SORTALIS
SORTALIS

How to play

The Farkle roguelike

Roll six dice, push your luck, then spend the winnings on cards that rewrite the rules.

1
The engine

Farkle basics

Throw six dice, keep what scores, push for more or stop.

Six dice, one number to beat

  • Your Bag — six dice. They won't stay that way.
  • A Bout — a target score, five Turns to reach it.
  • Clear it and you shop. Miss it, the run ends.
A die showing one pip. A die showing two pips. A die showing three pips. A die showing four pips. A die showing five pips. A die showing six pips.

The starting Bag. Red pips score on their own.

The scoring table

Points is the raw score a Pattern pays.

PatternWhat it looks likePoints
Single 5Dice showing 5.50
Single 1Dice showing 1.100
Tripletsface × 100Dice showing 4, 4 and 4.400
Three 1sa 1 counts as tenDice showing 1, 1 and 1.1,000
QuadrupletsDice showing 3, 3, 3 and 3.1,000
Three PairDice showing 2, 2, 4, 4, 6 and 6.1,500
StraightDice showing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.1,500
Five of a KindDice showing 6, 6, 6, 6 and 6.2,000
Two TripletsDice showing 2, 2, 2, 5, 5 and 5.2,500
Six of a KindDice showing 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 and 4.3,000

Pairs are worth nothing. The COMBOS page prints every hand at your current level.

Reading a roll

  • Pick the scoring dice, then press KEEP & ROLL.
  • Every picked die must belong to a Pattern — no passengers, so nothing is thrown away by mistake.
Die showing 4.
Scores
Die showing 4.
Scores
Die showing 4.
Scores
Die showing 2.
Dead
Die showing 3.
Dead
Die showing 6.
Dead

Three 4s, a Triplet, 400 Points. Three dice left.

Farkle. Nothing scores: the Pot is wiped and the Turn is gone. Banked score is never taken back.

2
The math

Score & Mult

Every score is two numbers multiplied, and knowing which to grow is most of the game.

Points × Mult

  • Points — the blue number: the Pattern's value plus what your cards add.
  • Mult — the red one. Every Pattern starts at ×1.
  • Two Patterns in one score? Only the strongest gives Mult.
  • The score pays Points × Mult, into the Pot.
THREE 4s LVL 1
400 × 1
= 400

The readout, before you commit. The preview is the payout.

Why Mult wins

Two-Headed Coin is a Charm: ¢7, bought between Bouts, kept all run.

THREE 4s NO CHARM
400 × 1
= 400
THREE 4s TWO-HEADED COIN
400 × 4
= 1,600

One ¢7 Charm, four times the score. +1 Mult per 2, 4 or 6 scored.

+500 Points would have paid 900. The same ¢7 on Mult paid 1,600, and keeps paying.

3
The drama

Rerolls and Turns

Five Turns to spend, three Rerolls when the dice let you down.

KEEP & ROLL REROLL BANK

The three presses of a Turn. Keep and Bank are the two answers; Reroll is the way out.

  1. Roll

    Throw what you have left. A Turn's first throw is all six.

  2. Keep — or Bank

    Pick the scoring dice. KEEP & ROLL puts them in the Pot and throws the rest. BANK puts them in and stops.

  3. Or Farkle

    Nothing scores. The Pot is wiped — unless you Reroll.

  • Five Turns — each ends on a Bank or a Farkle. Spend all five short of target and the run ends.
  • Three Rerolls — throw the dice you picked again, or the whole table when you picked none. Whenever you like.
  • The Pot — not yours until Banked. Three dice left is comfortable; one dies two times in three.
Turns
4
Rerolls
3
Stage
1
Coin
¢4
POT AT RISK
1,150   31%
FARKLE RISK

Checked before pressing. 1,150 riding on a 31% risk.

A Bout in progress: the Pattern STRAIGHT at Level 1 reading 2,000 Points times 18 Mult, POT AT RISK offering 36,000, three Charm Cards on the rail, Stage 3 of 8, Coin ¢45 and a target of 5,850.
Stage 3, mid-Turn. A Straight at ×18, 36,000 on offer.

