Games / Strategy Games / Pipfold / Guide
Pipfold
Pipfold is the classic five dice scorecard game, rolled on a wooden tray. You get three rolls a turn to chase straights, full houses and five of a kind, then fill one of thirteen boxes. Fill them all for your best score.
Quick answers
Does Pipfold work on my phone?
Yes. Pipfold works with touch on phones and tablets, and with a mouse or keyboard on a computer. It runs in the browser you already have, so there is no app to download.
Do I need an account to play Pipfold?
No. Just open it and play, with no sign-up. If you like, a free account (username only, no email, for players 13 and older) puts your scores on the leaderboards and backs up your progress so it follows you to any device.
Is there a daily challenge in Pipfold?
Yes. Pipfold has a new daily challenge every day, the same one for every player, with its own daily leaderboard. Find it alongside the others on our daily challenges page.
Does Pipfold save my progress?
Yes. It saves on this device on its own, so you can close the page and pick up where you left off. Sign in with a free account to keep the same progress on your phone and your computer.
Is Pipfold OK for kids?
Yes, players of any age can enjoy it. There is no chat and no way to message other players, and nobody needs an account to play. Accounts are for players 13 and older, so younger players just play and their progress stays on their device. For ages 4 to 11 we also have learning games in their own kids area, with no ads, no accounts and no tracking.
What is Pipfold?
If you have ever played a dice game with a scorecard at the kitchen table, you know this one. Five dice, up to three rolls a turn, and a card with thirteen boxes that each want something different. We built Pipfold because the versions we found on phones were slow, busy and full of things to buy. Ours is free, it runs in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, and there is nothing to download.
The dice tumble across a cloth-lined tray, and you can tap the tray to skip any roll. Five of a kind is called a Pipfold, which is where the name comes from. Roll a second one and it is worth a 100 point bonus.
How to play
- Tap Roll to throw all five dice.
- Tap any dice you want to keep. Held dice slide up to the shelf at the top of the tray and stay put.
- Roll again (up to three rolls in all). You can change what you hold between rolls.
- Tap a box on your card to score. Gray numbers show what each open box would score with the dice you have.
Every turn ends with one box filled, so a game is exactly thirteen turns. You can score after the first or second roll if you like what you see. If a roll fits nowhere, you still have to fill a box, and it scores 0. Picking the right box to sacrifice is a real part of the game. Tapped the wrong box? An Undo button appears for a few seconds after you score, until the next roll.
The scorecard
Top section
Ones, Twos, Threes, Fours, Fives and Sixes each score the total of just that number. Three 5s in Fives is 15. If your top section adds up to 63 or more, you earn a 35 point bonus. Getting three of every number does it exactly, so a strong game usually has a few fours of a kind up top to make up for a weak box.
Bottom section
| Box | You need | Scores |
|---|---|---|
| Three of a kind | Three dice the same | All five dice |
| Four of a kind | Four dice the same | All five dice |
| Full house | Three of one number and two of another | 25 |
| Small straight | Four in a row, like 3 4 5 6 | 30 |
| Large straight | Five in a row | 40 |
| Pipfold | Five dice the same | 50 |
| Chance | Anything | All five dice |
A large straight also counts as a small straight, and four of a kind also counts as three of a kind. Five of a kind is not a full house unless the joker rule below lets it be one.
Extra Pipfolds and the joker rule
Once your Pipfold box holds 50, every extra Pipfold earns a 100 point bonus. It also acts as a joker. With the standard rule, you must score it in the top box for that number if it is still open. If that box is full, you may put it in any open bottom box at full value, so a Full house scores 25 and a Large straight scores 40. If every bottom box is full too, you have to put a 0 in an open top box.
If you put a 0 in the Pipfold box earlier, you get no bonus for later ones, but they still act as jokers. In Settings you can switch to Free choice, which lets a joker go in any open box. The Daily Tray always uses the standard rule so every score is comparable.
