421
Three dice, three rolls, and tokens you want to get rid of.
The dice game of French café counters. Three dice, eleven tokens and one king combination: 4, 2 and 1. The game is played in two stages, the charge then the discharge, and whoever ends up holding the tokens loses.
- Players
- 2–6
- Game length
- about 10 min
Rules
Objective
Get rid of all your tokens. The game uses three dice and a pot of 11 tokens, in two phases: the charge, when the pot is handed out, then the discharge, when players pass tokens to each other.
A turn
The first player rolls the three dice up to three times, keeping any they like between rolls. The number of rolls they use sets the maximum allowed for the players that follow.
Once everyone has played, the combinations are compared: the weakest takes tokens.
Combinations
From strongest to weakest: 421 (10 tokens); two Aces and another die (as many tokens as that die, 7 for three Aces); three of a kind (as many tokens as the die value); straights (2 tokens); then every other combination (1 token).
The worst combination is the “nénette”, 2-2-1, which is also worth 2 tokens.
Charge and discharge
During the charge, the loser of each round takes from the pot as many tokens as the round's best combination is worth. When the pot is empty, the discharge begins.
During the discharge, the winner of the round gives their tokens to the loser, again according to the value of their combination. The first player with no tokens leaves the game; the last one holding any loses.