Round the Clock

👥 1–6 players 📍 Indoor📍 Anywhere ⚡ Calm 🧩 Simple ⏱ 20-40 minutes 🎂 Ages 4+

Quick Pitch

Round the Clock is a racing game where players must roll specific numbers in sequence, starting at 1 and advancing through 12.

Hook

Your scorecard shows numbers 2 through 12. You need to roll them in order, using two dice. Hit your target number and keep rolling; miss it and pass the dice. The early numbers come quickly, but once you need 10, 11, or 12, the dice suddenly seem to cooperate less. Simple enough for young children, but the late-game tension of watching someone else zoom past you on 7 and 8 while you're stuck on 11 is surprisingly real.

Equipment Needed

  • 2 standard six-sided dice
  • Paper scorecard (one per player, showing numbers 1-12)
  • Pencil or pen

Setup

  1. Each player gets a scorecard listing numbers 1 through 12
  2. All players start needing to roll a 1
  3. Determine play order
  4. First player rolls first

Rules

Objective

Be the first player to roll through all numbers 1-12 in sequence.

Turn Structure

  1. Roll two dice
  2. Check the total:
    • If the total matches your next required number, advance to the next number
    • If the total doesn't match, your turn ends with no progress
  3. Continue rolling: After successfully rolling your required number:
    • Roll again immediately to try to roll your next required number
    • Continue rolling as long as you keep hitting your numbers
    • When you fail to hit your next number, your turn ends
  4. Next player: Pass dice to the next player

Number Progression

Round Target Number Difficulty
1 2 Easy (only 1-1)
2 3 Easy (1-2, 2-1)
3 4 Moderate
4 5 Moderate
5 6 Most common
6 7 Most common
7 8 Moderate
8 9 Moderate
9 10 Hard
10 11 Very hard
11 12 Very hard

Example Turn

Player needs to roll a 5:

  1. Roll: 3+4 = 7 → Doesn't match 5. Turn ends.

Next player needs to roll a 7:

  1. Roll: 4+3 = 7 → Matches! Now needs 8. Roll again immediately.
  2. Roll: 3+5 = 8 → Matches! Now needs 9. Roll again immediately.
  3. Roll: 2+3 = 5 → Doesn't match 9. Turn ends.

Expert Player

Tips

  1. No strategy: This is purely luck-based; strategy has minimal impact
  2. Expected rolls: Numbers 5-8 are most common with two dice; early game easier
  3. Lucky streaks: If you roll consecutive matching numbers, you build momentum
  4. Unlucky stretches: Some players may fall far behind early
  5. Comeback possible: Since everyone needs numbers in sequence, no true "leading" advantage
  6. Position matters slightly: Earlier in turn order gives you more rolls per round

Variations

  • Reverse direction: Start at 12 and count down to 1 (harder overall)
  • Skip numbers: Numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 only (even numbers only)
  • Odd only: Numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 only
  • Number variations: Use 1-10 instead of 1-12 for quicker game
  • Solo version: Race against your previous best time
  • Three dice: Use three dice instead of two (different probability distribution)
Learn More — History & Origins

History & Origins

Round the Clock is an American folk dice game that emerged in the mid-20th century, related to the single-die game Martinetti (which uses numbers 1–12 on individual dice) but using two dice and their sums. The "clock" metaphor — numbers arranged from 2 to 12, mirroring a clock face's progress — gives the game its name and its sense of steady, circular progression. Origins are not formally documented, but the game appears in American family game collections from the 1950s onward.

Cultural Context

Round the Clock works well as a first dice game for children because the learning objective — roll the numbers in order — is immediately understood, and the only skill required is recognizing two-digit sums. At the same time, the late game introduces a genuine probability lesson: numbers like 2 and 12 are much harder to roll than 7, which has six ways to appear on two dice. Children who play the game enough naturally develop intuition for which numbers are common and which are rare, without anyone explaining the math explicitly.

See Also