Dice Triathlon Game: Rules, Transitions and Odds

Dice triathlon is a race in three parts for two to six athletes: first you swim, then you ride a bike, then you run to the finish. Each part has its own dice chart, and between the parts you must get through a transition, where a fumble with your goggles or your shoes can cost you a turn. It takes about fifteen minutes with four players and needs only two dice, paper and a few counters.

What you need

• Two six-sided dice, or a dice roller set to two dice.
• A course drawn on paper: 8 squares of swim, a box marked T1, 24 squares of bike, a box marked T2, and 12 squares of run, then the finish line.
• One counter per athlete, such as coins or buttons.
• A random name picker to set a fair start order.

Who starts?

Put every athlete’s name into the random name picker and draw them one by one to set the order of turns. The order does not decide the winner, because athletes who finish in the same round have a photo finish, but it keeps the turns fair and quick.

How to play

1. All athletes start before the first swim square. In each round, every athlete rolls once in the start order.
2. Roll both dice, add them up and move by the chart for the part of the race you are in.
3. End of a part: when you reach or pass the last square of the swim or the bike, stop in the transition box. Spare squares are lost.
4. Transition: on your next turn, roll the dice. On 2, 3 or 4 you fumble and stay in the box for another turn. On any other roll you set off, and next turn you start the next part from its first square.
5. Finish: the first athlete to reach or pass the end of the run wins. If several athletes finish in the same round, each rolls two dice for a photo finish, and the highest total wins. Roll again on a tie.

This is a simple home version, not an official game. A real triathlon also goes swim, bike, run, with two transitions in between, and the time spent changing counts towards the race time. The sport is usually traced back to races in San Diego in the 1970s, and it joined the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. The standard Olympic distance is a 1.5 km swim, a 40 km bike ride and a 10 km run, and the course in this game keeps roughly the same balance, with the bike as the longest part.

The dice charts and the chance of each roll

In each table, “Roll” is the total of the two dice, the middle column is how many squares you move in that part of the race, and “Chance” is the exact probability out of the 36 ways two dice can land. The swim chart comes first.

In the water you move about 1.7 squares per turn on average. Swallowing water, a roll of 2 or 3, happens 1 time in 12. The bike chart is faster:

On the bike you move about 3 squares per turn, and a puncture is rare, 1 roll in 36. The run chart is in between:

On foot you move exactly 2 squares per turn on average. In all three charts the middle results are the most common, because 6, 7 and 8 are the most likely totals, as explained in our guide to dice probability. A transition fumble, a roll of 2, 3 or 4, comes up 6 times in 36, or 1 time in 6.

How long is a race?

The next table shows each part of the race. “Average turns” is how many turns one athlete needs on average for that part, and “Fastest” is the smallest possible number of turns.

In the last table, “Race length” is the number of turns one athlete needs for the whole race, and “Chance” is the exact probability rounded to whole percent.

An athlete needs about 22.3 turns on average, and 22 turns is the most common race length. The fastest possible race is 13 turns. With two athletes, a photo finish happens in about 15% of races, roughly 1 in 7.

Tips

• Colour the three parts differently, for example blue for the swim, yellow for the bike and green for the run.
• Put the three dice charts next to the course so nobody has to look them up.
• For a shorter sprint race, use 4 swim squares, 12 bike squares and 6 run squares.
• Let each athlete pick a race number and write it on their counter.

Classroom ideas

• Ratios: compare the 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike ride and 10 km run of a real Olympic triathlon. Which part is longest, and by how many times?
• Probability: why does a transition fumble happen 1 time in 6? Count the ways to roll 2, 3 or 4.
• Data: record how many turns each athlete spends in each part, then find the class average for the swim, the bike and the run.
• Design: invent a fourth part, such as kayaking, and write its dice chart.

Variations

• Relay triathlon: teams of three, where one player swims, one rides and one runs.
• Drafting: on the bike, if you end your move on the same square as another athlete, move 1 extra square next turn.
• Quick change: once per race, an athlete may skip a transition roll and set off at once.
• Duathlon: leave out the swim and race run, bike, run instead.

If you like races with dice, try a dice swimming race, a dice cycling race or a dice marathon next.

Three sports not enough? Take on ten events in our dice decathlon game.

FAQ

How do you play a triathlon with dice?

Roll two dice each turn and move by the chart for the part you are in: swim, bike or run. At the end of the swim and the bike, stop in the transition box and roll to get out. On 2, 3 or 4 you fumble and stay for another turn.

How many athletes can play?

Two to six athletes work well. With more athletes, photo finishes become more common.

Which part of the race is the longest?

The bike, as in a real triathlon. It has 24 squares and takes about 8.5 turns on average.

How long does a race take?

About 22.3 turns per athlete on average, or about fifteen minutes for four athletes.

Does the start order matter?

No. Athletes who finish in the same round have a photo finish, so every athlete has the same chance to win.

What are the distances of an Olympic triathlon?

A 1.5 km swim, a 40 km bike ride and a 10 km run.