Going to Boston

👥 2–8 players 📍 Indoor📍 Anywhere ⚡ Calm 🧩 Simple ⏱ 20-40 minutes 🎂 Ages 4+

Quick Pitch

Going to Boston is a simple dice game where each player rolls three dice in three rounds, keeping the highest result each time — highest total score wins.

Hook

Roll three dice and set aside the best one. Roll the remaining two and set aside the best again. Roll the last die. Add up all three kept dice — that's your score for the round. Everyone takes a turn and the highest total wins. It's quick, low-pressure, and has just enough ritual (three rolls, setting aside the best) to feel satisfying even when the dice aren't cooperating.

Equipment Needed

  • 3 standard six-sided dice
  • Paper scorecard (one per player)
  • Pencil or pen

Setup

  1. Each player gets a scorecard
  2. Set a number of rounds (typically 5-10 rounds)
  3. Determine play order
  4. First player rolls first

Rules

Objective

Accumulate the highest total score across multiple rounds by rolling three dice and keeping the best three values.

Turn Structure (Per Round)

Each player's turn consists of three phases:

Phase 1: Roll all 3 dice

  • Set aside the highest die
  • Note the two remaining dice

Phase 2: Roll the 2 remaining dice

  • Add the result to your phase 1 highest
  • Set aside the highest of the two dice rolled in phase 2
  • Note the remaining one die

Phase 3: Roll the remaining 1 die

  • Add this to your running total

Final Score: The sum of your three dice (one from each phase, all highest values)

Example Turn

  1. Phase 1: Roll 3 dice: 2-5-4

    • Set aside the highest: 5
    • Remaining to roll: 2 and 4

  2. Phase 2: Roll the 2 remaining dice: 6-1

    • Compare: 6 is higher than the remaining 4 (your old die)
    • Set aside: 6
    • Remaining to roll: 1 die (the 4 from phase 1)

  3. Phase 3: Don't roll; you have your third die from phase 1: 4

Turn score: 5 + 6 + 4 = 15 points

Another example with rolling the third die:

  1. Phase 1: Roll 3 dice: 3-3-6

    • Set aside highest: 6
    • Remaining: 3 and 3

  2. Phase 2: Roll 2 dice: 5-4

    • Compare: 5 is higher than 3 (one of your phase 1 remaining)
    • Set aside: 5
    • Remaining die to roll: 3 or 4 (the highest of the original phase 1 remaining—pick 4)

  3. Phase 3: Roll the remaining die: 2

    • This is your third die: 2

Turn score: 6 + 5 + 2 = 13 points

Expert Player

Tips

  1. Automatic highest selection: You're always keeping the three highest values, so strategy is minimal
  2. No true strategy: Each phase is determined by the dice rolled
  3. Luck-based game: Winning depends on rolling high numbers
  4. Expected value: Average score per turn is around 10.5 (three dice average 3.5 each)
  5. Scoring trends: High scorers (13+) in a turn are lucky; average is 10-11

Variations

  • Reverse direction: Instead of keeping high, keep low (lowest three values)
  • Cumulative best: Players can select any one of their three dice to keep across turns (different mechanic entirely)
  • Fixed positions: Each die position scores differently (first die × 1, second die × 2, third die × 3)
  • Multiple rounds: Play 10 rounds instead of 5; highest total wins
  • High/Low: Players alternate between trying to score high and low
  • Solo challenge: Race against a set target score or previous best
Learn More — History & Origins

History & Origins

Going to Boston is an American folk dice game with roots likely tracing to 19th-century New England. The exact origin of the name is not documented, though the "going to Boston" phrase may refer to a journey or progressive advancement — fitting for a game where each roll moves you forward through a fixed sequence. The game appears in early 20th-century American game collections alongside similar folk dice games and represents the broader tradition of simple dice games passed down through families and communities without formal rules publication.

Cultural Context

Going to Boston is a good beginner's dice game because the mechanic — keep the best, reroll the rest — is immediately intuitive and satisfying. Unlike purely random dice games, the three-phase structure gives players a small sense of agency (you're always keeping your best result), while the probability lesson is gentle: rolling three dice and keeping the highest produces better results on average than rolling one die, giving young players a concrete experience of how sample size helps. The game is short enough for young children but works for adults too, making it a reliable cross-age game for when you just need something to play with a small group of dice.

See Also