Shut the Box
Shut the tiles that add up to your roll. Whatever is still open at the end of your turn is your score. The lowest score wins.
What you need
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A box of tiles numbered 1 through 9, or 1 through 12 if the table chose the long box.
One to four can play. Alone, you play a single turn and there is no winner — you just post a score.
Setup
Every tile starts face up. The first seat rolls first. In a later round the start moves one seat to the left, skipping anyone who has already been eliminated.
Your turn
Roll both dice. Then shut any set of still-open tiles that adds up to exactly that roll. One tile is fine. Several are fine. Each number can be used only once, so two 2s is not a way to make 4.
You must shut something if any set exists. You choose the set, even when only one set exists. You cannot pass.
Then roll again and shut again. Keep going until a roll matches nothing that is still open, or until every tile is shut.
The first roll of a turn is always two dice, on a full box, so that roll can always be made. A turn never ends before the first shut.
The one-die rule
This is on unless the table turned it off.
Once tiles 7 through the last tile are all shut, you may roll one die or two before each later roll, and you may switch each time. The choice appears only then. A one-die roll of 1 counts only if tile 1 is still open.
With the rule off, you always roll both dice.
Scoring
Your score is the sum of the tiles still open. A shut box scores 0.
On the nine-tile box the worst score is 43 (you always shut at least 2 on the opening roll). On the twelve-tile box it is 76.
Playing alone
One turn is the whole game. The box tells you the score, and whether you shut it. There is no win and no loss.
Rounds
With two or more, everyone still in takes one turn each round, on a fresh open box. A shut box does not skip the other seats. The lowest score wins the round. A shared low score is a tie.
The table picks a format before the first roll:
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Single round. Lowest score wins. A tie is shared.
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Best of 3, 5, or 7. A unique low score takes one round win. A tie takes none, and play continues past the named length until someone has won a majority (2, 3, or 4 round wins).
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Elimination. Add each round's score to a running total. At the end of a round, anyone whose total has reached the full box (45, or 78 on the long box) is out. The last player left wins. If everyone still in goes out on the same round, the lowest running total among those who played that round wins, and equal totals share it. Nobody can go out in the first round, because a single turn cannot reach the full box.
What this box does not include
No side bets, no digital running score beyond the match itself, and no ten-tile or three-dice variants. A personal best kept across sessions is a separate record from the score this sitting posts.