Three King's Men Die

Three King's Men Die

Three King's Men Die is a (hopefully) legendary dice game within the EUS that was introduced to the wider EUS community by the 2022-23 EUS executives. It is a simple game, where the more people who play, the more fun to be had.

Equipment

In order to play Three King's Men Die, very little is required; a table, two dice, a hat or otherwise distinctive piece of clothing (optional), and a beverage.

Set Up

1. Have everyone who is playing sit around the table.
2. Have the person who wishes to be Three Man (or wingman or king's man, the name does not matter) don the distinctive item. If no one is interested in being the Three Man, the provider of the dice shall decide who it is. Alternatively, you can do a roll-off and whoever rolls the lowest is the Three Man.
3. The person to the left of the Three Man will be given the dice.

Scoring

The scoring of the game (if you wish to call it that) is relatively simple, although a bit tricky to remember at first. There are five scenarios where one or more person will drink.

1. If a three is rolled, either on the face of the die or in summation (so a 1 and a 2 is rolled) the Three Man will drink one sip. If there are double threes, the Three Man will take two sips.
2. If a nine is rolled, the person to the right of the dice roller will drink one sip.
3. If a ten is rolled, the person who rolled the dice will drink one sip.
4. If an elven is rolled, the person to the left of the dice roller will drink one sip.
5. If doubles are rolled, the dice roller will give out the number of sips of the double. So if double fours are rolled, the dice roller can give out four sips. These sips can be given out however the roller decides, be it all to one person, or splitting them up among multiple players.
6. Lastly, if a seven is rolled, everyone must put their thumb on the edge of the table as quickly as possible, the last person to do so will take one sip.

Multiple people can take sips one the same roll for different things. For example, if double fives are rolled, the roller must take a sip because it adds up to ten, as well as the roller giving out five sips to whomever they choose.

Sequence of Play

The person to the left of the Three Man will start by rolling the dice, if any of the above mentioned criteria are met, the respective person will drink. The roller will continue to roll until either no one takes a sip or they throw one or more of the dice off the table (more on this later). If no one drinks, the dice are passed to the person to the left. When the dice get to the Three Man, the same sequence of play is maintained, unless the Three Man rolls a three. If the Three Man rolls a three (either on the face or in summation), they decide a new Three Man and give them the distinctive item. The dice are then given to the person to the left of the ""new"" Three Man and play continues as normal. Therefore, if the Three Man does not roll a three, but someone drinks they continue rolling until no one drinks or they roll a three. If the Three Man rolls and no one drinks, the dice are passed to the person to the left and the Three Man remains in that role for another round. If someone throws one or both dices off the table they automatically become the Three Man and the dice are passed to the person to their left and play resumes as normal. If the current Three Man rolls the dice off the table, they will remain the Three Man, even if they roll a three or someone else throws the dice off the table in the next round. Note this only applies to the next round or one person throwing the dice off the table. If multiple people roll the dice off the table in the same round, the second person to do so will become the Three Man.

Additional Criteria

• This game is normally played with Buffalo in effect. Make sure to establish your Buffalo rules before the start of play and inform every newcomer of the rules.
• If you have a significant amount of players you can introduce another Three Man, it's the same role, there's just two now. However, whenever one of the Three Man changes, they have the right to choose the other Three Man. The dice will still go to the left of the Three Man who was selected first, unless the second Three Man is directly to their left, then the dice will go to the next person to the left.
• As this game has no end, people are allowed to come and go as they please.
• You will go through a fair amount of drinks with this game, so make sure you know what you are getting yourself into and that you have enough beverages.
• You are not allowed to leave your thumb on the table, if you do so, you will take one sip for every time someone calls you out on it.

Fun Facts

• This game was first played (to my knowledge) within the EUS community on Tuesday, July 25th, 2022. The game was played by Michael Parsons, Benoit Bolduc, Yassi Bassiri, Luis Sanchez, Shua Kalmanson, Efe Grant-Oyeye, Zaina Khan, and Aidan O'Heany.
• The number 7 is known as Yassi's number as she was notoriously slow at putting her thumb on the table.
• This name of the game comes from the fact that it draws elements from Three Man and King's Cup.