Why Is Tenzi the Ultimate Family Night Game?

Tenzi is one of those dice games that works for almost all ages (except the ages 0 – 3) which is why it’s one of our top recommendations as the ultimate family night game.

Have you played the Tenzi game yet?

If you haven’t, we highly recommend it — and I’ll share why.

BUY Tenzi.

How to Play Tenzi

Tenzi is a very simple dice game for 2 – 4 players. It’s fast pace and lots of fun.

The object: The rules of Tenzi are simple. Get all 10 of your dice to show the same number first. (Yes, it can be any number you pick!) I know it sounds almost too easy, but believe me, it’s engaging and exciting.

(Also, I will admit it’s a great game for sleepy parents who can’t do much more than roll dice.)

In the photo below, you can see that color groups are starting. Yellow fives. Pink ones. White threes. This gives you an idea of how you’ll want to notice which dice show the same number so you can start groups of the same numbers.

How to play Tenzi:

1. Choose your color.

2. At “go,” everyone rolls all their dice at the same time.

3. After rolling, players look to see what number they have most, then choose the number they will try to collect 10 of. What do you think the black die player should pick? Maybe ones?

4. Keep rolling the remaining dice that aren’t the number you’re collecting. Roll until you get all your dice to be that number.

5. The winner is the first player to get all ten of the same number and shout, “Tenzi.”

Tenzi Game Variations

From the Tenzi website and the book below, we learned about several fun variations that we love.

Double Sets

If it’s only two players, we use double sets of dice and try to get twentyzi. (I know, it’s not as catchy.)

Splitzi

Try to get 5 of one number and 5 of another number.

Target Tenzi

Players must pick a number to go for before rolling.

Add and Subtract

I haven’t done this yet, but I think there are many possibilities for using addition and subtraction with Tenzi, don’t you? You could set a number such as 15, and the first one to get to it using addition or subtraction wins. Something along those lines.