Petals Around the Rose is a mathematically challenging puzzle in which the object is to work out the formula by which a number is derived from the roll of a set of five or six dice. It is often used as an exercise in inductive reasoning. [1] The puzzle became popular in computer circles in the mid 1970s, [2] particularly through an anecdote recounted in Personal Computing which depicts Bill Gates working out the solution in an airport. [3]
The puzzle is commonly presented as a challenge in which one person (the presenter), familiar with the puzzle's set formula, rolls the dice and announces the calculated result for their roll, repeating ad nauseam. Players are challenged to work out the formula being used by the presenter and to verbally announce the calculated result of each roll along with the presenter. It is intended that they keep the formula to themselves. [2] [3]
The key to the formula is given by the name of the puzzle, and the presenter should state the name of the challenge distinctly. The calculated (announced) result for a throw is calculated by counting only the "petals around the rose", where a "rose" is any die face with a center dot. On a standard 6-sided die, this corresponds to the three odd faces—1, 3, and 5. The rose's "petals" are the dots which surround the center dot. There is no rose on the 2, 4, or 6 faces, so these count as zero. There are no petals on the 1 face, so it also counts as zero. There are two petals and four petals on the 3 and 5 faces, respectively. Thus, the solution to a given throw can be found by:
For example, in a roll of 
, there is one 3 and one 5 face, so the result is two plus four, or six.
Dice are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing games, and games of chance.
Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ends. Each end is marked with a number of spots or is blank. The backs of the tiles in a set are indistinguishable, either blank or having some common design. The gaming pieces make up a domino set, sometimes called a deck or pack. The traditional European domino set consists of 28 tiles, also known as pieces, bones, rocks, stones, men, cards or just dominoes, featuring all combinations of spot counts between zero and six. A domino set is a generic gaming device, similar to playing cards or dice, in that a variety of games can be played with a set. Another form of entertainment using domino pieces is the practice of domino toppling.
The Tower of Hanoi is a mathematical game or puzzle consisting of three rods and a number of disks of various diameters, which can slide onto any rod. The puzzle begins with the disks stacked on one rod in order of decreasing size, the smallest at the top, thus approximating a conical shape. The objective of the puzzle is to move the entire stack to one of the other rods, obeying the following rules:
Yahtzee is a dice game made by Milton Bradley. It was first marketed under the name of Yahtzee by game entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. The game is a development of earlier dice games such as Poker Dice, Yacht and Generala. It is also similar to Yatzy, which is popular in Scandinavia.
Shut the box is a game of dice for one or more players, commonly played in a group of two to four for stakes. Traditionally, a counting box is used with tiles numbered 1 to 9 where each can be covered with a hinged or sliding mechanism, though the game can be played with only a pair of dice, pen, and paper. Variations exist where the box has 10 or 12 tiles.
The Storytelling System is a role-playing game system created by White Wolf, Inc. for the Chronicles of Darkness, a game world with several pen and paper games tied in. The Storytelling System is largely based on the Storyteller System, the rule set used for White Wolf's other, older game setting, the World of Darkness.
Liar's dice is a class of dice games for two or more players requiring the ability to deceive and to detect an opponent's deception. In "single hand" liar's dice games, each player has a set of dice, all players roll once, and the bids relate to the dice each player can see plus all the concealed dice. In "common hand" games, there is one set of dice which is passed from player to player. The bids relate to the dice as they are in front of the bidder after selected dice have been re-rolled. Originating during the 15th century, the game subsequently spread to Latin American and European countries. In 1993, a variant, Call My Bluff, won the Spiel des Jahres.
Farkle, or Farkel, is a dice game similar to or synonymous with 1000/5000/10000, Cosmic Wimpout, Greed, Hot Dice, Squelch, Zilch, or Zonk. Its origins as a folk game are unknown, but the game dates back to at least the mid-1980s. It has been marketed commercially since 1996 under the brand name Pocket Farkel by Legendary Games Inc. While the basic rules are well-established, there is a wide range of variation in both scoring and play.
In geometry, a pentagonal trapezohedron or deltohedron is the third in an infinite series of face-transitive polyhedra which are dual polyhedra to the antiprisms. It has ten faces which are congruent kites.
A set of dice is intransitive if it contains three dice, A, B, and C, with the property that A rolls higher than B more than half the time, and B rolls higher than C more than half the time, but it is not true that A rolls higher than C more than half the time. In other words, a set of dice is intransitive if the binary relation – X rolls a higher number than Y more than half the time – on its elements is not transitive. More simply, A normally beats B, B normally beats C, but A does not normally beat C.
Dice notation is a system to represent different combinations of dice in wargames and tabletop role-playing games using simple algebra-like notation such as d8+2.
Double counting is a fallacy in reasoning.
Scribbage is a classic dice word game published in 1959 by the E.S. Lowe Company. 13 dice are rolled which have various letters on each side. Each letter is given a point value depending on its frequency in the English language. A timer is flipped and the player has to put the dice into words either left-to-right or up-and-down. The words must connect with each other as in crossword puzzles or Scrabble. The player must stop at the end of the time and points are counted. The player adds up the points of the letters used and subtracts the amount from the unused letters. Scribbage can be played with two or more players.
Instant Insanity is the name given by Parker Brothers to their 1967 version of a puzzle which has existed since antiquity, and which has been marketed by many toy and puzzle makers under a variety of names, including: Devil's Dice (Pressman); DamBlocks (Schaper); Logi-Qubes (Schaeffer); Logi Cubes (ThinkinGames); Daffy Dots (Reiss); Those Blocks (Austin); PsykoNosis, and many others.
Miwin's Dice are a set of nontransitive dice invented in 1975 by the physicist Michael Winkelmann. They consist of three different dice with faces bearing numbers from one to nine; opposite faces sum to nine, ten or eleven. The numbers on each die give the sum of 30 and have an arithmetic mean of five.
The Mutschel is a traditional star-shaped bread from Reutlingen, Germany. The pastry, and the corresponding Mutscheltag, have probably existed since the 13th century. Mutscheln are roughly star-shaped and come in various sizes: usually approximately six inches in diameter, but bakeries often offer breads three or more feet in diameter. The most common Mutschel is made of wheat, yeast, a small amount of fat like lard or butter and eggs. They are sometimes made in sweet varieties.
Midnight is a dice game played with six dice.
Don't Look Back: Terror is Never Far Behind (DLB) is a supernatural and paranormal horror-themed role-playing game set in modern times that was initially published in 1994 by Mind Ventures. The player characters investigate supernatural and paranormal events for a secret government agency. A more light-hearted second edition was published in 1995. The game received positive reviews in game periodicals including Dragon and Arcane.
Cacho Alalay is a popular dice game from Latin America. It is similar to Yahtzee/Yatzy. The purpose of the game is to roll five dice and score points from their combinations. The dice are rolled from a leather cup.
The following is a glossary of terms used in tables games, essentially games played on a Backgammon-type board. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific, but applicable to a range of tables games.
| Traditional games |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Gambling games | ||
| Commercial games | ||
| Word games | ||
