White Elephant Dice Game

The white elephant dice game replaces the hardest part of a normal gift exchange, which is deciding whether you are really willing to steal something from your boss, with a roll of the dice. Everybody brings one wrapped gift, everybody takes a turn, and a number decides what happens. Nobody has to be the villain.

I switched our family over to the dice version the year we had nineteen people in one room and the classic game was still going forty minutes later with three people arguing over a waffle maker. The dice version finished in twenty minutes and nobody sulked. Below are the standard rules, the two dice variation, versions for the office and for kids, and a printable rule card you can put on the table.

White elephant dice game rules

Each player rolls on their turn and does exactly what their number says. That is the whole game. These are the standard white elephant dice rules, and they are the ones most groups mean when they say they are playing with dice.

Nothing about that table is sacred. The numbers are just labels, and the version that works best is usually the one you have adjusted for your own group. A room full of people who barely know each other needs fewer steals and more group passes. A family that has been playing for a decade can handle a rule that says take any gift in the room and nobody may argue.

Two decisions matter more than the actions themselves, and both catch people out.

The first is when the game ends. A dice game has no natural finish, because unlike classic white elephant there is no moment when the last wrapped gift comes off the pile and everything settles. Pick a number of rounds before you start. Two rolls each is right for most groups. Three if you have fewer than eight people and want it to last.

The second is whether gifts still freeze. In the classic game a gift is frozen once it has been stolen three times. With dice, a gift can bounce around the room a great many times, so most groups drop the freeze rule entirely and let the round limit do the work instead. If you keep it, write it on the rule card, because it will come up.

How to play white elephant with dice, step by step

What you need

One six sided die, or two if you want the longer version. One wrapped gift per person. Somewhere for everyone to sit in a circle. That is genuinely it. You do not need to buy special gift exchange dice, whatever the internet tries to sell you in December, because a normal die and a printed rule card do exactly the same job.

Setting up

Agree a spending limit and say it in the invitation rather than on the day. Somewhere between twenty and thirty dollars suits most groups. Ask everyone to wrap their gift in something that gives nothing away, because the anonymity is what makes the whole thing work. Put every gift in one pile in the middle where everyone can see it.

Then decide your rule table and put a printed copy on the table. Reading rules off a phone never goes well, and the same three questions will otherwise come up every single round.

Playing

Choose who goes first, then work around the circle to the left. On your turn you roll and do what the number says, then pass the dice on. There is no deliberating, no negotiating, and no working out whether taking the nice candle from your colleague is going to be awkward on Monday. The die decided, and everyone can see that it decided.

One point that trips up new groups: a player only ever holds one gift. If your roll says steal, you hand over whatever you were holding to the person you took from. It keeps the count even and stops one person accumulating half the pile.

Ending the game

When everybody has rolled the agreed number of times, the game stops immediately. Whatever you are holding, you keep. Resist the urge to allow a few quiet trades afterward, because that undoes the entire point of playing with dice in the first place.

Christmas dice game rules

The Christmas dice game and the white elephant dice game are the same thing under two names. Some groups call it the gift exchange dice game, some just call it the dice game, and a few call it the roll the dice gift exchange. The mechanics do not change: one wrapped gift each, one die, and a table telling you what each number means.

What does change at Christmas specifically is the tone. If you are playing at a family gathering with children present, the stealing rules are the ones to soften. Swapping is friendlier than stealing, even though it moves gifts around exactly the same way, and small children mind an awful lot less when a roll says swap with the person on your left than when it says take somebody’s gift away from them.

These are the Christmas dice game rules I use when there are children in the room:

Gift exchange dice game with two dice

Rolling two dice and adding them gives you eleven possible outcomes instead of six, and it changes the game more than you would expect, because the outcomes are no longer equally likely.

A total of seven comes up six times in thirty six. A total of two comes up once. That means you can write a rule so good, or so ruinous, that it would break the game if it happened often, and then hang it on a two or a twelve where it will show up perhaps once all evening. The room reacts very differently to a rule everyone knows is rare.

Putting nothing happens on seven is deliberate. It is the most common roll by a distance, and a game where something dramatic occurs on every single turn gets exhausting faster than you think. The quiet turns are what make the loud ones land.

Two dice suit a longer, slower evening with a smaller group. One die suits a big room where you want to get through everyone twice before the food goes cold.

Dice game rules for an office gift exchange

The dice version is the one I would recommend for any workplace, and the reason is not speed. It is that nobody has to make a visible choice about anybody else.

In a classic exchange, choosing to steal from a specific colleague is a small social statement, and in a room where people know each other unevenly it lands differently depending on who you are. The dice remove that entirely. Nobody chose. The number chose.

Keep the spending limit low and put it in the invitation so nobody feels obliged to match a colleague. Say that gifts should be workplace appropriate, which saves an awkward moment later. With more than fifteen people use one die and one round each, or you will still be playing when the room is booked for something else. And swap the word steal for swap on the rule card if the group is new to each other.

