For several months now, I have been addicted to a game called Farkle. To be honest, I had never even heard of the game until someone suggested I play it on Facebook. It all began one quiet afternoon over the summer when a friend of mine asked me if I wanted “to Farkle.” Unsure of what I had just been asked, I was hesitant to respond. With all the euphemisms floating around, you never can tell precisely what people are asking sometimes!
As I later found out, Farkle is a dice game. In some ways, it is played similar to poker, but for those of you who have played neither game, I’ll try to explain Farkle the best I can. In each round, you start off with 6 dice. Certain combinations of dice can give you points. For example, a trio of 6’s will give you 600 points, a trio of 3’s will give you 300 points, etc. Three pairs will give you 750 points. If you’re lucky enough to get a straight (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) you’ll get 1500 points. In each round, you need to earn at least 300 points or else they won’t count toward your score.
Most of the time, you’ll be picking out ones and fives. Unlike the other dice, ones and fives give you points without having to be paired up with other dice. Ones give you 100 points and fives give you 50.
So what happens when you don’t get any dice that will give you any points? You get a Farkle. This means you get no points and you are, as many players say in jest, “farkled.” If you get a farkle three times in a row, you automatically lose 500 points. (Keep in mind that these rules apply to the game “FARKLE on Facebook.” In other versions of the game, the rules are different).
As I type this, I currently hold the highest score of all time with 13,500 points. Keep in mind that this is out of everyone on my Facebook friends list. If you play Farkle on Facebook and you’re on my friends list, you might know someone with an even higher score who I don’t have as a friend.
Anyway, a lot of people have noticed that I seem to consistently get pretty high scores in Farkle. They’ve been asking me to share my “secrets” so that’s what I figured I’d do today.
First of all, keep in mind that the biggest factor in the game is LUCK. Sometimes, I play Farkle and my scores are negative because I get nothing but Farkles. On average, I end up with scores in the 3,000 to 5,000 range. On those rare occasions where I do actually make over 10,000 points, it’s usually because I get lucky several times within the same game.
Second of all, the number of times you play can also determine your chances of winning big. I guess I’m admitting something about how often I play the game, but unless you are extremely lucky, getting over 10,000 points playing only once a week isn’t likely.
Even though most of your success with Farkle depends on your luck, there are a few things you can do to increase your chances of getting higher scores…
1. Ignore the fives. Unless you see a trio of fives, try to avoid them. If there’s no other dice to choose from and you don’t have three of them, just pick one and roll the dice again.
2. Ones are your friends. DO pick all the ones you see. Picking three of them gets you 1,000 points and four of them give you 2,000. I’m not sure what happens if you get five or six of them since I’ve never gotten that lucky.
3. Don’t roll the dice more than twice per round. Unless you clear all the dice, don’t reroll unless you don’t have the minimum 300 points required to count towards your score. Based on my experience, if you didn’t get a great roll to begin with, it’s not going to be much better on the second roll.
4. Don’t be afraid to settle for 300. I have an old saying: “A risky decision is not a wise decision.” While a risky decision can end up being a fortunate decision, it doesn’t mean that the risky decision was a wise choice. How wise a person is has nothing to do with luck. Anyway, I digress, but the point is that it’s wiser to “cash in” on what you have (even if it’s a little) than to take a big risk and lose everything. If you have rolled the dice three times and all you have is 300 points, it’s a better idea to just go with that than roll again and get a farkle.
Anyway, for those of you who play the game, I hope these tips help and I wish you the best of luck!
![Episode 19
In Episode 12, Dewey was on his way to the store to buy beer when he ran into George, a neighbor of his who was posing as a homeless person in order to scam people for money. When Dewey returned home, he told his roommate Mac about what he had seen.
Mac, always believing that others mean well, thinks that George is trying to come up with the money to fund an investigation for him. (In Episodes 4 and 8, Mac gave George’s brother Arthur money to find out who took pictures of him and posted them on the Internet. Mac doesn’t realize that it was actually Arthur and George who were behind it!) The truth is that Arthur and George are actually trying to come up with the money to pay off a loan shark.
In Episode 17, Mac feels guilty because he thinks George (and presumably Arthur) are trying to bum money off of people for his sake. He decides to look for one of the two brothers to tell them not to worry about it anymore…
[Note: Finally! It’s been months since I’ve posted a new episode. I hope you like the new art style. The old style took too long to draw on the computer so I decided to do something different. If you notice, you’ll see that the characters are drawn using mostly straight edges. This saves me a lot of time and keeps me from having to erase and redraw a lot of curves. I’ll explain in more detail another time. Personally, I like the new style a lot better because it reminds me of how characters look in a lot of video games (especially those from the PlayStation One era). With this new art style, I’m hoping to have episodes posted more frequently. Enjoy! - Briantis]](http://5.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kv0ix8KeXf1qzck6qo1_500.jpg)
![Episode 18
In Episode 12, Dewey was on his way to the store to buy more beer when he ran into George, a neighbor of his who was posing as a homeless person in order to scam people for money. When Dewey returned home, he told his roommate Mac about what he had seen.
Mac, always believing that others mean well, thinks that George is trying to come up with the money to fund an investigation for him. (In Episodes 4 and 8, Mac paid gave George’s brother Arthur money to find out who took pictures of him and posted them on the Internet. Mac doesn’t realize that it was actually Arthur and George who were behind it!) The truth is that Arthur and George are actually trying to come up with the money to pay off a loan shark.
In the last Episode, Mac feels guilty because he thinks George (and, presumably Arthur) are trying to bum money off of people for his sake. He decides to look for one of the two brothers to tell them not to worry about it anymore…
[Note: Hope you like the new style of artwork! This time, I did it all using the computer! Also, be sure to click on the picture twice to zoom in! - Briantis]](http://12.media.tumblr.com/kvR2UprCootj8p5vaWmvJK4Mo1_500.jpg)
![Episode 16
In Episode 14, Kathy called her grandfather to ask him if he could loan her money. She told Arthur that she would help him out since he promised to start looking for a “real” job.
[Note: A few of you have been demanding more Mac Zeckler. He’s been noticeably absent since Episode 12 and hasn’t really had much of a role since Episode 10. Don’t worry! He’ll be back and there will be plenty of him. Until then, I am planning to post a couple of more bios. Stay tuned! - Briantis]](http://4.media.tumblr.com/kvR2UprCooaevn10XLxbTzySo1_500.jpg)
![Episode 15
In Episode 13, Dewey was on his way to buy more beer when he happened to run into George. Since Episode 8, George has been posing as a homeless person in order to scam people out of money. Dewey gave George some change, but George wasn’t impressed. While Dewey purchases beer, George eagerly waits for him outside!
[Note: As always, be sure to click on the picture twice in order to zoom in. Also, I’ve included a link to my Facebook page at the bottom. If you’re added as a friend, you’ll receive notification of whenever I post new episodes or material. - Briantis]](http://12.media.tumblr.com/kvR2UprCoo8xtgoixASHrlGwo1_500.jpg)
![Episode 14
In Episode 11, Kathy agreed to help Arthur come up with the money he needed to pay off a loan shark as long as he promised to look for a “real” job. While Arthur searches for jobs on the Internet, Kathy gets ready to make a phone call…
[Note: Be sure to catch up on previous episodes to get a full understanding of the story. - Briantis.]](http://13.media.tumblr.com/kvR2UprCoo4pjs106BxTlC8to1_500.jpg)
