The German Schock Drinking Dice Game, (or Shock) is similar to Yahtzee or poker in that players compete to see who has the highest value each round. This game works for as many people as you want but you’ll need at least 2 players. This game takes place in two distinct rounds where players earn and then lose all their betting tokens.
This dice game can be a little hard to grasp at first but one you play the first round it should move along pretty smoothly. It’s typically played in a bar setting to choose who has to buy the next drink but it can also just be played at home with the loser having to down a glass.
Setting It Up
For this game you’ll need three dice. Then you need 13 tokens to keep score, these can be anything including beer coasters, coins or chips. To determine the starting player everyone rolls one die and the highest roller starts.
Schock Drinking Game Rules
The starting player gets to set the tone for the round. First they roll all 3 dice and then decide from there what to do. The starting player can roll up to 3 times, but however many times they choose to roll is how many rolls every other player gets to roll. For example if the player only rolls twice, then every other player only gets a maximum of two rolls. The only number that players are allowed to keep between rolls is the 1s, every other dice must be re-rolled.
Roll Values
Bare Numbers
A bare number is a roll that doesn’t fit any other category on this list. It’s value is simply the highest to lowest. For example if someone rolls a 4,6 and 2, their Bare Number would be 621. The higher the better.
Street
A street is akin to a “straight” in poker. Which means that all three dice are in a row. Such as 2,3,4 or 4,5,6. The higher the better. All streets are higher than any bare number. Street only count when it’s from the very first throw. Otherwise the player must count the bare number value.
Bock
A bock is any 3 of the same number. The higher the better. A bock is higher than any Street or Bare Number. Much like Streets these are only counted if rolled on the first throw otherwise they are just worth their bare number value.
Schock
These are the best rolls in the game. A Schock is defined as any roll containing two 1s. So a 1,1 and 2 would be considered a Schock-2. A 1,1,5 would be considered a Schock-5. Triple 1s or “Schock Aus” is the highest roll achievable in the game.
Playing a Round
Play order of this game is typically clockwise of the starting player. After everyone has locked in their roll and remembers what it is a winner is determined. If multiple players threw the same combination the one who threw it first wins. An overall loser is also decided by the same metrics. The loser gets tokens equal to what the highest roll was.
- Bare Number = 1
- Street = 2
- Bock = 3
- Schock = whatever the other dice number was.
- Schock Aus = This one isn’t counted, so go with the second highest.
The loser of the round now starts the next round. All the rules are the same as the previous round. More rounds are played until all 13 tokens are taken.
Second Phase
After all tokens are taken then the second phase begins. All players with no tokens are out of the game. Now rounds happen just like before except with one key exception. Now the winner of each round gets to hand out his tokens to the loser instead of him getting them from the stack. One anyone runs out of tokens they are out of the game.
End of the Game
Once there is only 1 player remaining with all the tokens, they are the overall loser of the game. They must down a down a drink and but the next round of drinks. If you’re playing at home then he must simply give everyone else in the game a drink.
We hope these rules to the Schock drinking game were easy enough to understand. If you’re looking for something a little simpler and straight to the point we suggest taking a look at 3-Man. Please remember to drink responsibly.