Dice
Beer Die
A table, four cups and a die flying at terminal velocity.
Snake Eyes Drinking Game
Two ones and the table drinks - simple, sudden, savage.
Also known as: Double Ones
Players 3-10
You need2 dice, drinks
DrinkBeer
Intensity
Time10-30 min
Snake Eyes is the dice drinking game at its most elemental: two dice, one dreaded outcome, and a table full of people pretending they are not nervous. Most rolls are harmless. A single 1 costs the roller a sip. But when both dice come up showing ones - snake eyes - the whole table drinks, and the roller gets to hand one unlucky soul a finish-your-drink on top.
The math is what makes it sing. Snake eyes lands once in 36 rolls, just rare enough that the table forgets to fear it and just common enough that it always, eventually, strikes. Between the lightning bolts, single 1s and doubles keep a gentle drizzle of sips moving around. It takes ten seconds to teach, scales to ten players, and needs nothing but dice and nerve.
What you need & setup
- Seat 3-10 players in a circle with two dice and a hard rolling surface.
- Everyone holds their own drink - no communal cups needed.
- Agree on the doubles penalty for the next roller before starting.
- Youngest player rolls first; the dice travel clockwise.
How to play Snake Eyes
Roll on your turn
Take both dice and roll them where everyone can see. Snake Eyes is played in the open - no cups, no hiding, no bluffing. The drama comes entirely from the dice, and the group watching every roll together is the whole atmosphere of the game. Announce your result even when it is nothing.
Sip on single ones
Any single 1 showing means you, the roller, take one sip. It is the game's background hum - a small tax that lands on about a third of rolls and keeps every turn mildly consequential. Two turns without a 1 starts feeling like a streak. Announcing 'clean!' after a one-free roll is traditional and encouraged.
Pass doubles forward
Roll any doubles other than ones - double 3s, double 6s - and the dice pass on with a penalty attached: the next player must roll carrying it, meaning any 1 they roll counts double against them. Some tables prefer the simpler version where doubles just mean the next player drinks the face value in sips. Pick one and stay loyal.
Dread the snake
Then it happens: both dice land on 1. Everyone at the table drinks - no exceptions, no slow-rolling it. The roller, having summoned the snake, then deals out a finish-your-drink to any one player. Choose your victim by vengeance, strategy or pure theater; all three are valid schools of thought.
Reset and continue
After a snake eyes, the struck player refreshes their drink, the table recovers, and the dice pass left as normal. There is no score and no elimination - Snake Eyes is a pure ambient game. It shines while cards are being shuffled, pizza is being ordered, or a bigger game is being argued about.
End on a strike
The cleanest way to close the game is snake-out: agree that the next snake eyes is the last, and whoever survives it un-chosen wins nothing but bragging rights, which are the best prize anyway. Alternatively just play until the dice go quiet - the game has no feelings to hurt.
Roll outcomes
| Roll | What happens |
|---|---|
| Snake eyes (1+1) | Everyone drinks; roller deals out a finish-your-drink |
| Any 1 | Roller drinks one sip |
| Doubles (not ones) | Pass and the next player rolls with a penalty |
| 1 rolled under penalty | Counts double - two sips |
| Anything else | Safe - pass the dice left |
The rules
- Roll both dice openly on your turn; results are called out loud.
- Any single 1 showing: the roller drinks one sip.
- Two 1s (snake eyes): everyone at the table drinks.
- After snake eyes, the roller also assigns one player a finish-your-drink.
- Doubles other than ones: pass the dice with a penalty - the next roller's 1s count double.
- A 1 rolled under penalty costs two sips instead of one.
- Dice off the table: roller drinks one and re-rolls.
- No trigger on a roll: pass the dice left, no penalty.
- The assigned finish-your-drink cannot hit the same player twice in a row.
Variations & house rules
Snake Charmer
The player struck with the finish-your-drink becomes the Snake Charmer: until the next snake eyes, they are immune to single-1 sips. A small crown of protection for the biggest loser keeps the harshest penalty from feeling purely cruel - and gives the table a title worth stealing.
