Rat's Ass In January 2004, my Aconcagua tent-mate, Susan Baker, taught me a dice game that was perfected by her and her father, Dr. Baker of Texas. A couple of months later Susan and her father sent me the rules because I couldn't remember them: Play with 6 dice Players take turns Must have at least 500 points to "get on the scoreboard". When your score is zero, you must get 500 in your first turn for it to count; otherwise you throw it away and start from zero on next turn. Object is to pass 5000 points. Once one player does so, the other players each have one final turn to try to surpass his final score. During your turn, you can continue as long as at least one dice scores. If all 6 score, you say " and rolling" and start over with all 6 dice. I believe a "Rats Ass" is when you throw any/all dice and get none that score. Points: 5 = 50 1 = 100 Three of a kind: 3 twos = 200 3 threes = 300 3 fours = 400 3 fives = 500 3 sixes = 600 3 ones = 1000 Straight: 1,2,3,4,5,6 = 1000 - - - - Susan sent me a later Email stating; "It's funny - Dad said in a note that he just ran across the patient file of a woman who designed the Rat's Ass board he made me. Of course I'd never take it camping, but I have a very nice inlayed wood square box with 2" sides, about 10" across. You toss the dice into it and they bounce against the sides and back to the middle. It's got a really cute inlayed wood design of a rat in the middle." Roger J. Wendell Golden, Colorado http://www.rogerwendell.com -