Sometimes you just want a quick and light dice-rolling game for a bit of fun.

No heavy strategy.

No belabored turns.

Just some quick choices as you roll away.

In Splitter, by Pandasaurus Games you really don’t have to wait for typical turns anyway because everyone is active with every roll of the dice.

We included Splitter in our 2024 Board Game Gift Guide in the dice game category because it’s such a simple game that anyone can join in the fun.

How to play Splitter

This may be our quickest “how to play” section ever.

In Splitter players collectively choose to play with the “A” sheets or “B” sheets. Each player gets a sheet and a pencil.

(The game comes with 4 pencils, but more players can join in the fun – they just have to get a pencil or pen of their own.)

One player rolls the 2 dice. Then, all players write the results of both dice on their sheet in 2 squares.

The catch is that each sheet is divided right down the middle with a dotted line – splitting the squares. Wherever a player chooses to write one of the die results, they must write the other die result in the exact opposite space on the other half.

For example, if the dice results are a 2 and a 4, all players must place a 2 on one side of the dotted line and the 4 on the other side of the dotted line in the exact horizontally opposite space. Thus players fill out their sheet symmetrically.

Then the next player rolls the dice and everyone does the same thing again.

Little by little, the sheets will fill up with numbers.

Once everyone’s sheet is full (after 22 rolls), players score their results.

Scoring is done by number groupings.

If the quantity of orthogonally grouped numbers are equal to the number, the player scores that value. Thus:

• For each 1 on its own (not orthogonally adjacent to any other 1), the player scores 1 point.
• If exactly two 2’s are orthogonally adjacent, the player scores 2 points.
• If exactly three 3’s are orthogonally adjacent, the player scores 3 points.
• If exactly four 4’s are orthogonally adjacent, the player scores 4 points.
• If exactly five 5’s are orthogonally adjacent, the player scores 5 points.
• If exactly six 6’s are orthogonally adjacent, the player scores 6 points.

Bonus points: The Star spaces double the score of that grouping. So if a group of 4’s includes a Star space, the player scores 8 points for that grouping instead of 4 points.

Additional bonus points on “B” sheets: It the 3 heart spaces all contain the same number, the player scores 5 bonus points, regardless if those heart spaces are part of a scored group.

That’s all there is to it.

The player with the highest score wins!

 

Can the whole family enjoy Splitter?

Splitter is absolutely a dice game the whole family can enjoy playing together.

As you can see, the rules are very simple and the game is loaded with the luck of the dice rolls.

The key to the game is planning where you place the numbers on your sheet. However, the best laid plans will always fall to the mercy of the dice rolls.

Players will continuously be plotting how they lay out the numbers on their sheet. At the start of the game, it’s a blank slate. Then, as players start recording the first few dice rolls, they’ll secretly be hoping for certain results to fill in their blank spaces.

Okay, maybe not so secretly. At least in our family, there’s plenty of calling out what numbers they want to be rolled.

Which means, a game of Splitter is really filled with a lot of luck and hope.

As you near the end of the game, and players are forced to write numbers in the spaces they’ve been leaving open to finish off good scoring groups, you’ll see the light of hope flicker in their eyes.

• “How can you do a thing like this? Build up a little boy’s hopes and then smash all his dreams to pieces.” Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
• “There go all of my hopes, my precious plans, my glorious dreams.” The Nightmare Before Christmas
• “I knew it. I knew it was foolish to get our hopes up.” Beauty and the Beast

But the good news is, that with how quick the game is, it’s just as easy to grab another sheet and play again with fresh hope in a better outcome.

And if you’d like more of a challenge, choose the “B” sheets. The way the squares are laid out makes quite the puzzle to score well.

We’d also like to mention that there isn’t any player interaction in a game of Splitter.

Yes, all players take turns rolling the dice. But there isn’t anything one player can do that will intentionally impact another player. Everyone has their own sheet and its up to them how they fill it out.

This aspect is also why Splitter can be played solo. In fact, a player can knock out a solo game in about 5 minutes.

 

How does Splitter score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Because it’s such a simple and quick game, one game of Splitter never feels like enough.

Plus, hope springs eternal and we always think we can improve upon our last score. (If only the dice will cooperate!)

That being said, when we’re looking for a fun dice dice game with more choices, ways to directly impact other players, and we have about 30 minutes, we’ll play That’s Pretty Clever instead.

But if we just have 10 minutes and feel the challenge, grabbing Splitter is an easy choice.

You can pick up a copy of Splitter for under $15.

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