Midnight

👥 2–8 players 📍 Indoor📍 Anywhere ⚡ Calm 🧩 Simple ⏱ 20-30 minutes 🎂 Ages 4+

Quick Pitch

Midnight is a dice game where players take turns rolling two dice, racing to be the first to roll double 6s — and once someone hits "midnight," everyone else gets one last chance to beat them.

Hook

The dice have been going around the table for five minutes. Everyone keeps rolling 7s and 9s. Then someone rolls two 6s and yells "Midnight!" Now you have one shot to match them. You pick up the dice, shake them, and… a 5 and a 4. Not even close. Midnight is pure suspense with zero strategy — and somehow that makes it even more fun.

Equipment Needed

  • 2 standard six-sided dice
  • Paper scorecard (optional, for tracking attempts)
  • Pencil or pen (optional)

Setup

  1. Determine play order
  2. First player rolls first
  3. Other players stand ready to take their final turn when someone rolls midnight

Rules

Objective

Be the first to roll double 6s (midnight = 12), or have the highest roll after midnight is rolled.

Turn Structure

  1. Roll two dice
  2. Check the result:
    • If you roll double 6s (12): You've rolled midnight!
      • All other players each get one final turn to beat your roll
      • If no one rolls higher, you win
    • If you don't roll midnight: Pass dice to next player
  3. Continue until someone rolls midnight

Midnight Rolling

Once someone rolls double 6s:

  1. Record their midnight roll (12 points)
  2. Each other player (in turn order) gets exactly one more roll
  3. Highest single roll wins the round (or ties the midnight roller)

Scoring

The highest two-dice roll total wins each round:

  • Double 6s (midnight): 12 points (highest)
  • 6-5: 11 points
  • 6-4: 10 points
  • 6-3: 9 points
  • 6-2: 8 points
  • 6-1: 7 points
  • 5-5: 10 points (same as 6-4)
  • And so on...

Expert Player

Tips

  1. No strategy: This is purely luck-based
  2. Lucky early roll: Getting midnight on your first few turns is advantageous
  3. Odds: Rolling double 6s is 1 in 36 (about 2.8% per roll)
  4. Expected rolls: Average two-dice roll is 7; getting above 11 requires lucky rolls
  5. Final turn pressure: When you get one final chance after someone rolls midnight, high pressure

Variations

  • Midnight and higher: Rolling midnight OR rolling it first
  • Speed variant: Once someone rolls midnight, game ends immediately (no final rounds)
  • Multiple midnight: If someone rolls another midnight after the first, they still win
  • Reverse midnight: First to roll double 1s (lowest roll) wins instead
  • Closest to midnight: Highest roll overall wins, not racing to midnight
  • Multiple rounds: Play 3-5 rounds of midnight and total scores
Learn More — History & Origins

History & Origins

Midnight is an American folk dice game of uncertain origin, most likely emerging in bars and casual social settings sometime in the 20th century. The name comes from the clock metaphor: a two-dice roll of double 6s totals 12, which corresponds to the 12:00 position — midnight — on a clock face. The game belongs to a family of simple target-roll dice games (alongside Ship Captain Crew, Chicago, and others) that were popular in American bar culture as quick, easy games that anyone could join without explanation.

Cultural Context

Midnight is primarily a social lubricant — a game simple enough that it requires almost no explanation, generates genuine excitement from a single dice roll, and creates a memorable "midnight" moment that everyone at the table reacts to simultaneously. Its lack of strategy is actually part of its appeal in informal settings: nobody has an advantage, which means anyone can win, and the game ends quickly enough to play multiple rounds in a single sitting.

The game has also been adapted as a drinking game, where rolling midnight or failing to match it carries social consequences — a use that reflects how many simple dice games have always existed at the intersection of play and social ritual.

See Also

Example Game

  1. Player A rolls: 3+4 = 7. Pass to Player B.
  2. Player B rolls: 2+2 = 4. Pass to Player C.
  3. Player C rolls: 5+3 = 8. Pass to Player A.
  4. Player A rolls: 1+1 = 2. Pass to Player B.
  5. Player B rolls: 6+6 = 12. Midnight!
  6. Player C rolls one final time: 5+6 = 11. Not enough.
  7. Player A rolls one final time: 4+4 = 8. Not enough.
  8. Player B wins with midnight (12).