Venom Count
Keep a tally of every single 1 rolled. When the count hits 11, the player who rolled the eleventh drinks once for each snake eyes that has occurred so far, and the tally resets. Adds a slow-building countdown that the table watches like a storm front rolling in.
Double Trouble Chain
Doubles do not just pass a penalty - they stack. Each consecutive doubles roll adds one to a multiplier that applies to the next 1 rolled. Two doubles in a row make the next 1 worth three sips. Rare, but when a chain pays out, the table talks about it for weeks.
Snake Pit
Add a small center cup that everyone splashes into whenever any 1 is rolled. Snake eyes means the roller drinks the pit instead of assigning a finish-your-drink. Converts the harshest rule into a self-inflicted one and gives every single 1 a little extra ceremony.
Sober Serpent
Play with two sacrifices instead of sips: a 1 costs you a secret confession or a truth question, snake eyes means everyone does ten seconds of their worst dance. All the tension of the roll, none of the alcohol - honestly a top-tier icebreaker in this form.
Pro tips
Snake eyes averages once per 36 rolls - with a fast table that is every ten minutes, so pace your sips accordingly.
Establish the finish-your-drink no-repeat rule before the first roll; revenge spirals are this game's only failure mode.
Keep drinks topped to less than full so an assigned finish is a moment, not an ordeal.
Roll into a box lid or tray - a die that falls off the table costs you a sip at most tables.
Call your rolls loudly; single 1s get quietly skipped at loud parties and the game deflates without them.
This is a great opener game - two rounds of Snake Eyes warms a table up perfectly for Three Man or Mexicali.
Where Snake Eyes fits on the shelf
- Snake Eyes is one of the gentler picks on the shelf - 8th of 9 dice games by intensity, rated 2 out of 5.
- The sweet spot is 3-10 players - enough for chaos, few enough that every turn matters.
- Rounds are fast (10-30 min), so it slots between bigger games without hijacking the night.
- Browse the full dice drinking games shelf to compare all 9 games side by side.
A little history
The term 'snake eyes' for double ones goes back well over a century in American dice slang, most likely from craps tables, where the two single pips were said to stare up like a snake's eyes. The drinking game built on the roll has no documented inventor - it appears to be a simple folk adaptation, probably arising wherever craps players and beer shared a room, which historically has been most rooms.
Drink responsibly: The finish-your-drink on snake eyes is this game's heavy hitter, so keep glasses partially filled, enforce the no-repeat-victim rule, and let anyone downgrade a finish to a few sips without debate. The table drinking together is the moment - the volume is negotiable. See our safety guide for pacing tips and alcohol-free versions.
Snake Eyes FAQ
What are the actual odds of rolling snake eyes?
Exactly 1 in 36 per roll, or about 2.8 percent. A single 1 showing on either die is far more common - 11 of the 36 combinations, roughly 31 percent. That balance is what makes the game work: steady small sips from single 1s, punctuated by a table-wide event a few times an hour depending on how fast the dice move.
Who has to finish their drink on snake eyes?
The roller chooses any one player at the table - that is the roller's consolation prize for triggering a drink for everyone, including themselves. Most tables add a no-repeat rule so the same person cannot be hit twice in a row, and some soften it to a half-drink. Whoever is chosen, everyone else still takes their standard table-wide sip.
What do doubles other than snake eyes do?
In the classic convention, non-one doubles pass the dice to the next player with a penalty attached: any 1 they roll on that turn counts double. The popular simpler alternative is that the next player just drinks sips equal to one die's face value. Both are legitimate; mixing them mid-game is how arguments start, so lock in one version before rolling.
How many people can play Snake Eyes?
Three to ten works, and it is honestly one of the best big-group dice games because turns take five seconds and the table-wide snake eyes payoff scales with headcount. With more than ten, sips get too infrequent per person to hold attention - split into two circles or graduate the overflow to a cup game like Rage Cage.
Is Snake Eyes related to craps?
Only by vocabulary and dice. 'Snake eyes' is craps slang for double ones - a losing come-out roll there too - but the drinking game shares none of craps' betting structure. Think of it as craps' one scariest moment, extracted and turned into an entire game. If your group enjoys it, learning street craps rules is a natural next step.
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