Instructions for Mississippi Marbles

The Basics

• The Mississippi Marbles boxed game comes with six, six-sided dice, a dice shaker, one score pad, a velvet dice bag and a tray to roll the dice in, according to SmorgasboardOfGames.com. The only other object you'll need to play is a pencil.

  Begin the game with two to six players. Have each player roll one die and the highest roll will be the first to play. Play will move clockwise from there. The first player will begin by placing all six dice in the shaker and making his first roll to attempt to "open."

Opening

• To compete in the full game, you must first be able to "open" with 700 points through the dice roll. If you any "ones" or "fives" you score the associated points, but have to set those dice aside and roll the remaining dice until you run out of dice to roll. If you reach 700 before you run out of dice, then you will be able to continue into the main part of the game.

  During opening, score all "ones" rolled as 100 points. Score all "fives" rolled as 50 points. The key to successful opening is to roll three "ones" on a single roll, which is an automatic 500-point bonus.

Melds

• Once you have opened with 700 points and are in the game, you may begin rolling "melds." Melds are combinations of three to six dice of the same number or all six dice in the numerical sequence of 1-2-3-4-5-6.

  Unlike the opening round, roll all six dice on each throw. Roll one time instead of making continuous rolls. Each player will roll once and pass the dice in a race to 11,000 points.

Scored Rolls

• The scoring of "ones" and "fives" from the opening round remains the same throughout the game. However, meld rolls score differently.

  Roll three of a kind during a single turn and points are scored by multiplying the number on the dice by 100. For example, a roll that contained three "fours" would be worth 400 points. The same goes for all numbers with the exception of "one." A roll of three "ones" is still worth 500 as it is in the opening round.

  Score 1,000 points automatically when you roll four of a kind. Five of a kind is worth 3,000 points and rolling all six die with the same number is worth 5,000 points. Rolling a straight sequence is worth 2,000 points.

  If a player reaches 11,000, but there are still other players left to roll before getting back to the first person, the game continues until the remaining players have one final roll. If two or more players bust 11,000 on the same round, the highest point total is the winner.