a quick-playing dice game for three to five players
by Jonathan Leistiko
inspired by a comment by Ben Gibbs and Malisa Dijacimo
Gather clusters of similar cheeses, either from the Cheese Shop, or from the other mice.
Note: You can play this game with normal six-sided dice. If this were a commercially published game it would use 25 custom dice with the following die faces: Gouda (red), Swiss (white w. black circles), Bleu (white with blue lines & spots), Cheddar (yellow), American (Orange wrapped slice), Brie (white/yellow pie wedge). You can print out this die-to-cheese reference sheet to help you.
Put the Fromage á Trois dice in the center of the table. This is the Cheese Shop.
If you're using nrmal dice, put the reference sheet near the middle too so you can refer to it during play.
The player who ate cheese (diary-free "cheese" counts as cheese) most recently goes first.
On your turn:
When you're done your turn, play passes to your left.
Example
A has 2, 2, 3, 6
B has 2, 5, 6
C has 3, 3, 4, 5
The Cheese Shop has 14 dice
It’s B’s turn. B rolls five dice and gets 1, 1, 2, 3, 6. B keeps the double 1s. Now B has 1, 1, 2, 5, 6. B takes a 2 from A and a 5 from C, making a Fromage á Trois with 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 5. B immediately returns those six dice to the Cheese Shop and scores nine points. Because B took dice from A and C to make the Fromage á Trois, A and C each get to take a die from the Shopping Cart or score three points. A chooses to score three points instead of taking a die from the Shopping Cart. C chooses to take the 3 from the Shopping Cart so they can have 3, 3, 3, 4, 5 at the start of their turn.
At the end of B's turn:
A has 2, 3, 6 and three more points
B has 6 and nine more points
C has 3, 3, 3, 4, 5
The Cheese Shop has 16 dice