Toblero di Gucci

This is a variation of an old gambling game once played in the middle ages. The original game played for money, while the variation plays for drinks.

The equipment consists of the following:

7 shot glasses
1 pair of dice
1 "chess board" (preferrably made of wood, as it may get wet :-)
2 bottles of beer/ale for each player.

The object here is to cause your opponent to run out of beer, and thus, be unable to fill the glasses on the board.

Note: the "chess board" needs to be 7x7 rather than 8x8.

Play is started by placing each glass on the board in a row in the middle of the board. Players each roll one die, high number plays first. Each player opens one beer and fills three glasses, with the player who lost the opening roll filling the odd glass. Now whoever plays first, owns the dice. You place all seven glasses on the row nearest you, and play begins. (This row is called your "baseline"). Now - choose the "ranking female present" to roll the "queen's number". This is done only at the start of a game.

Now the Player whose turn it is rolls the dice. The Player picks a shot glass to move, and moves it backward or forward by the number on one of the dice, then repeats the process with another glass and the other die. No glass is moved more than once on one roll of the dice. If during the roll, you roll a 7 or an 11, you pass the dice to the other player, and he continues from where the glasses are currently.

If during the movement, the glasses line up, the player may choose to drink the glasses, place them on his opponents' baseline to fill, and pass the dice. The minimum number of glasses required is 4, but it is considered cowardly to drink less than 6! You may also line these up on a diagonal, but, you must line up all 7! Oh, and the glasses that line up must be side by side, if one glass in the middle is out of place then the line stops there!

If the queens number is rolled during play, you may choose any one glass to drain, place it on your opponents baseline, have him fill it, and move the roll (unless the queen's number is a 7 or 11, in which case, after the glass is filled, you pass the dice!). If at any time you cannot move a roll, you must pass the dice! The movement of a glass is only one way each time you move it!

Oh, and one other thing - Toblero is a bit of a spectator sport, as a player sets up a line of glasses - it is considered polite for the player to pass glasses to anyone who "flatters" him upon making that move. ie. "That was the most brilliant move I've ever seen! Pure Genius!" "Thank you, have a shot of beer"

Thank you to the residents of Freak Manor in Bellingham, Washington for introducing me to Toblero.