Trolley Volley

About 2 years ago, Gabrielle and I were camping up in the Pacific Northwest, and were about to head back to Seattle. I was thinking I should get a souvenir but nothing really reflected my experience there. So, when we realized we had to hurry to make the next ferry I grabbed a package of 6 dice in lieu of a beer-cozy, and we headed out. On the long ferry ride, there's not much to do, so we started to think of a new dice game that wouldn't just be all luck. (It seems that dice games lack strategy a lot more than card games, doesn't it?) Today, we are still the only players of Trolley Volley - partly because friends that we attempt to teach are dubious of playing a game "we made up". But, it's a real game - it's been play-tested now 100's of times. So, I present to you a brand new game for an old-fashioned medium.

Trolley Volley

• Required: 6 6-sided dice, 2 people
• Objective: Be the first to reach 25 points.
• Scoring:
• a trolley of length 3 (1,2,3 or 2,3,4 or 3,4,5 or 4,5,6) = 1 point.
• a trolley of length 4 (1,2,3,4 or 2,3,4,5 or 3,4,5,6) = 3 points.
• a trolley of length 5 (1,2,3,4,5 or 2,3,4,5,6) = 5 points.
• a trolley of length 6 (1,2,3,4,5,6) = 7 points.

Trolley Volley has a similar flow to volleyball (hence part of the name). One person is offense, and as such they are the only one who can score. The other person is defense, and their goal is simply to re-gain the offensive position.

Play follows any number of volleys or rounds. The following is a description of a single round.

The offense player has four dice and the defense has two. Both players roll their dice simultaneously being careful not to lose track of what dice are theirs. Offense is attempting to make a trolley or a straight (in poker terminology) of either 3, 4, 5, or 6 numbers in a row. A successful trolley must have at least one or both of the defensive player's dice. The defense player is attempting to prevent this or to get any three of a kind (again, where at least one is from the defensive player), which would trump or derail any of the opponent's trolleys. After the first simultaneous roll, the offense player must first decide which of his four dice she/he will re-roll. They can choose to stay or re-roll 1, 2, 3, or all 4. After they pick up their dice to re-roll, defense makes the same decision on their two. Both players then simultaneously roll their chosen dice, and the volley is now complete (yes, that's a short volley!). Based on the dice values, the players determine whether the offense scored a successful volley or not. If not, then the players switch roles.

Derailing

I mentioned the concept of derailing the offense by the defense achieving three of a kind. Many times this will stop a trolley that overlaps the three of a kind. For example, let's say after the second roll of dice the final outcome is:

		4
2	3	4	5
2		4

 Where the offense has rolled the blue numbers and the defense has rolled the red. Even though the offense got a nice trolley of 2, 3, 4, 5 (remember a successful trolley has to have at least include at least of one of the defense' die), the defense wins the volley since it created a three of a kind block ( 4, 4, 4).

The Situation

Let's say that the result was slightly different…

		4
2		4	5
2		4	5

Here, the defense has achieved a three of a kind, but there is nothing to block, since the offense was not able to make a trolley. Of course, it is clearly, the defense's turn to be offense, but additionally you enter into a mode of play, we simply call – the situation. This is basically like a hat-trick in hockey. The new offense player gets 5 dice to roll, and the defense has only one to fend off the trolleys.

 

That's it - kind of confusing to learn, but quite easy to play. A couple practice rounds and you'll quickly advance in the ranks of all-time best Trolley Volley players. Currently, there are only the two of us.