Ways to play
- Solo: fill the card and chase your best score. Your best solo game goes on the leaderboard.
- Daily Tray: everyone in the world gets the same dice today. Hold the same dice as a friend and you get the same rerolls, so you can compare choices afterwards. Your first tray each day goes on the daily board.
- House players: play one, two or three of our five computer players. Pim is new to dice, Hazel never misses the top bonus, Bram goes for a Pipfold every chance he gets, Juno is sharp, and Otis plays the odds on every roll.
- Pass and play: two to four people share one phone or tablet, each with a name and their own column.
- Play a friend: online, with a four character room code or a link. The host's device rolls for both of you so the dice always match.
Advice that does the math
Tap the light bulb during your turn and we look at every possible hold and every roll that could follow, then show you the hold with the best expected final score for your card. Small arrows mark the dice to keep, and a star marks the best box when it is time to score. We also show the next best options and how much they give up, so you can see why one choice beats another.
The advice and our strongest house player use the same engine. It thinks about more than this turn: what a box is usually worth later, how close you are to the 35 point bonus, and whether a zero in Ones is cheaper than a zero in Four of a kind. Set Advice to Always in Settings if you want it on every turn.
Tips and strategy
- Treat the bonus as a target. Three of each number is par. A four of a kind in Fives or Sixes buys room to come up short somewhere else.
- Use Ones as your dump box. A 0 in Ones costs you about 2 points on average. A 0 in Large straight costs about 30.
- Three of a kind on the first roll? Hold it. The odds of turning it into four or five of a kind are good, and Three of a kind, Four of a kind and the top box are all waiting.
- Chasing a large straight? 2 3 4 5 is the hand you want, because a 1 or a 6 finishes it. With 1 2 3 4 only a 5 will do.
- Save Chance for a bad turn late in the game. Using it early on a 20 throws away your safety net.
- Do not chase a Pipfold forever. The chance of five of a kind in a turn is about 4.6 percent. Hold pairs and triples when the top section needs them anyway.
Fair dice, every time
Every roll uses your browser's secure random numbers, so each face comes up exactly one time in six. The house players see the same dice you do and never peek or cheat. Nothing is weighted for anyone. The Daily Tray uses fixed dice for the day so everyone plays the same tray.
Unlocks, stats and the daily streak
There are sixteen awards to earn, like scoring 300, earning the top bonus, finishing a card with no zeros, or beating all five house players. Most of them unlock new dice (Honeycomb, Sea Glass, Midnight, Walnut and more) or a new table cloth. Stats keep your best and average scores, your average in every box, your record against each house player, and a chart of your scores. Play the Daily Tray on back-to-back days to grow a streak, and share your result without giving away the dice.
Controls
On a phone or tablet, tap Roll, tap dice to hold them, and tap a box to score. Tap the tray during a roll to skip the tumble. On a computer you can also press Space to roll, 1 to 5 to hold dice, H for advice, U to take back your last box and Esc for the menu. Settings has numbers on the dice, high contrast, quick or instant rolls, and an option to line the dice up in order after each roll.
Questions
Is Pipfold free?
Yes. Pipfold is free to play in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, with no ads, nothing to buy and nothing to download.
How do I get the 35 point bonus?
Score 63 or more across Ones to Sixes. Three of each number adds up to exactly 63, so aim for three or more of each, and use fours of a kind in the high numbers to cover a short box.
What happens if I roll five of a kind twice?
If your Pipfold box already holds 50, you get a 100 point bonus and the roll acts as a joker, so you can score it in the matching top box or, if that is full, at full value in a bottom box.
Can I play with friends?
Yes. Pass and play lets two to four people share one device, and Play a friend connects two devices online with a four character room code.
Are the dice fair?
Yes. Every roll uses secure random numbers so each face comes up one time in six, and the house players get no special dice.
What is the highest possible score?
A perfect card scores 375 before Pipfold bonuses. With a Pipfold in every turn after the first, the bonuses push it to 1,575, which nobody has ever needed to worry about.
