How to play 1·4·24

The game

The idea

Everyone rolls six dice once around the table. You need a 1 and a 4 to qualify; your other four dice are your score, up to 24. Highest score takes the pot

Your turn

Tap Roll 6 dice
Tap the dice you want to keep. You have to keep at least one each roll
Tap the button, which counts for you (like Keep 2 · roll 4). Your picks go into the tray and the rest roll again
Keep going until all six are in the tray

The tray

The 1 and the 4 drop into their red sockets. They qualify you but score nothing
The other four slots are your score. Four 6s make 24, the best hand there is: a 1·4·24
Finish without a 1 and a 4 and it’s no quali: no score this round

Starting a game

Start a table and share its code. Everyone but the host taps Ready, then the host can start
The host sets the ante and whether tops or bottoms is on. A change to either clears everyone’s Ready
Lows goes: once, at the start of the game, everyone rolls one die and the lowest goes first. A tie for lowest rolls again

The round

Everyone antes into the pot, then takes one turn, going around to the right
Once someone has a score, the felt shows the number to beat. If your hand can’t reach it any more, not even to tie, you’re cooked and your turn ends
The highest score takes the pot, and the winner starts the next round
One tie, all tie: if the top score is tied, it’s a push and everyone gets their ante back. Anyone still to roll can beat the tie and take the whole pot
If nobody qualifies, it’s a push too. After a push, whoever started the round starts again
Leave during a round and your ante stays in the pot: you can’t win it. If everyone else leaves, whoever stays takes the pot
The next round starts when everyone has tapped Ready. Between rounds anyone can ask for a higher or lower ante; it changes when everyone agrees

The table

There’s no bankroll and nobody goes broke: your chip shows how far you’re up or down tonight
A new table is public: anyone can find it under Find a table and join. In the waiting room the host can make it private, so only people with the code can join
Before the game starts, anyone with the code sits right down. Once it’s started, new players ask first and the host lets them in. They join the end of the queue and play in the next round
In the waiting room or between rounds, the host can kick a player with Kick by their name
If the host leaves, the next player round the table becomes the host
Away for more than a minute on your turn, and the table plays on without you
A round needs at least two players
While someone else rolls, tap React to throw an emoji onto the table
The arrow at the top left leaves the table

Tops or bottoms

An optional rule. Your last die lands covered: call top or bottom, and you get the face you called, the one on top or the one under it. They add up to 7 (1 and 6, 2 and 5, 3 and 4), so either call is a coin flip

One phone

Pass one phone around on the home screen plays the same game on one phone: take your turn, then hand it to the next player

Practice

Practice solo on the home screen plays rounds of three hands against your own scores, with the coach showing the best keep on every roll. See Strategy

Against the dealer

How a hand goes

Set your bet in the ring with − and +, and tap any side bets you want
Tap Roll and play your hand as at any table: a 1 and a 4 qualify you, and your other four dice are your score
The dealer goes second, by the rule printed on the felt: it must stand on 20. It plays the same way whatever you have, for its best chance of 20 or more

Beat the dealer

It pays 1 to 1: beat the dealer’s score and 100 wins 100
The dealer wins ties
If you qualify and the dealer doesn’t, you win
If you don’t qualify, the dealer only has to. If neither of you qualifies, your bet comes back
A 1·4·24, a 1, a 4 and four 6s, pays 3 to 2 the moment it’s thrown: 100 wins 150
Playing alone, once the dealer can’t reach your score it stops and you win (with Dealer no quali on, it plays on until that’s settled)

Side bets on the first roll

50 chips each, on as many as you like. They settle the moment your first six dice land, before you keep any. The total is all six dice added up, the 1 and the 4 too

Odd or Even: the total is odd, or even. Pays 9 to 10: 50 wins 45
Two pair: two numbers each show at least twice, like 5 5 3 3 or 5 5 5 3 3 (a triple counts). Pays 2 to 3: 50 wins 33
21: the total is exactly 21. Pays 9 to 1: 50 wins 450

Dealer no quali

Printed by the dealer’s seat, 50 chips on the dealer’s hand ending without its 1 and 4. Pays 6 to 1: 50 wins 300. Standing on 20, the dealer misses its 1 and 4 about one hand in seven. With this bet on, it always plays its hand out, even against a 1·4·24

Chips

Play money, kept in this browser. You start with 1,000 and bet 10 to 500 on Beat the dealer. If you run out, the button gets you 1,000 more

The house edge

What the house keeps on average, per chip bet:

Beat the dealer: 2.0%, with you playing perfectly
Odd and Even: 5.0%
Two pair: 7.7%
21: 7.2%
Dealer no quali: 1.1%

At a dealer table

Open a table from the dealer side of home and share its code, or find one: everyone sits down against the same dealer, by the same rules, with chips from their own phone

Everyone rolls at once, each on their own phone. Then the dealer plays one hand against every seat, and plays it out
A round starts once everyone’s ready, or 20 seconds after the first is. Sit down mid-round and you play from the next
Leave mid-round and that round’s bets go with you. Take more than 30 seconds over a roll or a keep and the table plays it for you, as the dealer would

Strategy

The coach

The coach works out the best dice to keep on every roll. It’s an exact solve, not a guess. It’s for practice only: it never appears at a table with other players or against the dealer. Tap its line for the full card: the odds, why, and Use it to apply its pick. Pick your own dice and it shows what the difference costs

Practice rounds

The coach’s Score to beat row sets what each hand is chasing:

Yours (the default) plays rounds of three hands against your own scores. The first hand sets the mark, the next two have to beat your best so far, then a new round starts
A number from 18 to 24 chases that score every hand
None plays for the highest average

With a score to beat, the coach plays the chase math and the cooked rule applies, just like a real table

Reading the odds

Average: what perfect play scores from here, a hand that doesn’t qualify counted as zero. From a fresh hand it’s 18.7, and perfect play qualifies 96% of the time
Beat and Tie: the chances of finishing above the score to beat, or level with it
Win: Beat plus half of Tie (a tie is a push, worth half a win head to head). It’s the number the coach maximizes when chasing

Rules of thumb

Keep the 1 and the 4 as soon as they show. They score nothing, but nothing scores without them
Still hunting for a 1 or a 4? Keep as little as you can. Every extra die you keep is one less chance to roll the one you need
Once you qualify: always keep 6s. Keep a 5 only when two dice or fewer are left to roll. A 4 is only worth keeping on the very last die. 1s, 2s and 3s never are
Missing the 1 or the 4 about one hand in 23 is bad luck, not a mistake

Chasing a score

Under 17, play your normal game. From 18 up, about half of all opening rolls play differently
Lock up a sure win. When the dice you’ve kept, plus 1 for each die still to roll, already beat the score (with the 1 and 4 kept), keep everything
Chasing 18 or more, keep rolling deep. Keep 6s and little else; big scores need many dice left to roll
Watch the pace. Points you still need divided by scoring dice left: a die below that pace is a trap, and a pace over 6 means you can’t get there
A 1·4·24 can only be tied, for a push. Against one it’s 1·4·6·6·6·6 or nothing