Blates is a simple dice game playable by two or more people.

The game is played with a pair of six-sided dice and centers on various forms of the sum quantity 8. Each game of Blates consists of at least two rounds but may last an indefinite number of rounds. One round consists of each player in turn rolling the two dice and summing the face-up values to form their score for the round. At the end of the round (every player has rolled once) the player with the lowest score wins that round. Players must win two rounds in a row to win a complete game. The previous round winner is best kept track of by some sort of physical token they hold. The previous winner and holder of the token object is referred to as "having the advantage". A player wins the game when they win the current round while having the advantage. Once a game is won the advantage token object should be returned to a neutral location, such as the middle of the play area.

The various forms of the sum 8 have special meaning.

4 and 4 is "Blates", and is an instant game win whether the player that rolled Blates has the advantage or not.

3 and 5 form a "Gentleman's Eight" which is worth 1, making it the best roll in the game besides Blates.

2 and 6 form a "Pauper's Eight" which is worth 13, making it the worst roll in the game.

It is impossible to actually roll 8 in Blates.

If any players roll the same value in a round, and no other player scores lower than they do, they should take turns rolling against each other until the tie is broken. This is commonly referred to as a "roll off", and Blates (4:4) is still an instant game win if it comes up during a roll off.

The most common use of Blates is as a drinking game e.g. the winner of each game takes a drink.

References

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