Free Bunco game toolkit for teachers to help students learn probability, patterns, and history

Dice are a great way to expose kids to counting and practice with addition, probability, and a little bit of strategy. You can use this set of free guides, ordinary dice sets, and our online PlayBunco.com game to help students learn. Bunco is an ideal game for students because it contains fewer rules than other dice games like Yahtzee, and it’s easy, affordable, gets kids moving in a room, and even ties into a bit of history.

A breakdown of core standards and practices is below.

Download the Kit (zip file)

If you’ve never played Bunco before, the rules are easy to follow. The summary for traditional play in a classroom might look like this:

1. Students play on teams of two, sitting at a table of four, rotating across three sets of tables.
2. Each table needs three standard six-sided dice.
3. Students roll all three dice in an attempt to be the first person to score 21 points based on the round number up to six rounds, so in round one, players want to roll 1 • 1 • 1 to score a 21-point Bunco.
4. Students rotate around the room based on their wins and losses as a team.

Full Bunco rules, mini-buncos, and scoring for standard rolls are available here.

As a bonus, traditional Bunco rules dictate the use of a trophy (usually large, novelty fuzzy dice) to pass around as the leaderboard shifts. You can also use Bunco as a way to award prizes like candy, books, or other novelty items.

Bunco and dice for math skills

Core arithmetic is necessary for tallying scores, calculating probability, and pattern recognition. Use these prompts and skills in your classroom:

Counting and practice with addition

• Use score cards to tally point totals
• Count dice rapid-fire as they roll
• Group numbers together

Probability exercises

• Before rolling, ask students to calculate the odds of rolling combinations like three 5s.
• For advanced math, ask students to compare likelihoods of different outcomes.

Number patterns and multiples

• Ask students to multiply, subtract, or divide numbers orally. This is not part of the Bunco scoring or game rules, but it encourages students to think quickly.
• Prompt students to record “unlikely probabilities” if and when they occur, like a student rolling a three-of-a-kind (a “mini-Bunco” or a “Bunco” depending on the round number) multiple times in a row or across one round or game.

Bunco for cognitive skill building

• Challenge students’ working memory by asking them to remember a prior round’s rolls or totals.
• Encourage focus by asking students to spot counting errors.
• Introduce house-rule variations to keep students engaged, like adding or removing dice or requiring different point totals. We have a list of Bunco house rule variations you can use.

Bunco and dice for social-emotional learning (SEL)

• For some students, the analog gameplay of Bunco and other dice games may be challenging to focus on without a screen. Ask students to record how they feel during the game, or map their attitude on a chart.
• Bunco requires students and kids to exercise patience and turn-taking.
• Before or after the game, ask students to write how their teammate helped or harmed their chances and how that relates to the mathematical probability of the dice roll.
• Offer oral or written debriefing to ask, “What did your team do well?”, “What’s something you appreciate now you didn’t before?” And “Do you feel like everyone practiced good sportsmanship? Why or why not?”
• Teachers and therapists may consider tracking a student’s development during gameplay over time through reflection journals, notes, or goal sheets.
• Bunco etiquette matters! Use Bunco as a way to teach sportsmanship, manners, etiquette, and even how to greet other players as they move around the room.

Bunco gaming for history and research

Bunco is a dice game that gets its name from the notorious Bunco parlors of the early 20th century. The history of Bunco is rich with police Bunco Squads, swindles, gambling, and mostly non-violent crime.

For older students in middle or high school, you can use Bunco as a prompt to investigate:

• The history of Bunco as a game
• The etymology of “Bunco”
• Bunco Squads and law enforcement
• Crime and safety concerns in public parlors
• The origins of Bunco as a game to swindle people and how it evolved into a more robust, honest game today

Bunco for sensory and neurodiverse learners

Bunco can be adapted to your class or students.

• Bunco traditionally uses a bell at the head table to indicate when games start and end. “Quiet Bunco” rules can remove the bells or noise makers in favor of raising hands or gestures.
• Use large-print score sheets for early readers or those with visual impairments.
• As an art project, ask students to create their own paper dice using heavy construction paper. Instead of using numbers or dots, they could create symbols or artwork, so long as they have three matching dice.
• Dice with dots or Arabic numerals are also options.

Bunco at home

Since dice are a relatively common household item, you can ask students to play Bunco with their families or friends at home. Ask them to compare and contrast their time playing in the classroom with their family, which is likely a smaller team set. We have rules for how to play Bunco with 2-4 players.

For students who may not have dice sets or players to play with, our online game is available for free, requires no downloads, and can work on school-issued iPads, laptops, and Chromebooks.