The aim of Picadice is to capture the Pica Bird by filling your grid with counters. Watch out, before the Pica Bird is caught he will do a lot of stealing. Sometimes the Pica Bird works in your favour so he is not always the enemy. When played with more than two players, allies are quickly found and betrayed in every game. A four player game is often enjoyed as a doubles game with two teams of two players that forge alliances in advance.

Picadice Components

The Game Board

The game board is divided into 5 areas. On each of the four corners there is a grid of circles. The colours at the side of the grid indicate the colour of each row. The six central coloured circles make up the Picadice nest which is used as a communal store for the discarded counters and can be raided by a player on their turn.

The Matchplay Edition Picadice game set consists of a separate wooden board that contains the grid for each player, a box lid that doubles as the Picadice nest and 4 scoring pegs. Use the pegs to track matchplay scoring on the left of a player’s board.

3 Coloured Dice

The dice have 5 coloured sides that match the colours of the rows on the player’s grid and a black side that represents the Pica Bird.

100 Counters

The counters are used to represent the colours of the dice roll and shall be placed on the corresponding coloured row of a player’s grid or discarded to the corresponding coloured circle in the Picadice nest.

4 Black Counters

Black counters represent the Pica Bird and these are only placed in the Picadice nest when discarded during a dice roll.

Game Play

The aim

Catch that Pica bird

The first player to fill their grid with counters wins the game

Starting the game

Let the fun begin

Each player claims a corner grid of the board. The players roll one dice each to decide who goes first. The dice is valued according to colours on the grids with orange being the lowest value and the black being the highest value. In the case of a draw, the rolling continues until there is an outright winner. Subsequent play is passed to the player on their left after each turn.

The Turn

Decisions, decisions ...

The turn begins with the choice of either Rolling the dice or Stealing from the Picadice Nest

Roll the dice

Take a chance on me

• Roll all three dice
• The player may choose one colour from the dice roll to Populate their grid² with counters from the store or use the black colour to call the Pica Birds¹ to steal counters from another player
• The player may choose to discard all rolled dice to the Picadice nest if they wish
• Counters are taken from the store for any remaining colours of the rolled dice and Discarded to the Picadice Nest³
• If a player rolls three dice of the same colour, the player continues to complete their current turn and then gets another turn immediately

Stealing from the Picadice Nest

Crime doesn't pay ... or does it?

• The player must steal all the counters from a single colour in the Picadice nest and use them to Populate their grid² or return all the black counters to the store and call the corresponding number of Pica Birds¹ to steal from another player

1 Pica Bird

Our crafty friend

• All Pica Birds available to the player must be used together or not at all
• When the Pica Bird is stealing from another player:
• Counters can only be stolen from one other player in each turn
• Counters can only be stolen from a single row
• Multiple counters can only be stolen when they are adjoining
• Stolen counters must either be used to Populate their grid² or Discarded to the Picadice Nest³
• The Pica Bird can never be used to win the game and cannot fill the final vacant space on a players grid

2 Populating the grid

Fill that grid fast

• All counters that represent a single colour available to the player must be used or not at all
• All counters must be placed in the same colour row
• All counters must be placed beside each other without leaving any gaps
• Counters do not have to be placed beside a counter that was placed in a previous turn

3 Discarding to the Picadice Nest

One man's trash is another's treasure

• The counters are placed in the nest according to the colour they represent
• There is a maximum of 4 counters on each colour in the Picadice nest at any one time. If the Picadice nest accumulates more than 4 counters of the same colour, 4 counters are removed from that colour and the balance remains.

Team Play

When playing a doubles team game, partners play on the same side of the board. Only one player needs to complete their grid to win the game for their team.

Optional Scoring and Match play

Match play adds to the competitive nature of Picadice and will certainly influence your tactics.

Match play

Players may select a score target (5 points in Championship play) in order to win the match

Scoring

The winner scores 4 points for being the first player to fill their grid with counters and thereby completing all 4 columns. However 1 point is deducted from the winner’s score for each column completed by their lowest scoring opponent. In the case of doubles play, the lowest score of the opposing team is deducted from the 4 points the winning team gained by completing their grid.

Full instructions for playing Picadice are available as a PDF download here