Shut the Box Official Rules

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Learn how to play Shut the Box with 2-4 players & raise the stakes with betting and scoring variations

Co-authored by Kyle Hall Reviewed by Ashton Wu

Last Updated: November 4, 2024 Fact Checked

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Overview

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Rules & Gameplay

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Scoring

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Variations

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Video

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Tips

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Shut the Box is a staple at pubs and poker nights for a reason. It’s as fun and addicting as it is easy to learn, and there are all kinds of variations you can try (including a gambling version, if you want to make things a little more interesting). All you need are 2-4 players, the wooden game tray, a couple dice, and preferably some good snacks and drinks. Check out the rules below to start playing! ^{[1]
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Things You Should Know

Players take turns rolling the dice and lowering tiles that correspond with their roll.
Once a player can't lower any more tiles, their turn is over. The total of the remaining upright tiles is added to their score.
The player with the lowest score wins the game.

Section 1 of 4:

Overview

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Shut the Box is a classic pub game where players roll a pair of dice and lower tiles on the game tray that correspond with the numbers they roll. The goal of the game is to lower as many tiles as possible on a single turn before running out of options. Any tiles left upright at the end of a player’s turn are added to their score. The player with the lowest score wins!^{[2]
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- Shut the Box is usually played with 2-4 players, but you can also play solo. Just compete against your lowest score. ^{[3]
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- If you don’t own a Shut the Box tray, you can still play with a deck of cards and 2 dice. Make a row of 10 cards, Ace through 10, to represent the tiles. Instead of lowering tiles, flip the cards over to indicate they’ve been “lowered.”

Section 2 of 4:

Rules & Gameplay

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1
On a player’s turn, they throw the dice into the game tray and add up the total of their roll. They then lower 1 or more tiles that equal the total they rolled. For example, if a player rolled a 4 and a 3, their total is 7. Therefore, they could choose to lower one of the following tile combinations:
- 7
- 4 & 3
- 5 & 2
- 6 & 1
- 4, 2, & 1
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After lowering the tile(s), the player continues to roll the dice and lower tiles until they reach the point where no tiles correspond with the total they roll. For example, if the total of a player’s roll is 6 and only the 7 and 2 tiles remain upright, they’re unable to lower any tiles and their turn is over. Once a player’s turn is over, the next player starts their turn with all of the tiles in the upright position. ^{[4]
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Research source}This continues until each player has taken one turn.
- Once the 7 and higher tiles have all been lowered, players may choose to roll with 1 die instead of 2.
- If a player manages to lower all of the tiles on their turn, they “shut the box” and automatically win the game!

Section 3 of 4:

Scoring

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Players add the total of any upright tiles at the end of their turn to their score. The player with the lowest score wins!^{[5]
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- For example, if a player ends their turn with the 1, 2, and 7 tiles upright, their final score is 10.

Section 4 of 4:

Variations

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In this version of Shut the Box, play the game over multiple rounds rather than a single turn, adding each player’s score to their total at the end of each round. If a player reaches 45 points, they’re eliminated. The last player standing wins.^{[6]
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In this two-player version of the game, player 1 tries to lower the tiles while player 2 tries to raise the same set of tiles. The players take turns until all of the tiles have either been lowered or raised.
If you’d like to make Shut the Box a little more interesting, have each player add $1 (or another agreed-upon amount) to a pool at the beginning of the game. The player with the lowest score wins the pool.^{[7]
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Rather than adding up the total of the remaining upright tiles at the end of a player’s turn, the player reads the upright tiles from left to right to determine their score. For example, if the remaining tiles are 1, 4, and 9, the player’s score is 149.