Hot Dice. Score every die on the felt: the whole Bag comes back, Pot untouched. Six fresh dice Farkle 2% of the time.

4
The Shop

Buying upgrades

The Shop opens between every Bout: five classes of card.

THE SHOP: a counter of Pattern Cards with prices — Signet Stamp ¢7, Fence the Goods ¢10 and Geomancy ¢6 — a Rat Skull Charm held up for a closer look, a REDRAW button costing ¢4, the player's Coin at ¢51, and a banner reading YOU EARNED ¢5 IN INTEREST.
The Shop, between two Bouts. REDRAW costs more each pull.
  • Start: ¢4.
  • Win a Bout: ¢3, ¢4 or ¢5.
  • Unspent Turns and Rerolls: ¢1 each.
  • Interest: ¢1 per ¢5 held, up to ¢5.
MAGIC MONOCLE
¢5
Charm Card

“Each single 1 Pattern scored gives +50 Points for each level of that Pattern.”

On your rail all run. Five slots.

DOUBLING CUBE
¢4
Consumable Card

“Gives the Pot ×2 Points. You can still lose it.”

One-shot, spent mid-Turn. Two slots.

HALF MOON
¢4
Pattern Card

“Level up Triplets.”

Redeemed on purchase. Levels a family for good.

PIP ERASURE
¢5
Dice Upgrade Card

“Choose one die face. Erase the pips and leave behind a 1.”

Re-cuts one face of one die.

CHARM POUCH
¢15
Permit Card

“Gain +1 Charm slot for the rest of this run.”

Bought once. Changes a rule for the run.

The whole deck. Charms, Consumables, Dice Upgrades, Pattern Cards, Permits, Store cards, Draws and Marks.

You know enough

That is the game. Go and play it.

Sections 5 to 7 are depth: the ladder, the Keeper, the meta layer.

5
The ladder

Bouts, Stages, and The Keeper

Three Bouts make a Stage, and eight Stages make a run.

Small Bout
936
×1.3 the Stage

Pays ¢3

Big Bout
1,188
×1.65 the Stage

Pays ¢4

The Keeper
1,440
×2 the Stage

Pays ¢5 — and breaks a rule

Stage 1's targets. Skip one of the first two for a Mark. The Keeper cannot be skipped.

NEXT BOUT at Stage 3 of 8: the Small Bout at 5,850 marked DEFEATED, the Big Bout at 7,450 marked SKIPPED, and THE MISER — a Keeper whose rule forbids Banking until the Pot reaches 500 points — asking for at least 9,000, under a FACE THE KEEPER button.
The Stage, before you play it. The Miser waits, rule printed.

The Keeper is the boss

  • Each breaks one rule for the whole Bout. 17 of them, dealt fresh.
  • The Moth eats a tenth of the Pot per roll. The Bailiff switches two Charms off.
  • Each prints its counter, and none may leave you without a move.

The Stage ladder

StageSmallBigThe Keeper
19361,1881,440
22,3402,9703,600
35,8507,4259,000
413,57217,22620,880
528,08035,64043,200
653,82068,31082,800
788,920112,860136,800
8140,400178,200216,000

Clear Stage 8's Keeper and the run is won — or go on, into Endless.

Read the curve, not the row. Stage 8 asks 150 times Stage 1. If a Bout feels impossible, the answer was three shops ago.

6
The game around the run

Bags, Challenges, and Upgrades

A run ends, but the game around it does not.

What a die becomes

  • Two faces re-cut to 1s by Dice Upgrades.
  • Gold, so it pays whenever it scores. Two Glyphs.
  • None of it luck. Every change was a card bought.
A gold die showing a 1, with a Mult glyph engraved on the face. A gold die showing a 5, with a Points glyph engraved on the face.

One die, Stage 8. The ladder is priced against six.

