Gameweave

Bunco

Bunco is a fast parlor dice game for four players in two partnerships. You share three dice and race to 21. Three of the round's target number is a Bunco, and it ends the round on its own.

Objective

Win the most rounds. A round is won by the first partnership to reach 21 points, and each of its two players records that win on their own tally. Partners change every round, so the evening is scored player by player, not team by team: the player with the most round wins takes it. If several players tie on wins, the one with the most Buncos among them wins. If that is tied too, the evening is shared.
Rolling the most Buncos is its own small honor. It is shared when two or more players tie, and it is not awarded at all if nobody rolled one.

Players

Exactly four, in two teams of two. Partners sit across the table.
This table plays one set of 6 rounds by default. In the lobby you can choose a full evening of 18 rounds (three sets). The partnerships rotate the same way either way.

Components

Three standard six-sided dice, shared by the table.

Setup

Everyone starts with no wins, losses, or Buncos. A random seat rolls first in round 1. Each later round, the first roll moves one seat clockwise.
Player 1 stays in the same chair all evening. The other three change partners and chairs on a three-round cycle. Clockwise order is seat 1, then the chair to the left, then the chair across, then the chair to the right.
Rounds
Player 1's partner
Clockwise seating
1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16
Player 3
Player 1, Player 2, Player 3, Player 4
2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17
Player 2
Player 1, Player 3, Player 2, Player 4
3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18
Player 4
Player 1, Player 2, Player 4, Player 3
On the board, team A is the purple partnership (player 1 and the partner across). Team B is the cyan partnership in the side chairs.

The target

The target face depends on the round:
Round
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Target
1
2
3
4
5
6
1
It keeps wrapping. Round 18's target is 6.

A turn

Press Roll. All three dice are thrown.
Roll
Points
Each die showing the target
1 per die
Three of the target (a Bunco)
21
Three of a kind of any other face
5
Anything else
0
A Bunco is 21, not 21 plus the three target faces. The points go to the roller's partnership, and the Bunco is credited to the roller.
•
1 or more points: the same player rolls again.
•
0 points: the dice pass one seat clockwise.
•
A team reaches 21 or more: the round ends immediately, even if the roll went past 21. A Bunco from zero ends the round, because 21 is enough.

End of a round

The partnership that reached 21 each records a win. The other partnership each records a loss. Scores go back to zero. The next round starts one seat clockwise from the seat that opened the round that just finished, under the new seating.

End of the evening

When the last round ends (round 6, or round 18 if you chose the long evening):
1.
The player with the most round wins takes the evening. Each player is ranked on their own tally; this round's partner gets no share of it.
2.
If several players share that win total, the one with the most Buncos among them wins alone. Partners are not a package for this tiebreak — the Buncos belong to the person who rolled them.
3.
If the Buncos are tied too, everyone in that tie shares the evening.

Example (round 3, target 3)

Ada and Dee are partners (team A). Bea and Cal are team B.
1.
Ada rolls 3, 5, 1 — one target. Team A has 1. Ada rolls again.
2.
Ada rolls 3, 3, 6 — two targets. Team A has 3. Ada rolls again.
3.
Ada rolls 2, 5, 6 — nothing. The dice pass clockwise to Bea.
4.
Bea rolls 4, 4, 4 — three of a kind, not the target. Team B has 5. Bea rolls again.
5.
Bea rolls 3, 3, 3 — a Bunco. Team B jumps to 26 and the round ends. Bea is credited with the Bunco. Bea and Cal each record a win. Ada and Dee each record a loss.