Aces Dice Game – Rules to Print, With Table Rulings

How it works

In the aces dice game nobody keeps score. Everyone starts with five dice, and each roll sends dice away: 1s to the middle, 2s to the left, 5s to the right. It ends when the last die comes up 1.

Read the full guide

How the dice move

The page opens on Standard game. A 1 is an ace and leaves the game. A 2 goes to your left-hand neighbor and a 5 to your right. You keep rolling while a roll holds any of the three.

Winner or loser?

Tables split on the last ace: some say the player who rolls it wins, others that they lose. A longer evening with lives in the menu under Print this list uses the losing version, and Table rulings settles what happens to a player with no dice.

Tips

The page does not roll. Bring five dice for every player.
Sit in a clear circle: every 2 and every 5 has to reach the right neighbor.

Questions and answers

How do you play the aces dice game?

Each player starts with five dice. On your turn roll all you hold: 1s go to the middle, 2s to the player on your left, 5s to the player on your right. Roll again while any of those show.

Who wins at Aces?

At many tables, the player who rolls the very last die in play as a 1. Other tables turn that around and make that player the loser. Settle which before the first roll.

What happens when you run out of dice?

You stay in the game. Your turn is skipped while you hold nothing, but a 2 or a 5 rolled by a neighbor hands you dice again, and you roll them on your next turn.

How many dice do you need for Aces?

Five for each player, so 20 for a table of four and 30 for six. Ordinary six-sided dice are all it takes, and they do not need to match.

All 22 rows

Standard game (five dice each) 8

1: Five dice go to every seat. Three to eight players around one table.
2: To pick a starter, each player throws a single die: top number begins. The traditional way is for everyone to roll five dice, and the best poker hand starts.
3: When play reaches you, throw everything you hold. Everyone watches the roll: dice are about to move.
4: Every 1 goes to the middle of the table and is out of the game. A 1 is an ace, which gives the game its name.
5: Every 2 is passed to the player on your left. That is why the game is also called Deuces to the Left.
6: Every 5 is passed to the player on your right. And Fives to the Right.
7: After a roll with a 1, a 2 or a 5 in it, throw your remaining dice again. Your turn ends on a roll with none of them, or when you have no dice left.
8: The dice travel until one die is left. The player who rolls it as a 1 wins. Agree first: some tables say that player loses instead.

Show all 22 rows (14 more)

A longer evening with lives (ours) 6

A player with no counters left is out, and the circle closes up. Their neighbors now pass 2s and 5s to each other.
Everyone begins the evening with three lives, kept as counters. Buttons or beans will do. They only keep a tally.
Everyone takes five dice again, and the player who lost a life rolls first. The seats stay the same, so the same neighbors keep trading dice.
Play the standard game with the last ace as the loser. Whoever rolls the last die in play as a 1 gives up one counter.
Shorter: one game, with the last ace as the winner. That is the standard sheet, played once.
Whoever still holds a counter at the end wins the evening. With two players left, every 2 and every 5 goes to the same opponent.

Table rulings 8

A 3, a 4 or a 6 stays in front of you. Those dice are rolled again only if the same roll also held a 1, a 2 or a 5.
A die that falls off the table is rolled again. Our ruling. Only that die, and before any dice are passed.
A player with no dice stays in the game. A neighbor's 2 or 5 can hand them dice again. Their turn is skipped while they have none.
A single throw may scatter dice in three directions. From 1, 2, 2, 5, 6: one die to the middle, two to the left, one to the right, and the 6 is rolled again.
Dice handed to you wait for your own turn. Do not roll them during someone else's turn.
For a faster game with seven or eight players, start with three dice each. Our suggestion. The traditional game gives everyone five.
The last die: whoever holds it rolls it on their turn. A 2 or a 5 moves it on. A 3, a 4 or a 6 leaves it where it is, and the turn passes on.
Two players: the left and the right neighbor are the same person. So every 2 and every 5 crosses the table.

How this list was compiled: Written for this site by the Game Night Generator editors on 2026-10-03, in our own words. Aces is a traditional passing game with no governing body. The standard game (five dice each, 1s to the middle, 2s to the left, 5s to the right, rolling on while a 1, 2 or 5 shows, the last die rolled as a 1 deciding the game, and the version in which that player loses) was checked on 2026-10-03 against a reference page for traditional dice games: https://www.dice-play.com/Games/Aces.htm. That page gives the game with a stake. This page leaves the stake out. The sheet with lives, the rulings and the worked roll are the editors' own and are not official. No other source was used. Licence: own work