Home » Children's Activity » How to Play Tenzi? 10 Awesome Ways

How to Play Tenzi? 10 Awesome Ways

Wondering how to play Tenzi? Here are 10 awesome ways to play this game that my kids adore.

Tenzi is a great game for developing math skills and coordination. Wondering how to play Tenzi? Here are ten ways to play the game that my kids adore.

How to Play Tenzi? 10 Awesome Ways to Play

I first heard about Tenzi about three years ago, over on my friend Erica’s blog. I was intrigued, but my kids weren’t very into playing games so I didn’t invest in the toy and forgot about it. With children three years older and more into game playing, I was happy to review this toy as part of Timberdoodle’s 2016 blog team. Tenzi is part of Timberdoodle’s 2nd Grade Curriculum Kit.

My children tend to change the rules of the games they play, so Tenzi’s “there is no wrong way to play” approach is perfect for us! Here are some ways we enjoy playing. Some of these alternative games were inspired by 77 Ways to Play Tenzi card deck, which we were also sent.

Wondering how to play Tenzi? This dice game is great for teaching math and coordination. Here are 10 awesome ways to play this game that my kids adore.

#10 Twenzi

In the original Tenzi game, you roll the dice over and over until all twenty dice land on the same side. My kids think twenty dice is better. Since Timberdoodle sent us two sets of Tenzi dice, we actually had enough dice for all four kids to play this way at the same time.

#9 Times Tablezi

Once you roll your ten dice, divide them into sets of 2 and multiply each set (out loud or on a piece of paper).

#8 Additionzi

Add up all the numbers from your first roll. The player with the highest number wins.

#7 Tall Towerzi

Who can stack twenty dice the fastest? You can make this harder by requiring all the dice to face the same way. You can also require players to roll a certain number before adding it to the tower.

#6 Hop On One Footzi

Roll the dice while hopping on one foot. Make sure you don’t hop on a die – they hurt!

#5 Hand Behind Your Backzi

Play with your dominant (writing) hand tucked behind your back.

#4 Missingzi

Pick one die side that you do NOT want to collect. Then roll double of the remaining five numbers.

#3 Patternzi

Arrange your dice into a pattern based off of the number you chose to roll for.

#2 NoThumbzi

No thumbs allowed. This is actually really hard!

#1 Buildzi

Forget rolling numbers. Build a tower, castle, or something else using all the dice.

What is your favorite way to play Tenzi?

I received the items featured in this post from Timberdoodle as a member of their blog review team. I received no additional compensation, and all opinions are my own. 

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

5 thoughts on “How to Play Tenzi? 10 Awesome Ways”

  1. I haven’t bought Tenzi because it’s so random, I haven’t been sure how my kids would react.

    Though we already have the dice in our house……

  2. Elisa | blissful E

    Looks like this is in the “so fun they don’t realise they are learning” category. I hadn’t heard of it before. Thank you for the very helpful review!

Comments are closed.

Scroll to Top