Dice gift exchange for kids

Children take to this version quickly because there is no strategy to explain and no judgment call to make. You roll, you do the thing, you pass the dice on.

A few adjustments help. Use swap rather than steal on every face. Add one or two silly actions, because a face that says make a reindeer noise before opening is worth more to a seven year old than any rule about gift movement. Keep it to one round each, since attention runs out well before the gifts do. And consider letting everyone open their gift at the end all at once rather than as they go, which removes the long stretch where one child is holding something unopened and watching everyone else.

White elephant dice game printable

The rule card is what makes the difference between a game that runs itself and a game where you are explaining the same thing eleven times.

The builder above creates a free printable white elephant dice game rule card from whatever you have set up. Choose one die or two, pick a starting rule set, rewrite any rule in your own words, and the card updates as you type. Print it as a card for the middle of the table, or print the large format table sign as well if the group is big enough that people at the far end cannot read a sheet of paper.

Everything stays in your browser, there is no sign up, and the white elephant dice game PDF comes from your browser’s own print window, so choose Save as PDF as the destination if you would rather email it around than print it.

Dice version or classic white elephant?

Both are good games and they suit different rooms.

Play the classic version when the group knows each other well, when you have between eight and fifteen people, and when the arguing over one particular gift is the entertainment rather than a problem. Play the dice version when the group is large, when people do not know each other well, when children are involved, or when you have a hard stop and need the game to end on time.

If you are not sure which you want, the full white elephant rules cover the classic game, the steal limits and the variations, and there is a rule sheet builder there too. For a version with no stealing at all, the left right Christmas game moves gifts around with a story instead of dice, which works with any group size and any age.

And if what you actually want is for everyone to buy for one assigned person, that is a different game entirely. Our Secret Santa generator draws the names, and the Secret Santa sign up sheet collects who is taking part.

Planning the rest of the party

The gift exchange is usually twenty minutes of a much longer evening. A guest list template helps if you are organizing for a crowd, the charades generator covers the hour after the gifts are open, and a Christmas wish list template is useful for the relatives who would rather be told exactly what to buy. If you are still working out what your December looks like, start with the Christmas bucket list.

Once you have the rules sorted, our white elephant gift ideas $25 page covers what to bring at the most common spending limit, and the white elephant invitation maker writes the invitation for you. For a workplace game, white elephant gifts for the office covers what is safe to bring.

For the whole picture, including how to host one, what to spend and which version suits your group, start at white elephant.

FAQ

How do you play white elephant with dice?

Everybody brings one wrapped gift and puts it in a pile. Sit in a circle and take turns rolling one die. Each number has an action attached to it, and you do whatever your number says, then pass the dice to the player on your left. Agree how many rounds you are playing before you start, and when everybody has rolled that many times the game stops. Whatever you are holding, you keep.

What are the white elephant dice game rules?

The standard set is: one, open a gift from the pile. Two, steal an opened gift from any player. Three, pass your gift to the left. Four, pass your gift to the right. Five, everybody passes to the left. Six, your choice of opening a new gift or stealing any gift. You can assign any action to any number, and most groups adjust at least one.

How many dice do you need?

One is enough. Two dice give you eleven outcomes instead of six and make some rules rare and some common, which is a nice variation for a smaller group with more time. You do not need to buy special gift exchange dice.

How long does the dice game take?

About a minute per player per round, so a group of twelve playing two rounds each takes roughly twenty five minutes. That is noticeably faster than the classic game, where people take time deciding whether to steal.

How many people do you need?

It works from four upward, which is one of its advantages over the classic version. Classic white elephant needs six or more before stealing gets interesting, but the dice game keeps gifts moving regardless of how few people are playing.

When does the dice game end?

When everybody has rolled the number of times you agreed at the start. Unlike classic white elephant there is no natural stopping point, because gifts keep moving after the last one is unwrapped, so the round limit is what ends it. Two rounds each suits most groups.

Can gifts still freeze after three steals?

You can keep that rule, but most groups drop it for the dice version. Gifts change hands far more often when a die is deciding, so freezing turns into bookkeeping. The round limit does the job instead.

Is the Christmas dice game the same as white elephant with dice?

Yes. Christmas dice game, gift exchange dice game and white elephant with dice all describe the same game. The rules are identical, and only the name changes depending on who you ask.

Can you play the dice game with kids?

It is the best version for children. Change every steal to a swap, add a silly action or two, and keep it to one round each. There is no strategy to explain and no decision to agonize over, which is exactly what makes it work for younger players.

What happens if you roll something that cannot be done?

If your roll says open a gift and the pile is empty, or steal a gift and nothing has been opened yet, the turn simply passes to the next player. Write that on the rule card so it does not become a debate the first time it happens.