

Set Up

You must first agree on how many rounds you’ll play and who’s going to play first. Five to ten is the usual number of rounds, but the number is really up to you.

Game Play

Going To Boston Game Play

The first player rolls three dice. After the first roll, the player chooses the highest number rolled and puts it to the side, then rolls the remaining two dice on his second roll.

Out of the two dice left, the player takes the highest-numbered dice and goes for a third roll with his final dice.

The player counts his final re-roll regardless of what number he gets and puts it into his overall score.

Just like Ship, Captain And Crew, you have only three throws. After three throws, the player’s score of the round is what you get when you sum up the three dice, from the first throw to the last.

The dice-throwing process is the same for each player. After you’re done rolling, the score of each player gets compared. The player with the highest score wins the round.

If you have five dice, you should learn how to play Ship Captain and Crew, another fun dice game you can read about on our blog.

Winning

In a dice game of Yankee Grab, the one who attains the highest score in most of the agreed-upon number of rounds wins the game.

There is also the popular total score victory in Going To Boston, which you get if you have the highest total score over the ten or so rounds you’ve played.

Rules

The person with the highest roll will be the first player. If there are tied players, they re-roll for the higher position.

If two players are tied for the high score in a given round of Going To Boston, they will have to compete with another roll. The one with the highest number rolled after the re-roll wins the round.

In Going To Boston, if you’re competing for the total score over the rounds played and you end up tied with another player, you and the tied player play another round for the win.

How To Keep Score

There are three ways you can keep score when you’re playing Going to Boston:

  • Pen and paper
  • Smartphone
  • Calculator

Alternative Variations

There are some fun variations that make a game of Going To Boston more intense and help you brush up on some simple mathematics.

Add Two, Then Multiply

The variant Add Two, Then Multiply works just like the name suggests. Take three dice, then roll. Keep the highest value, then roll again with the remaining two dice. After this, sum up the dice from the first and second throws, and roll your final dice.

The final dice left is the one with which you get the sum of the first two dice multiplied. Each player goes through the same process and the sums get compared. The player with the largest sum is the winner.

Add Two, Then Subtract

The opposite of the previous variant, Add Two Then Subtract works just like Going To Boston, but you use the last dice to subtract the sum of the first two dice, and the one with the highest value wins.

Multiply

Sometimes called Multiplication, Multiply is the variant of Going To Boston where you multiply the values of the three dice instead of summing them up.

The highest score wins, and if you and your friends and family are running for the best total score, you can either sum them up or have those per-round values of thrown dice multiplied if you have a calculator ready.

The Scenic Route

My favorite of the variants of Going To Boston, The Scenic Route, forces you to take the lowest numbered dice in the first and second throws. The player’s score is measured in the same way and you still want to have the highest score, but it may be hard if you roll a six and a one in the same throw.

Tips For Playing The Going To Boston Dice Game

Tips For Playing The Going To Boston Dice Game

Things to keep in mind when playing Going to Boston:

  • You need to have at least three dice.
  • If you have many players, you can go up to six dice and have two players roll at the same time.
  • If you have no pen, paper or even dice, you can use a smartphone to keep track of the score and roll digital dice.
  • If tied in a round, tied players roll again to decide who wins.
  • If tied in the total score over the agreed-upon number of rounds, those players have a tiebreaker round.

Frequently Asked Questions

The way you play the Going To Boston dice game is simple:

  • In the first throw, you roll three dice and take the one with the highest value.
  • In the second throw, you roll the remaining two dice and take the one with the highest value.
  • In your final throw, you take the last dice and sum them all up.
  • The player with the largest sum wins the round.

This is how you play the Pig Dice game:

  • You have to reach an agreed-upon score by rolling a single dice and summing its results.
  • You constantly roll until you decide to stop.
  • If you roll a one, you lose the entire sum of the current round, but not all the rounds.

You can read more on the Pig Dice game rules on our site.

This is how the Snake Eyes Dice game is played:

  • You have five rounds and two dice.
  • You roll the two dice constantly and sum them up until you decide to stop.
  • If you roll a one, you lose the sum during the single round.
  • If you roll two ones, you lose your entire score so far.

You can learn how to play Snake Eyes on our blog.

Conclusion

Now you know how to play Going To Boston. If you love this easy dice game, you can make a Going To Boston dice game variant with ease, given its simple and engaging gameplay. If you’re not prepared to use the calculator all the time, a game of Yankee Grab is great math practice while being one of the best dice games for friends and family fun time, from the first roll to the last one.

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