Generala or sometimes Dados (Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 for "dice"), is a dice game similar to the English game of poker dice

Poker dice

Poker dice are dice which, instead of having number pips, have representations of playing cards upon them. Poker dice have six sides, one each of an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, ten and nine, and are used to form a poker hand....

, the Polish game Jacy-Tacy (yahtzee-tahtzee) and the American game Yahtzee

Yahtzee

Yahtzee is a dice game made by Milton Bradley , which was first marketed by game entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. The game is a development of earlier dice games, such as Yacht and Generala. The object of the game is to score the most points by rolling five dice to make certain combinations...

. Although it is sometimes played in Europe and the United States, Generala is most popular in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

.

Rules

Generala is a game played by two or more players. Players take turns rolling five dice. After each roll, the player chooses which dice (if any) to keep, and which to reroll. A player may reroll some or all of the dice up to three times on a turn.

Scoring

The following combinations earn points:

• Ones, Twos, Threes, Fours, Fives or Sixes. A player may add the numbers on any combination of dice showing the same number. For example, 4-4-4-2-6 would score 4 + 4 + 4 = 12 points in "Fours" or 2 points in "Twos" or even 6 points in "Sixes". Once a player has taken points on a specific combination, he or she may not take points for that combination again during the game.
• Straight. 20 points. A straight is any combination of dice in order: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, or 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Additionally, in a straight, a 1 can be placed after a 6, meaning a 3, 4, 5, 6 and 1 is also legal. A variation of this rule includes all combinations where only one number is missing, e.g. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 or 1, 2, 3, 4, 6. Another variation allows a 1 to replace a 2 in a straight, e.g. 1, 1, 3, 4, 5 or 1, 3, 4, 5, 6.
• Full house. 30 points. Any set of three combined with a set of two. For example, 5-5-5-3-3.
• Four of a kind. 40 points. Four dice with the same number. For example, 2-2-2-2-6.
• Remember, a player may choose which play to fill, ex. 3-3-3-3-3 can go into the 3 category or the "Poker" category if the "Generala" category has been filled. No extra points awarded.
• Generala. 50 or 60 points. All five dice with the same number.
• Double Generala (optional). 100 or 120 points. All five dice with the same number for the second time in a game.

If a player makes a Straight, Full House, or Four of a Kind on the first roll of a given turn, it is worth 5 or 10 extra points. A player who makes Generala on the first roll of a turn automatically wins the game.

A player who fails to make any valid score, or chooses not to take any other score, may scratch (eliminate) a category, such as Generala or Twos. If a player scratches a category, that player cannot score on that category for the rest of the game. Specifically, if a player scratches Generala and subsequently rolls Generala on the first roll of a turn, it may not be used as an automatic win.

Winning

The winner, if no one scores an automatic Generala win, is the player who finishes the game with the most points.