Uno 108-card deck, 2–10 players◆ Skip-Bo 162 cards, first to empty the stock pile◆ Cribbage highest possible hand: 29 points◆ Phase 10 10 phases, completed in order◆ Five Crowns five suits, 116 cards, 11 rounds◆ Pinochle 250 trick points on the table each hand◆ Euchre 24-card short deck, lone march scores 4◆ Canasta natural canasta: 500 points◆ Gin Rummy knock at deadwood 10 or less◆ Spades 13 cards each, spades always trump◆ Farkle rolling three 1s scores 1,000 points, the same as many six-of-a-kind rolls◆ Yahtzee a full scorecard has 13 categories split across an upper and lower section◆ Dominoes a standard double-six set has exactly 28 tiles◆ Mexican Train commonly played with a double-12 domino set of 91 tiles◆ Chinese Checkers invented in Germany in 1892, not China — the name was a 1920s US marketing move◆ Solitaire not every deal of Klondike is winnable, even with perfect play◆ Spider Solitaire combines two full decks, 104 cards in play at once◆ FreeCell of the original 32,000 numbered deals, only game #11982 has never been solved◆ Hearts taking every point card lets you "shoot the moon" and flip the scoring on everyone else◆ Go Fish a completed "book" is all four cards of a single rank◆ War has no fixed length — in theory, a game can go on until one player has drawn every card◆ Old Maid can be played with a Joker added or a Queen removed, depending on which house convention a group prefers◆ Bridge a bid of "1" actually means 7 tricks: an automatic 6-trick "book" plus 1 more◆ Sequence combines a 10x10 board with two full decks of cards instead of dice or a single deck◆ Bunco a full party is commonly played across 4 tables at once, with players rotating between them◆ Kings Corner only a King can start a brand new pile in one of the board's 4 corners◆ Exploding Kittens every player starts with a guaranteed Defuse card in hand◆ LCR a player rolls one die for every chip they're still holding, up to a maximum of 3◆ Apples to Apples the judge never knows which player submitted which card◆ Pyramid Solitaire a King can be removed on its own since it's already worth exactly 13

LCR rules: how to play Left Center Right

Dice & solo division
3+ Players
3 Dice
Easy Difficulty*

* Difficulty is our editorial read on how hard the game is to pick up — not an official rating. Player counts and deck sizes come from the game's rulebook.

By Ethan Walker · Updated
Quick answer

LCR (Left Center Right) is a dice game for 3 or more players. Each player starts with 3 chips and rolls one special die per chip they hold, up to a maximum of 3 dice. Each die showing an L passes a chip left, an R passes one right, a C puts one into the center pot, and a blank keeps it with you. The last player still holding any chips wins everything in the pot.

Chapter 1

Setup

Every player starts with the same number of chips, commonly 3 each. LCR uses 3 special six-sided dice, each marked with one L face, one C face, one R face, and 3 blank (dot) faces, so most rolls land on a blank rather than an actual pass. A regular die and a separate token of any kind work fine if you don't have the branded dice on hand.

Three LCR dice next to a small pile of chip tokens
Chapter 2

Gameplay

On your turn, roll one die for every chip you're currently holding, up to a maximum of 3. A player holding only 1 or 2 chips rolls just that many dice, never more than what they actually have in front of them.

Each die comes up one of four ways. An L passes one chip to the player on your left. An R passes one chip to the player on your right. A C sends one chip into the center pot, out of play for the rest of that hand. A blank face does nothing at all, that chip just stays with you. If you roll 2 or 3 dice at once, resolve each one individually, a single roll can easily send chips in two different directions plus keep one, all in the same turn.

A player who runs out of chips entirely doesn't roll anything on their turn, it's simply skipped until they receive a chip passed to them by another player. They stay in the game the whole time, just waiting, and the moment a chip lands in their hands again, they're back to rolling normally on their next turn.

Chapter 3

Scoring

Chips are the entire scoring system in LCR, there's nothing separate to tally. Whoever ends up holding any chips after every other player has run out wins the entire center pot outright.

Chapter 4

Variations and house rules

VariantWhat changes
More starting chipsSome groups start with 4 or 5 chips each instead of 3, for a longer game before anyone's eliminated from active rolling
Cash-stakes versionSome groups play with small bills instead of chips, turning the center pot into a real payout. Presented here as a known variant, not an endorsement, and it's worth agreeing on before anyone antes up

LCR pairs naturally with another simple dice-based party game if your group wants a second quick option once a round wraps up.

Frequently asked questions

FAQ

What do L, C, and R mean on the dice?

L passes a chip to the player on your left, R passes one to the player on your right, and C puts one into the center pot. The dice also have 3 blank faces, which do nothing at all.

How many dice do you roll each turn?

One die for every chip you're currently holding, up to a maximum of 3. If you only have 1 or 2 chips left, you roll just that many dice.

What happens if you run out of chips?

You stay in the game but don't roll on your turn until another player passes you a chip. Once you receive one, you're back to rolling as normal.

How do you win LCR?

Be the last player still holding any chips at all. That player takes everything that's landed in the center pot over the course of the game.

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