Chicago is a pub classic played with three dice and at most three rolls. The twist: you are not looking for the winner but for the loser – and whoever leads decides which rules the round is scored by.
The game is completely free and is played on one device that is passed around. Two players minimum.
Tap Chicago on the app's home screen. Before starting you choose:
Who leads the first rolling round is drawn by lot – leading is an advantage.
A roll is worth the sum of its three dice. Only ones and sixes are unusual, because what they count is called by the lead player:
An example: the dice 6 · 3 · 5 add up to 68 with “sixes 60”, but to just 14 with “sixes 6”. Two ones and a four are a hefty 204 with “ones 100” – and a miserable 6 with “ones 1”.
A rolling round is one pass around the table. The lead player starts and may roll up to three times. After each roll you can set dice aside by tapping them – dice that are set aside stay put and are never rolled again. You cannot take them back.
If two dice show a six, the button Turn two sixes appears: one six is turned over to a one and stays put, the other goes back into the cup and has to be rolled again. That is why it only works while you still have a roll left. Three sixes can not be turned into two ones.
Done ends your turn. The lead player then moves on to the call.
Only after their last roll does the lead player decide how the whole rolling round is scored – so they already know their own dice. The call dialog shows those dice at the top and, below them, what they are worth under the currently selected scoring. Three things are called:
That is where the real tactics live: whoever holds a six but no one likes to call “sixes 60, but ones 1” – taking the strongest dice away from the whole field without weakening their own roll.
On top of that, the lead player's number of rolls caps everyone else: stopping after a single roll forces the whole field down to one roll. Stopping earlier is always allowed, rolling more often is not. So that everyone can keep the call in view, it stays on screen for the whole rolling round, for example “Ones 100 · sixes 60 · High · on 1”.
Three ones in a single roll are a Chicago and beat everything – no matter what was called. Ones collected over several rolls are not a Chicago; they simply count 300.
And one small but consequential rule: matching is not beating. Reaching the same value as the current best does not overtake them. At the other end it works the other way round: on a tie the later player stays the worst – after all, they did not roll themselves clear.
Everything described so far applies to all variants alike. What differs is only what happens at the end of a rolling round:
| Basic | Bavarian | Tschigg | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What counts | tally marks | coasters | coasters |
| How many in play | – | number of players + 1 | 2 × number of players − 1 |
| The best of a rolling round | sits out and is safe | puts a coaster down | passes a coaster to the worst |
| The worst | leads the next rolling round | takes a coaster (handing-out phase) | takes a coaster (handing-out phase) |
| Who loses | whoever has the most tally marks | whoever holds coasters last | whoever holds coasters last |
| Match length adjustable | yes (1, 3, 5 or 10) | no, it ends by itself | no, it ends by itself |
| Special feature | knock-out system | a Chicago removes its roller and their coasters | extra call “sand” |
The best player of each rolling round is safe and sits out for the rest of the round. The others carry on among themselves – rolling round after rolling round – until only one player is left. That player has lost the search and takes a tally mark. With five players that means four rolling rounds with 5, 4, 3 and finally 2 participants.
The worst player leads the next rolling round each time. A match consists of as many searches as you picked during setup; whoever collected the most tally marks has lost. Each following search is led by the player who just lost.
Played with coasters – one more than there are players. The game runs in two phases:
The last player still holding coasters has lost. A Chicago immediately removes its roller and their coasters from the game – but the remaining players finish the rolling round, because there is still a coaster riding on the worst of them.
The Swiss relative of Bavarian Chicago. There are twice as many coasters as players, minus one. They are handed out as in the Bavarian variant.
While clearing, the best player of each rolling round passes a coaster to the worst – so the coasters travel instead of disappearing. Whoever has none left has won and leaves the game, which also lowers the target number of coasters. Again, whoever holds coasters last has lost.
Tschigg alone offers the extra call “sand”: what is wanted then is a roll with no one and no six at all. While handing out, the last player with a one or a six takes the coaster; while clearing, the last player who managed sand may pass one on.