Dice Cricket Game: Rules, Chart and Scores

Dice cricket turns a whole cricket match into a pencil-and-paper game you can play with one ordinary die. Each roll is one ball: most numbers score runs, one number takes a wicket, and the side with more runs at the end wins. It is popular with children who love the sport, as a rainy-day game in the holidays, and in classrooms as a painless way to practise adding up. This guide gives a simple home version, the exact chance of each roll and simulated scores for different match lengths.

What you need

• One six-sided die, or a dice roller on a phone or screen.
• Paper and a pen for the scorecard. Many children like to write out a batting order of 5 or 11 players for each side.
• Two players or two teams. A whole class can play as two teams with one scorer each.
• A coin flip for the toss.

The toss

As in real cricket, the captains start with a toss. One captain calls heads or tails, the other flips the coin flip, and the winner chooses to bat or bowl first. A coin is fair, so neither side gets an edge, and an on-screen flip ends any argument about who called what.

How to play

1. The batting side sends in its first two batters. Each roll of the die is one ball.
2. Score each roll with the chart below and write the runs next to the batter on strike.
3. A roll of 5 means the batter is out. The next batter comes in.
4. After an odd number of runs (1 or 3) the batters swap ends, so the other one faces the next ball. Younger players can skip this rule.
5. The innings ends when the side is all out (one batter is left with no partner), or when the agreed number of overs is used up. An over is six balls.
6. The other side bats. If they pass the first total, they win at once. If they do not, the side that batted first wins.

This is a common home version, not a fixed rulebook. Families and schools use many charts, and some sell or print their own. Agree on the chart before the toss.

The chart and the chance of each roll

The table shows the basic one-die chart. “Roll” is the number on the die, “Result” is what happens to the batter, and “Chance” is the exact probability on a fair die.

Every roll is equally likely, so a batter is out on one ball in six. On average a batter faces six balls and scores about 16 runs, and the side scores about 2.7 runs per ball. That is far more than in real cricket, which is part of the fun: sixes come up as often as singles. If you want the maths behind this, see our page on dice probability.

How many runs is a good score?

To show what scores to expect, we simulated 200,000 innings for each format with a computer. “Average” is the mean total for the batting side. “Middle 80%” means that 8 in 10 innings ended between those two scores. “6 overs” is a limit of 36 balls. “Howzat” is a variation explained below, where a 5 only gives a 50:50 chance of being out.

These numbers are estimates from a simulation, not from real games. Two things stand out. Without an over limit, scores swing a lot, so one lucky batter can win the match alone. With a six-over limit most totals land within about 15 runs of the average, so games are closer and ties are a little more common: about 1 in 45 six-over matches ended level in the simulation, against fewer than 1 in 100 with five wickets and no limit.

Tips

• Pick the match length to fit the time. Five wickets each takes about 10 minutes; ten wickets each can take half an hour.
• Let each child keep the scorecard for their own side. It is good adding practice and stops arguments.
• Name the batters after real players or classmates; children care a lot more about the result when they do.
• Play a short series, best of three, and swap who bats first each time.

Classroom ideas

• Maths warm-up: after each over, the class adds up the over total and the running score out loud.
• Run rate: older pupils work out runs per over and compare it with a real match scorecard.
• Fair teams: use a random name picker to split the class into two teams, then a coin flip for the toss.
• Data: tally how often each number comes up over the whole lesson and compare it with the 1 in 6 chance.

Variations

• Howzat: on a 5, the bowler shouts “Howzat!” and rolls again. 1, 2 or 3 means out; 4, 5 or 6 means not out and no run. Batters last twice as long, as the table shows.
• Two dice: one die for the batter and one for the bowler; doubles mean a wicket. This gives a different chart, so test it first.
• Extras: make a 6 on a second roll a no-ball worth one run plus a free ball.
• Ways of getting out: on a wicket, roll again to see how: bowled, caught, lbw, run out, stumped or caught behind.
• Other sports: if you like this, try Dice Baseball, which works the same way with two dice.

Where does dice cricket come from?

Nobody knows who first played cricket with a die. Children have long scored imaginary matches with dice, spinners and pencils, and from the 20th century several boxed cricket dice games were sold, some of them using special dice marked with runs and the word “Howzat”. The simple one-die chart above is a folk version that many families seem to have worked out for themselves. If your group enjoys it, browse our list of easy dice games for more.

FAQ

How do you play dice cricket?

Roll one die for each ball. In a common home version 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 score that many runs and a 5 means the batter is out. When the side is all out or the overs are used up, the other side bats, and the higher total wins.

What is the chance of getting out?

With the basic chart a 5 means out, so the chance is 1 in 6 on each ball. On average a batter lasts six balls and scores about 16 runs.

How many runs does a side usually score?

In our simulation, a ten-wicket innings with no over limit scored about 160 runs on average. With five wickets the average was about 80, and with a six-over limit about 95.

How do you decide who bats first?

Do a toss. One captain calls heads or tails, the other flips a coin, and the winner chooses to bat or bowl.

Can you play dice cricket alone?

Yes. Roll for both teams and keep the scorecards yourself, or play a whole league of imaginary teams.