Shut the box

How to play shut the box

The rules

• Shut the box is a dice game from the sailors of Normandy. The box has nine flaps numbered 1 to 9, and every turn starts with all of them open. You want to shut as many as you can.
• Throw the two dice. Then shut either the one flap that matches their sum, or the two flaps that match each die. With a 2 and a 3 you may shut flap 5, or flaps 2 and 3.
• If one die's flap is already shut, you may shut the other die's flap on its own. With a double you shut the sum, or the one flap of that number.
• Keep throwing and shutting. As soon as six or fewer flaps are open, throw just one die.
• Your turn ends when a throw lets you shut nothing. Add up the numbers on the flaps still open: that is your score for the turn. Shut all nine and the box is shut — the turn scores zero.
• Each player in turn plays the whole box, starting with every flap open. Scores add up from turn to turn, and low is good. A player who reaches 45 points or more is out — 45 is all nine flaps left open. The last player still in wins.
• You can also play alone, as a solitaire: try to shut the box, or score as little as you can.

In this version

• Play alone, or against one, two or three computer players.
• In the solitaire each turn is a round of its own; the app counts your rounds and keeps your best score.
• The computer players always shut the highest flaps they can.

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