Knucklebones is a dice game of risk and reward, unlocked after visiting Ratau at the Lonely Shack or by building Knucklebones Table back at the Cult of the Lamb HQ.
How to play[]
- The game consists of two 3x3 boards, each belonging to their respective player.
- The players take turns. On a player's turn, they roll a single 6-sided die, and must place it in a column on their board. A filled column does not accept any more dice.
- Each player has a score, which is the sum of all the dice values on their board. The score awarded by each column is also displayed.
- If a player places multiple dice of the same value in the same column, the score awarded for each of those dice is multiplied by the number of dice of the same value in that column. e.g. if a column contains 4-1-4, then the score for that column is 4x2 + 1x1 + 4x2 = 17. Below is a multiplication table for reference and comparison:
| Die value | 1 die in the
column |
2 dice | 3 dice |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 2 | 2 | 8 | 18 |
| 3 | 3 | 12 | 27 |
| 4 | 4 | 16 | 36 |
| 5 | 5 | 20 | 45 |
| 6 | 6 | 24 | 54 |
- When a player places a die, all dice of the same value in the corresponding column of the opponent's board gets destroyed. Players can use this mechanic to destroy their opponent's high-scoring combos.
- The game ends when either player completely fills up their 3x3 board. The player with the higher score wins.
Strategies[]
- Knucklebones is largely a game of chance, so don't expect to win every game even with an optimal strategy.
- Combos are generally much more worth pursuing than die value: two 2s are worth more than one 6, and three 3s are worth more than two 6s.
- As such, it is generally not worth destroying single dice (even if high valued), but worth destroying doubles and of course triples (aside from combos made from 1-dice). Work on your own combos instead.
- Focus on building strong combos in a column where the opponent has already filled up all or most their slots, as they won't be able to destroy your dice.
- If an opponent's column is already filled up, it's better to make combos in that column, since they can't take away your dice, rather than take away one or more of their dice and delete a relatively safe combo breeding ground.
- Pay attention to how close the game is to ending. When most of the board is empty, you may want to plan long-term building combos. When the boards are almost filled up, you may want to focus on sabotaging your opponent to get that last minute overtake or to delay the game to get more chances at finishing your own combos.
- If you place dice completely randomly (so every permutation of 3 dice is equally likely for each column), the mean score for a column is 15.25 while the median score is 12. This gives a benchmark for what score threshold you should try to surpass, or to keep your opponent below.
- There are 8C3 = 56 unique dice combinations for a column, with the mean score being 16.5 and the median score being 13. The full table of combinations is shown below:
| Die 1 | Die 2 | Die 3 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 1 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| 1 | 1 | 6 | 10 |
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
| 1 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
| 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 |
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 17 |
| 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| 1 | 4 | 6 | 11 |
| 1 | 5 | 5 | 21 |
| 1 | 5 | 6 | 12 |
| 1 | 6 | 6 | 25 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 18 |
| 2 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 |
| 2 | 2 | 5 | 13 |
| 2 | 2 | 6 | 14 |
| 2 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 |
| 2 | 4 | 4 | 18 |
| 2 | 4 | 5 | 11 |
| 2 | 4 | 6 | 12 |
| 2 | 5 | 5 | 22 |
| 2 | 5 | 6 | 13 |
| 2 | 6 | 6 | 26 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 27 |
| 3 | 3 | 4 | 16 |
| 3 | 3 | 5 | 17 |
| 3 | 3 | 6 | 18 |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | 19 |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 12 |
| 3 | 4 | 6 | 13 |
| 3 | 5 | 5 | 23 |
| 3 | 5 | 6 | 14 |
| 3 | 6 | 6 | 27 |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 36 |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 21 |
| 4 | 4 | 6 | 22 |
| 4 | 5 | 5 | 24 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 15 |
| 4 | 6 | 6 | 28 |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | 45 |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | 26 |
| 5 | 6 | 6 | 29 |
| 6 | 6 | 6 | 54 |
Opponents[]
There are several Opponents you can face off.
Old Shack[]
Ratau - The old, one-eyed rat who helps you at the start of the game. He is the easiest opponent with a bet cap of 10 gold. Gives The Hearts II tarot upon defeat. Has the lowest difficulty rating of all the opponent here. (Cannot be played against after finishing Fox's quests)
Flinky - A rattlesnake in a purple hat. They are the third hardest opponent. Their bet cap is 15 gold. Gives the Mithridatism tarot upon defeat.
Klunko and Bop - A one-armed crow and a worm. They are the second hardest opponent with a bet cap of 20 gold. Gives the Strength from Without tarot card upon defeat.
Shrumy - A turtle who wears a tent-like shell. They are the hardest opponent in the game with a bet cap of 50 gold. Gives the Strength from Within tarot card upon defeat. Has the highest difficulty rating of all the opponent here.
Cult of the Lamb HQ[]
The difficulty of the opponent picked from the followers are dependant on their loyalty level. The higher it goes, the harder they are at, even potentially surpassing Shrumy. Bets can't be placed when playing with followers.
If you win, you get an increase in loyalty from them, and if you lose you get nothing. This makes it a good way to get high level followers- if you're skilled enough and have the time to devote.
If you are on Local Co-op mode, you can also play against the opposing player as well.
Trivia[]
- Knucklebones in Cult of the Lamb has very little relation to the real-world family of games known as "Knucklebones", which have many variations across history and cultures, very few of which involve dice.