Game of probability.

The Glory of Numbers

develops alertness, memory, strategic thinking and numeracy.

The Glory of Numbers Logo

This game is like no other dice games you have seen before. Each toss of the dice is calculated and must be done with and an appropriate die you choose yourself. Even though dice games are mostly about luck, The Glory of Numbers is about developing the right strategy and responding, to the numbers and to the die held by your opponent, adequately.

The original pack contains two sets of 12 dice. The dice vary in regard to the numbers printed on their faces. You can play a difficult version of the game using all the dice available, but it is recommended that you follow this guide starting with the simple Glory of the Numbers and progress towards the more advanced game.

You will be required, in order to become the master of The Glory of Numbers, to get familiar with probability of what numbers are more likely to occur with particular die.

The content of the game set:

Set of dice:

Entry level - The Glory of Numbers

The elementary level starts as basic as possible. Initially one player holds 3 dice and plays only with one die at a time. So does the other players. For clarity let’s assume it is only two players playing.

Player 1 holds: D1, D2, D3. Player 2 holds: D1, D2, D3.

Firstly, player one tosses one of the dice. The number that comes up is the number that has to be matched or overthrown by the second player. Player two tosses the die and matches or gets higher number than players one. Next, player one tosses again receiving lower number than the initial one. Player one loses the game and the dice that player one used in the game is collected by player two. The game continues until one of the players is left dice less.

- the question here is: what dice will be collected? The next number to overthrow must be predictable. - one bit of strategy lies in what dice you choose to beat your opponent with.

Game in steps

Scenario 1: One player wins – in steps:

  1. Any player tosses a die. The number received is “4” for this scenario.
  2. Player 1 selects purposely a die that allows him to much the number “4” or to get a higher one.
  3. Player 2 selects purposely a die that allows him to much the number “4” or to get a higher one.
  4. Player 1 and player 2 toss their dice.
  5. Player 1 receives number “6”; player 2 receives number “3”. Player 1 wins and collets opponents die.

Scenario 2: Both players loose – in steps:

  1. Any player tosses a die. The number received is “3” for this scenario.
  2. Player 1 selects purposely a die that allows him to much the number “3” or to get a higher one.
  3. Player 2 selects purposely a die that allows him to much the number “3” or to get a higher one.
  4. Player 1 and player 2 toss their dice.
  5. Player 1 receives number “2”; player 2 receives number “1”. In this case no one wins. None either matched or overthrew the set number.
  6. Players are allowed to select different die or hold on to the current one.
  7. Player 1 and player 2 toss their dice until one of them matches or overthrows the set number

Scenario 3: Both players win – in steps:

  1. Any player tosses a die. The number received is “4” for this scenario.
  2. Player 1 selects purposely a die that allows him to much the number “4” or to get a higher one.
  3. Player 2 selects purposely a die that allows him to much the number “4” or to get a higher one.
  4. Player 1 and player 2 toss their dice.
  5. Player 1 receives number “5”; player 2 receives number “5”. Player 1 wins and collets opponents die.

Remember, the target is to overthrow or match the initial number set in Step 1 and as a consequence to successively and ruthlessly collect your opponents’ dice.

Intermediate level - The Glory of Numbers

Well done, you have mastered the elementary level of The Glory of Numbers. Now it is time for you to progress towards slightly more challenging version of this game. This time the game starts with both players holding a pack of six dice: D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6.

The target is still to overthrow or match the initial number but this time using two dice instead of one. Using two dice per toss brings about higher numbers and more options when developing strategy to usurp your opponent’s dice. The winner collects one arbitrary die out of the two of his opponents’. You never collect both as that is something, I call greedy.

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

The tables above show the sum-ups of different dice. If you toss two D6 you get one of the numbers in Table 1 but most likely it will be number with “12” since that has the highest occurrence in the table.

If you toss two D1 you get one of the numbers in Table 2 but most likely it will be number with “2” since that has the highest occurrence in the table.

The same applies if you toss D1 together with D4. Notice that the most likely number to get is the sum of the numbers that occurs the most often on each of the dice. The realisation of it is the first step to developing the right strategy. If you need to match number “2” you should use two D1. If you want to match number “5” you should pick D1 and D4 but you could also pick D2 and D3. The likelihood of receiving 5 is for both combinations the same however if you are planning to overthrow your opponent you should aim for getting numbers over 5 and that is a result provided by tossing a combination of D2 and D3 as these never sums up into number lower than 5 and that’s a guaranteed win.

Table 4

Table 5

Advanced Level - The Glory of Numbers

Excellent. You have put effort into understanding The Glory of Numbers and it is my pleasure to welcome you in the hall-of-fame of advanced players. Not many players get here. Therefore, reward yourself well because now you dominate!

The rules for the advanced level remain the same, but you know what is coming.

D7: 1,2,3,4,5,7

Table 6

Table 7

By including D7 to our options we extend the pallet of possible attacks and ways of defence. This die is included in the advanced level to create more possible combinations; and consequently, to enrich the spectrum of strategies you can use to rob you opponent from his or hers treasured dice.

-could play towards an exact match