Tenzi is a fun dice game, with flexible rules to be as simple or complicated as you’d like! In the base version, each player gets a set of 10 dice (hence the name). For the first roll, someone will count it down and everyone will roll at once; looking at their roll, they’ll pick a number to target, usually the one they rolled the most of, and set aside all the dice with that number rolled. Afterwards, they pick up all the remaining dice and roll again! This is a speed game, so you don’t have to wait for the other players. The first person to roll their chosen number on all of their dice shouts (or exclaims at a reasonable volume) “Tenzi!” and wins.
As I mentioned before, there are several variations on this. There’s Target Tenzi, where instead of picking your number after you roll, you declare it ahead of time (either individually, or you can have everyone go for the same number), Splitzi, where you instead of ten the same, you roll for five and five of two numbers, Mega Tenzi, where you each have twenty dice instead… though that only works for two-player or solo play. “Solo play?” you ask, “But it’s a competition! How do you do that with one player?” Well, the rules also have Timed Tenzi, with a guideline for your rank depending on how long it takes you to win!
I’ve never played these variants, but the rules also outline Team Tenzi – your team can all go for the same number, or different ones, your choice-, Tenzi Tower, where instead of just setting aside your successful rolls, you have to stack them, and the one I’m most intrigued by, Stealthzi. By Stealthzi rules, if you see another player roll the number you’re going for, you can steal those dice, giving them an equal number of yours in return. The only constraints on this are that you can’t steal on the first roll of the game, nor can you steal from someone going for the same number as you.
Of course, you can also come up with your own versions. We play one that the creators would probably have named Sumzi, where we choose a number, and only set aside dice that add up to it. So we might say 7, and then set aside a five and a two, or a six and a one, or a three and a four. I imagine you could also take out the speed factor, if you wanted to, having it so everyone always rolls together, and whoever hits the goal in the least amount of rolls wins.
Whatever you choose, there are plenty of options to keep gameplay fun and fresh. And if you really want to get crazy, there’s also Twisted Tenzi, aka ‘mix ‘n match your favorites for even more dice-borne chaos!’
