Chicago rules

What it is

Chicago is a two-player dice game with almost no decisions in it and a lot of tension. There are eleven rounds. In round one you are trying to roll a 2, in round two a 3, and so on up to a 12 in round eleven. Hit the target and you score its value; miss and you score nothing. That is the whole game. It is a party and pub dice game, and one round takes about five seconds. This page describes the game as it is played at jpgames.app.

What you roll with

Two ordinary six-sided dice. One roll each per round — there is nothing to keep and nothing to re-roll.

Play

Each round has a target, and the target climbs by one every round:

Both players roll once. If your two dice total the round's target, you score the target's value. Otherwise you score nothing.

So hitting the 12 in the last round is worth 12 points, and hitting the 2 in the first is worth 2 — which is fair, because a 2 and a 12 are equally hard to roll, and the late rounds are simply worth more.

There is no keeping dice, no re-rolling, no banking, and no decision to make. You roll, and the dice decide.

Scoring

Add up what you hit. The most common targets are the ones in the middle — 6, 7 and 8 come up far more often than 2 or 12 — but they are also worth less than the ones at the top of the card, which is what keeps the last few rounds interesting.

A perfect game is 77, which nobody has ever rolled.

Ending the game

After eleven rounds, the higher total wins.

If the scores are level, you play tiebreaker rounds targeting 7 — the most likely roll — until somebody hits it and their opponent does not.

Variants we implement

1. Standard eleven-round Chicago, which is what this page describes.

There are no table settings for Chicago. The eleven targets are the game, and there is nothing to configure.

Where we differ from the common rules

1. Two players only. A bot fills the other seat. The pub game is usually played by a table of any size.
2. No rounds-as-stakes. Some tables play Chicago for a pot with each round wagered separately; the game here is scored in points only.
3. Scoring is the target value, not one point per hit. Some house rules give a flat point for hitting whatever the target was; here hitting the 11 is worth 11.
4. No "Chicago" bonus for hitting every target in a game.
5. Tiebreakers target 7 specifically, rather than replaying the full eleven rounds.

Ready to play? Start a Chicago table — a bot fills the other seat, so a game starts whenever you do.

For the wider game, including the wagering variants above that we do not implement, see Chicago on Wikipedia.

Common questions

How many rounds are in Chicago?

Eleven, one for each possible total of two dice from 2 through 12. Round one targets 2 and round eleven targets 12.

How do you score in Chicago?

If your two dice add up to the round's target, you score that target's value. A hit in round eleven is worth 12 points; a hit in round one is worth 2. Missing scores nothing.

Do you get to re-roll in Chicago?

No. One roll each per round, and no dice are kept between rounds. There are no decisions to make.

What is the highest possible score in Chicago?

Seventy-seven — hitting every one of the eleven targets. It is not a realistic target; hitting a 2 and a 12 in the same game is already unusual.

What happens if Chicago ends in a tie?

You play extra rounds targeting 7 until one player hits it and the other does not.