Jamb rules: columns, boxes and scoring
Jamb is the five dice game generations in the Balkans have played on holiday, on trains and at the table after lunch. You need five dice, a pencil and a score sheet, and a game can last for hours.
Rules vary from group to group, so this guide describes the most common version. On Online igre you can play 5Dice, a simpler five dice game from the same family and a good warm up.
Rolling
Each turn you roll all five dice, then you may roll any of them again up to two more times. Keep the dice you like aside. After at most three rolls you enter the result in one box of the sheet.
Each box is filled only once. If the result fits nowhere, you enter zero or cross out the box you need least.
The boxes
The upper section has boxes for ones to sixes, where you enter the total of dice showing that number. If the upper section reaches 60 or more, you usually earn a 30 point bonus.
The middle section holds maximum and minimum, the total of all five dice, where maximum should be as high and minimum as low as possible. The difference between them is multiplied by the number of ones, so this is where a lot is won or lost.
The lower section has the combinations: a straight of five consecutive numbers, three of a kind, a full house, four of a kind and jamb, five alike. Combinations usually score the dice total plus a bonus, and a straight is worth more if made on the first roll.
The columns
The sheet usually has four columns. The down column is filled in order from ones toward jamb, and the up column the other way round. The free column can be filled in any order.
Announce is a special column: after the first roll you announce the box you are chasing, and the result must go exactly there. It brings tension, and also the most failed turns.
How scoring works
At the end all columns are added up: the upper section with its bonus, the middle section with the difference and the lower section with the combinations. The highest total wins.
The exact points for combinations vary from house to house. Before you start, agree on what each combination is worth and whether you play with four columns or more.
Tips for a higher score
Play the upper section to reach the bonus: three dice of a number in every box is enough. Do not chase jamb too early in the free column, but never miss it when four alike come up.
Put a bad roll where it costs least. A crossed out box hurts less than a ruined bonus.
5Dice on Online igre
5Dice is a simpler five dice game: you roll, keep dice and enter the result on a sheet, with no columns and no announcing. It is a good way to train your feel for combinations before a real game of jamb.
Five dice, one score sheet
Jamb is the perfect game for company: enough luck that anyone can win and enough decisions for experienced players to stand out.
For practice, try 5Dice in your browser, and for a card game read the rummy rules. Both games are in the Table games world.