PREPARE FOR A RUN with the BAG tab open: a shelf of fourteen Bags including Starter Dice Bag, The Patient Bag, The Day's Wage, The Deep Bag, The Fat Purse and The Miser's Bag, each with its runs, wins and best Stage, above a START RUN button.
PREPARE FOR A RUN. The Bag shelf, CHALLENGE MODE beside it.

Before the run

Bags — 12
Six dice and a bent rule. The Gold Bag starts you at ¢16.
Stakes — 8
Each Bag's difficulty ladder. Clear a rung, unlock the next.
Challenges — 19
Fixed positions on pinned seeds. A hand, a rule — solve it.
Seeds
Type one in for that exact run. Share it and so does a friend.

Every unlock is earned by play

  • Every locked card, Bag and Tabletop names the play that earns it, on the Quest Board.
  • COLLECTION holds every ware, Bag, Stake and achievement — earned or not.

No currency, no packs, no timer, no account. One payment, once.

7
What you earn

The Quest Board

Every locked card names the play that earns it. Pull it off and the card is yours.

Quests

  • Open the QUEST BOARD from the main menu. Each locked card has one quest: a feat, like Hot Dice three times in one Turn, or a tally, like Score 75 lone 5s.
  • A quest counts good plays only. Meet it and a QUEST COMPLETE banner says so; the card joins your next Bazaar.
  • Pin up to three before a run. They ride along on Bout Select.

No packs, no currency. Nothing is random about what you unlock next. You choose it, then you play for it.

What the board holds

Strategies
Families of cards that work together. Found by playing them, two a run at most.
Rungs
Three per strategy. Earn enough of one and the next posts.
Bag tasks
Every Bag has its own. Set 200 dice alight earns the Ember Bag.
Tabletops
Finish a strategy for its colour Table. Achievements earn the rest.
Card Levels
Every Keeper you fell gives your cards XP: more at every higher Stake.
Loans
The Shop may lend a locked card. Fell the Stage's Keeper with it and keep it.
8
Bonus

Strategies to win

Three habits that separate Stage 3 from a finished run.

Buy the red column

At equal prices, take Mult over Points. Build the multiplier, then feed it.

Count the gap

Can the Pot you hold finish this Bout? If yes, stop. If no, caution will not save you.

Chase Hot Dice

Score everything you can. The all-six score hands the Bag back, Pot untouched.

Reference

Glossary

Bag
The six dice you play with.
Bout
One scoring encounter. Beat its target.
Turn
One roll-and-push sequence. Five per Bout.
Pattern
A combination that scores.
Keep
Committing the dice you picked, and scoring them.
Pot
Scored this Turn, not yet banked.
Bank
Keeping the Pot. It ends the Turn.
Farkle
A throw with nothing in it.
Hot Dice
Every die scored. The Bag comes back.
Points
The raw score a Pattern pays.
Mult
What the Points are multiplied by.
Coin
Shop money, written $.
The Shop
The counter between Bouts.
Stage
Three Bouts. A run is eight.
The Keeper
The Bout that ends a Stage.
Rail
Where your Charms sit. Five slots.
Mark
A favour owed for skipping a Bout.
Stake
A Bag's difficulty rung. Eight each.
Seed
A code that deals one run.
Quest Board
Where every locked card names the play that earns it.
Quest
One locked card's feat or tally. Meet it, keep the card.
Strategy
A family of cards that work together, found by play.
Loan
A locked card the Shop lends. Fell the Keeper to keep it.
Level
A card's strength, raised by XP from felled Keepers.
Combos
The page listing every Pattern.
The RUN CLEARED board: a highest Bank of 192,145, 19 Farkles, all 8 Stages cleared with the Starter Dice Bag on the White Stake, and the final rail of Charms — Tuning Fork in foil, Blood Dagger, Witch Mark, Left Glove and Short Fuse.
A finished run. Eight Stages, 2.575 million banked, 19 Farkles survived.
That is the whole game

Six dice. Eight Stages. Go and break the math.

Four Stages in a browser tab. No download, no account.