Poker Dice Casino Game
Some of the best casino games of all time are those that mix elements of luck and skill. Whether it’s choosing to hit or stand in blackjack, playing out your hand in Texas Hold’em, or setting your cards in Pai Gow Poker, having some control over the outcome of the game can make gambling a lot more fun and give you at least a measure of control over your results.
In the online realm, there are even more games available that meld strategy and chance, sometimes in ways you may not have seen before. One example is Poker Dice, a game developed by Relax Gaming. While most of the structure of this game revolves around elements that are a bit more like slot machines or tic-tac-toe, a special bonus round brings more poker flavor into the proceedings, and gives you a chance to win a major jackpot if you can make a big hand.
Easy as One, Two, Three
At the beginning of each round of Poker Dice, the player must choose to make a bet, with most sites offering a range of amounts to pick from. On the actual game layout, you’ll be presented with four empty boxes with 3x3 grids inside of them, and a button that you’ll need to hit to start the game.
When the game begins, you’ll be presented with a set of three dice. Each die can show one of ten faces: a number between one and six, a jack, a queen, a king, or an ace. At your discretion, you must put these three in one of the four boxes, where they will now make up the first column of that grid. The dice will remain in the same order as they were initially presented; in other words, the top die will remain on top, and so on, with no ability to manipulate that layout.
Once you’ve placed your dice, a new set of three will appear in the center of the layout. Once again, you can put them in any box you want. If there is already one or more columns in a box, then the new dice will fill in the next available column. If a box is filled with three columns already, then you can no longer place anything in that location.
The game will continue on like this until all four grids are filled (with one exception, which we’ll talk about below). The object of the game is to make lines of three identical dice from left to right. Each grid essentially has five “pay lines,” as you can score on all three rows as well as both diagonals. The game will give you a little help if you’re failing to recognize the patterns: any time your new set will help continue or complete a winning set, the matching dice already in place will flash to catch your attention.
Once all of your grids have been set, it is time to score the round and collect any payouts you might be owed. This game works on a scoring system, with different scoring thresholds earning you various prizes. First, let’s take a look at how you accumulate points. Every three-of-a-kind sequence you make is worth points, with harder-to-find faces earning more than the most common faces. You may score more than one win per grid; all matching combinations are cumulative. There are also special bonuses if three or four of your boxes contain at least one winning line, as well as a special added bonus if you should manage to put nine of the same face in a single grid. Here’s a rundown of the scoring:
Lines
- Ones: 20 points
- Twos: 20
- Threes: 20
- Fours: 40
- Fives: 40
- Sixes: 60
- Jacks: 60
- Queens: 60
- Kings: 120
Bonuses
- Three Winning Boxes: 1.5x multiplier on total score
- Four Winnings Boxes: 2x multiplier on total score
- Nine-of-a-kind: 200 points
The game will automatically calculate your score after you’ve played out the entire round. Based on your score, you may then win a prize, with higher scores winning more money. A minimum of 100 points is needed to get any prize.
The payout scheme is listed below. Keep in mind that, like a slot machine, you’ll be paying for each round up front, so you won’t be getting that bet back as part of your winnings. Your possible payouts are:
- 100 Points: 2x
- 150: 3x
- 200: 4x
- 250: 5x
- 300: 6x
- 400: 8x
- 500: 20x
- 700: 60x
- 1,000: 100x
Aces Wild
We mentioned earlier that there’s one exception to the above rules. If you can make a line of three aces, you’ll instantly be transported away from the main game to a second screen bonus round. In this game, you’ll be playing a game that’s like a mix of poker and Yahtzee, with the goal being to make the best possible hand.
You’ll start by rolling five dice. You’ll then have the option of holding as many or as few of these as you like, after which you may reroll the remaining dice. After this second roll, you can again keep anything you want, and reroll everything else once more. The third roll, however, is final: whatever you have after this last round is what you get for the bonus game.
Depending on your final hand strength, you can win one of a number of possible prizes. The pay table looks like this:
- Five of a Kind: 80x
- Four of a Kind: 32x
- Full House: 16x
- Three of a Kind or Two Pair: 8x
- Anything Else: 4x
It’s worth noting that there is another benefit to getting five of a kind. This also earns you a chance at winning a progressive jackpot that grows each time the game is played. Anywhere from zero to five of your dice may light up after winning the top prize as part of a “jackpot lottery.” If all five light up, then congratulations: the jackpot is yours!
Make the Most of Your Matches
Assuming you play well, it appears that this game is a pretty fair one to players: assuming optimal play, the house edge is only about 1.13%. The only bad news we have is that we don’t know of a guide to perfect strategy in Poker Dice, meaning it may be difficult to squeeze every last hundredth of a percent out of that figure.
That said, we believe that playing with a common sense strategy with a few tips can get you extremely close to that figure, as most strategy in this game is rather straightforward. The following are a few hints we can give you to make sure you make as few errors as possible:
- Take Your Time: The biggest source of errors in this game is simple carelessness. Take your time and make sure you know what play you want to make before you place any dice. This will save you a lot of points over the long run.
- Give Yourself Options: The most difficult part of this game, strategically, comes when placing your middle columns. Sometimes, you’ll have the ability to create two-in-a-row situations in multiple grids. If you have a choice, choose the option that keeps as many winning options open as possible: don’t cut yourself out of two potential high-value wins just to make two ones in a row, and choose placements that give you as many options to make a win on your final play as possible.
- Dumping: One idea that you should keep in mind when things aren’t going entirely to plan is to create a grid that you can use to throw away bad sets. It’s not ideal, as you’d love to have the ability to get the multipliers for making wins on three or four grids, but this is sometimes the best way to keep options open to scrape out a 100 or 150 point win.
- Keep Thresholds in Mind: Finally, keep in mind what you’ll need in order to get a win (or get to your next target for a larger prize). This may inform your decisions on occasion; for instance, it might force you to take a chance rather than lock in a small number of points if those points won’t be enough to make a difference in your results.
A Fun and Challenging Game
Poker Dice is not only a lot of fun to play, but it is also a game that is surprisingly challenging. As we said, most of your decisions will be pretty easy, but there are enough questionable cases to keep you thinking and stopping you from playing on autopilot. It’s also different enough from anything else we’ve played to make it feel like a new challenge, which is likely to make it a bit more interesting for veteran gamblers than most “specialty” games.
Combine that with the excellent odds offered by this game, and Poker Dice is certainly worth checking out. Between a sharp presentation and engaging gameplay, we think that many players will find themselves having a great time rolling and making matches for a long time to come.
