stone hand1 is a common bar game across the Sea of Flowers, in which players take turns throwing three 8-sided dice to determine who has to pay out money to who.
before the game starts, all players agree on an amount of money to wager, ideally in even units (ie: everyone wagers 20 rod in 1r pieces)2. gameplay covers a number of rounds, in which each player takes turns throwing the dice to get a "hand", hoping to get a better hand than everyone else. each hand has a score to it, determined based on the kind of hand it is, with lower scoring hands of a kind beating higher scoring hands of the same kind.
the table has a shared score called the pay, usually indicated with some kind of marker at the start of every round the pay is set to 8. every time a player throws a hand with a score under the current pay, the pay is lowered3. at the end of the round, the player with the worst hand has to pay a part of their wager equal to the pay to the player with the best hand4. generally, the player who just lost the last round is allowed to throw first on the next round. play theoretically continues until all but one player has paid out their entire wager, but the game is fairly open to people just coming and going as they want.
the different hands (from best to worst ranked) and the ways they score are:
- home throw - a specific three-number combo that varies from player to player. the player who threw it wins automatically (if multiple players threw their home throw they tie)
- triple - three of the same number (ie: 2-2-2). ranks below a home throw and above a run. score is equal to whatever number there's three of. lower-scoring triples beat higher-scoring triples.
- run - three sequential numbers (ie: 2-3-4). ranks below a triple and above a pair. score is equal to the value of the middle number. lower-scoring runs beat higher-scoring runs.
- pair - two identical numbers, plus one off number (ie: 2-2-7). ranks below a run and above junk. score is equal to the value of the off number. lower scoring pairs beat higher-scoring pairs.
- junk - any unmatching combination that isn't a home throw (ie: 2-5-6). ranks below a pair and above an empty hand. the player is given three chances to rethrow the dice and not get junk5. if they take it, the score is equal to the value of the middle number. lower-scoring junk usually beats higher-scoring junk, though sometimes this is inverted specifically for junk rolls.
- empty - the specific rolls 1-4-7 and 2-5-8. the player who threw it has to pay out to the winner regardless of the outcome of the round.
- show-up - the specific roll 2-4-66. instead of scoring on its own, the player rethrows the dice, and the pay is increased by one.
- double show-up - the specific roll 4-6-8. instead of scoring on its own, the player rethrows the dice, and the pay is increased by two.
the specific numbers that make up a home throw is often tied to a player's hometown or whoever they learned the game from, or picked for some kind of personal significance. often in informal games, players will usually share their home throws with the table and talk a little bit about the significance as they start the game, then play with all of their home throws in play. in more formal settings the house almost always decides on a single home throw; a lot of times this was just whatever home throw the establishment had decided on in the past (likely with its own significance to the owner or someone), but its become more common for the game attendant to throw the dice and make the first junk hand they throw the home throw for the game.
bars often have a little corner with dice and a pay marker (some kind of marked stick with a clip on it) either in the corner or behind the counter for people to play. as an old ass bar game, there's some variations and added rules that have emerged and spread around over time. some of these are noted throughout this already, but for some of the other larger modifications:
- along the Opal River (and especially in Loëz), the first player in the round can decide to rethrow any hand, not just junk, up to two times. if they do, every player that follows them gets the same number of throws they took. this specific rule has slowly been becoming more widely adopted outside of the river region.
- a weird scattershot of places play a variant with a money pool. instead of paying the winning player directly, the losing player pays from their wager to a central prize pool. when all but one player has lost all their wager, the winner takes everything in the pool. home throws restart the current round, with the player that threw it safely sitting out the round, and an empty hand immediately ends the round and forces the player who threw it to pay out.
- there's a specific arcade chain that, instead of betting money, gives points to the winning player that goes on a scoreboard. hitting certain point thresholds lets the player claim a prize.
