Printable maths games with just dice and paper

Some of the best maths practice does not look like practice at all. A couple of dice and a sheet of paper are enough to run games that drill addition, place value and times tables while a child thinks they are just trying to win. These five games are quick to learn, need no printing beyond a scoring sheet, and each one hides real arithmetic inside a bit of fun. Here are the rules, a worked example for each, and the maths they build.

What you need

One or two ordinary six-sided dice and a sheet of paper for scores. That is the whole kit. Two players is the sweet spot for most of these, but they all work with three or four, and several work solo against a target. A pencil for keeping a running total is all the extra you need.

Game 1: Pig (addition and knowing when to stop)

Pig is a push-your-luck addition game and the best one to start with. On your turn you roll one die again and again, adding each roll to a running turn total. Stop whenever you like and bank that total to your score. But if you ever roll a 1, your turn ends and you score nothing for that turn. First player to 100 wins.

Say you roll 4, then 3, then 5. Your turn total is 12. Bank it and you score 12. Push on and roll a 1, and you lose all 12. There is a 1 in 6 chance of rolling a 1 on every single roll, so the longer you stay in, the more likely you are to lose the lot. That tension is the whole game, and children add up their running total dozens of times without noticing.

Roll, add to your turn total, decide: bank it or roll again.
Roll a 1 and you lose the turn's points, so your turn ends.
Every roll carries a 1 in 6 chance of a 1, so pushing your luck gets riskier the higher you climb.
First to 100 wins. A good stopping rule to teach: bank around 20 each turn.

Game 2: Make the biggest number (place value)

This one drills place value. Each player rolls two dice, then arranges the two digits to make a two-digit number. The bigger the number, the more it is worth. Roll a 6 and a 2 and you would place the 6 in the tens column to make 62, which beats 26. Higher number wins the round and scores a point. First to five points wins.

The choice is the maths: children quickly learn that the larger digit belongs in the tens place because tens are worth more than ones. Play a 'make the smallest number' round to flip the thinking, then a three-dice version for hundreds once they are ready.

Roll two dice, arrange the digits to make the biggest two-digit number.
6 and 2 becomes 62, not 26, because the 6 is worth six tens.
Highest number wins the round. Swap to 'smallest number' to practise the reverse.

Game 3: Times-table grab (multiplication facts)

Roll two dice and multiply them. That is the game, and it is a painless way to drill the facts up to 6 times 6. Roll a 4 and a 6 and the answer is 24. Each player takes a turn, and whoever has the higher product wins the round, or keep a running total and race to 100.

Because two dice only reach 6 times 6, this stays inside the facts younger children are working on. To stretch it, use the product as a score and add it each turn, so they practise the fact and the running addition together.

Roll two dice, multiply: 4 and 6 makes 4 times 6, which is 24.
Higher product wins the round, or add products and race to a target.
Two dice keep it to the 1 to 6 tables, ideal for early multiplication.

Game 4: Race to zero (subtraction)

For subtraction practice, start each player at 100 and race down to exactly zero. On your turn, roll two dice, add them, and subtract that total from your score. Start at 100, roll 5 and 3 for 8, and you drop to 92. Next turn roll 6 and 4 for 10, down to 82, and so on.

The exact-landing rule is where the thinking sharpens. You must hit zero precisely: if you are on 7 and roll more than 7, you overshoot and skip the turn. Near the end children start working out which totals they can afford, which is subtraction and a little planning at once.

Everyone starts on 100. Roll two dice, add, subtract from your score.
100 minus 8 is 92, then 92 minus 10 is 82, and so on down.
You must land on exactly zero. Overshoot and you miss that turn.

Game 5: Spot the total (a taste of probability)

This one sneaks in probability. Before rolling two dice, each player predicts the total they think will come up most often across ten rolls, then you tally the results on paper. The point is the discovery: 7 comes up far more than 2 or 12.

The reason is worth showing on paper. Two dice can land 36 equally likely ways. A total of 7 happens 6 of those ways (1 and 6, 2 and 5, 3 and 4, 4 and 3, 5 and 2, 6 and 1), so its chance is 6 out of 36, which is 1 in 6. A total of 2 happens only one way (1 and 1) and 12 only one way (6 and 6), so each is just 1 in 36. Betting on 7 is the smart move, and now they know why.

Two dice have 36 equally likely outcomes.
7 can be made 6 ways, so its chance is 6 in 36, or 1 in 6.
2 and 12 can each be made only 1 way, so each is 1 in 36.
Tally ten rolls and watch the middle totals win.

Tips for making the games count

Have the child keep the running total on paper, that is the arithmetic practice.
Keep games short. One quick game daily beats a long session once a week.
Say the maths out loud: 'twelve plus five is seventeen', so the thinking is shared.
Let them choose the game. A game a child picks is a game they will play again.
Change one rule to raise the challenge: three dice for hundreds, or multiply instead of add.

More printable practice and games

When you want practice on paper, SproutSheets makes printable maths worksheets with answer keys computed in code, so they are never wrong. For another no-kit classic, our guide to Dots and Boxes has the rules and the winning strategy, and the graph-paper tool prints the grid.