How Skewers Works: the Push-Your-Luck Dice Game, Step by Step

1The dice and the grill

There are 8 dice. Five faces show 1 to 5; the sixth shows a flame, which counts 5.

The grill holds 16 skewers, numbered 21 to 36. Each carries 1 to 4 sausages, and the higher the number, the more it carries (40 on the grill in all):

A skewer you win goes on top of your stack. Only the top skewer of a stack is ever in play: it's the one a rival can steal and the one you lose when you bust. The board shows each stack's top skewer, how deep the stack is, and the sausages in it.

2A turn

Tap ROLL to roll all 8 dice. Then tap a die: every die of that face is set aside, and adds to your TOTAL. You can't set aside a face you've already set aside this turn; those dice are marked USED. Then it's ROLL AGAIN with the dice you have left, or STOP.

Every roll is a gamble: the fewer dice you have and the more faces you've used, the likelier a roll shows only faces you can't take. There's no passing. If STOP isn't lit, you have to roll.

3Stopping

You can stop only with at least one flame set aside and a skewer to take. The board shows what you'd get (IF YOU STOP NOW), and STOP takes it. It looks in this order:

1. the grill skewer equal to your total;
2. else a rival's top skewer equal to your total: you steal it;
3. else the highest grill skewer below your total.

A total under 21 can't take anything. A total over 36 (it can reach 40) takes the highest skewer still on the grill.

When a steal and a lower grill skewer are both on offer, STOP always steals. The stolen skewer carries at least as many sausages, and your rival loses it.

4When a turn ends by itself

You can't roll again once all 8 dice are set aside, or once all 6 faces are, even with dice left over: a roll could only show faces you've used. Then the game stops for you if there's a skewer to take, and if there isn't, you bust.

5Busting

You bust when:

• a roll shows only faces you've already set aside; or
• your turn can't roll again and you can't stop: no flame set aside, or no skewer at or below your total and no rival's top skewer equal to it.

With dice still to roll, a missing flame or a total too low isn't a bust yet: STOP just isn't lit, and you roll on.

A bust costs you, in two steps. Your top skewer goes back on the grill, face up. Then the highest skewer on the grill flips out of the game for good, unless the one you just returned is the highest, in which case nothing flips. If you hold no skewer, nothing goes back and nothing flips.

6How a game ends

The game ends when no skewer is left face up on the grill. Everyone counts the sausages in their stack, and the most sausages wins.

Tied on sausages, the player holding the highest skewer wins. Every skewer number exists only once, so that settles any tie between players who hold something. A shared win is only possible when nobody still playing holds a single skewer, and only a ⚡ Quicker game table online can end that way.

7The clock (online)

On your own nothing is timed: the grillers wait for you. Online the turn clock is on unless the host chose 🕰️ No turn clock. With it on:

• Every roll, every pick of a face and every choice to stop has 20 seconds, shown as the line above the buttons. It waits for the dice and skewers to finish moving before it starts.
• Run out of time and it counts as a bust, with the bust's usual cost: your top skewer goes back and the highest flips, or nothing happens if you hold no skewer. Nothing is rolled or stopped for you, even if you could have stopped.
• If everyone still playing lets the clock run out 3 turns in a row, the game is abandoned: every buy-in goes back and nothing is recorded.

Without the clock, take as long as you like. A player who goes quiet for too long is removed by the lobby's idle rule, the same as at other tables.

8Playing on your own

Choose Solo on the game page, choose the Seats (2 to 7, with you in one; 4 to start) and tap Light the grill. Every other seat is a griller, joining in this order: Nova, Kestrel, Ivo, Pike, Wren and Sable. You always roll first.

The grillers play by the same rules you do. Each has its own nerve: how much it minds losing its top skewer when it busts. There's no difficulty setting.

It's a practice game: nothing is paid or recorded. At the end, Play again starts a new game at the same table, or Change setup takes you back to choose. You don't need an account to play on your own.

9Playing online

Open a table from the lobby, or join one: 2 to 7 seats (4 to start). The host chooses a free table or a buy-in (💰100 to start), and two table options: 🕰️ No turn clock and ⚡ Quicker game. The game starts when the table is full, or when the host starts it with at least two people there. Who rolls first is drawn at random. A free table needs no account; a buy-in table needs one.

• No grillers online: every seat is a person.
• ⚡ Quicker game: a bust flips the highest skewer off the grill even when the player who busted holds no skewer to give back, so the grill empties sooner.
• Buy-in: everyone puts the same amount into the pot, and the most sausages takes it. A shared win splits it.
• Coins, XP and badges: the game pays no coins or XP of its own; the buy-in pot is the money. An online game counts for your Skewers badges, and badges pay XP.
• Leaving: you roll no more, and you can't win. Your stack stays on the table, and its top skewer can still be stolen. At a buy-in table your buy-in stays in the pot. If only one person is left, they win at once.
• Play again: everyone still at the table can start another game together. It has no buy-in, and who rolls first is drawn again.
• Every roll in the open: the server rolls every die as it happens and everyone sees it, so there's nothing hidden to check. The ⏱ Grill log lists every roll, pick, stop and bust of the game.