How to Host a Bunco Night

I will start by saying, if you read the title and thought, “Host a bunco night? Are you 100?” you are not alone. That was my initial response when my friend Melissa said she wanted to start a bunco group. But, I have to say, it’s a lot more fun that I ever expected it to be!

For those that don’t know, Bunco is a dice game. I’m sure there are many variations on how to play, but we play with 12 people with a $10 buy in and everyone takes a turn hosting.

Rules:

1. There are three tables with four players at each. The head table starts the rounds. Each table has two teams of two players- us and them. Your teammate is the person sitting across from you.
2. We play four games and each round has six rounds. The first round you try to roll for 1’s, the second round you roll for 2’s, etc. One person at the table keeps score. Every time you roll the number your on, you get one point. When the head table reaches 25 points or someone at the head table rolls a bunco (see below), they ring the bell and the round is over.
3. The other two tables continue to play and accumulate points until the head table rings the bell.
4. Special scoring:
   1. Three of a kind is worth 5 points.
   2. The host picks a traveling number (between 1-6). If you roll three of that number, you get a traveling and get to hold the fuzzy die until the next person rolls a traveling. This is worth 5 points.
   3. If you roll three of a kind of the number you are on, you get a bunco. For example, if you are on 3’s and you roll three 3’s, that is a bunco. That is worth 25 points.
5. When the round is over, the winners of the head table stay. The losers go to Table 3. Table 3’s winners go to table 2 and Table 2’s winners go up to the head table. Winners walk, losers sit (except the head table).
6. The people remaining at the tables must rearrange themselves so that they are not on the same team again for the next round.
7. Brittany made these super cute score cards, which you’ll need to help keep track of all this madness. At the end, prizes are given to
   • Most buncos- $45
   • Most wins- $35
   • Traveling- $20
   • Most losses- $10
   • 50/50 (or closest to an even amount of wins and losses)- $10

For our group, hosting means feeding everyone dinner and setting up the tables. When it was my turn, I had a nacho bar, since it was near Cinco de Mayo. You could do a potluck each time your group meets, or not do dinner at all!  And, you guessed it, there is always wine, beer or cocktails! This could easily be a one time event rather than a recurring event like it is for our group.

Bunco has been a great way to get all our girlfriends together once a month! It’s also been a great way to meet new people since we almost always need a sub to fill in because we’re all moms and something always comes up.

If you’re thinking this looks like fun and you want to start your own Bunco group, we’ve got printable score cards and table signs to make everything easier!

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Download Bunco score cards and table numbers here >>

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What do you and your girlfriends usually do on girls’ nights? Have you ever played Bunco before?