Game page
Qwixx
Six dice, a pad of scoresheets and fifteen minutes. Every player uses every roll, so nobody is ever waiting - which is exactly why it works with a grandparent and a child at the same table.
By Scooter M. · Published · Last updated
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Games we claim to have play-tested: 0. Every gift guide in this category implies a shelf of played games behind it. We do not have one, and we would rather say so. What we do instead is on this page: the publisher’s own player count, playing time and age band for every pick, cited to the publisher; a live price rather than a remembered one; and a plain answer on who should skip each game.
The short answer
Qwixx is a dice game played on scoresheets. Gamewright states 2-5 players, ages 8+, 15 minutes and describes it as a fast family dice game where players cross off numbers to score points, with no downtime between turns because all players are involved with every roll.
What it actually is
Everybody has an identical scoresheet with rows of numbers. One player rolls the dice - Gamewright states the box contains six - and then every player at the table, not just the roller, may cross something off their own sheet based on what was rolled.
That single design decision is the whole game. There is no turn to wait for in the usual sense: a roll happens, everyone looks at their own sheet, everyone decides. The publisher’s own summary is that the game rewards fast decision-making and thrilling risk-taking, and the risk is always the same shape - cross off a number now, or hold out for a better one that may never come.
Gamewright’s product page does not set out the full turn structure and points to the rules PDF for it, so we have not printed the detailed rules here. What the page does state is the shape above: six dice, a score pad, every player involved in every roll.
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Players | 2-5 | Gamewright, published product page |
| Age | 8+ | Gamewright, published product page |
| Playing time | 15 min | Gamewright, published product page |
No downtime is the reason to own it
Downtime is the thing that quietly kills family games. A five-player game where each person takes a turn in sequence means four waits for every one action, and that is when a child gets up from the table or a grandparent loses the thread.
Qwixx removes it entirely. Every roll matters to every player, so nobody is ever spectating, and the game is over in fifteen minutes regardless. That is why it turns up on our pages for grandparents and for nine-year-olds alike - it is one of very few games that genuinely suits both.
What is good about it
- Nobody waits - every roll is used by every player at the table
- The scoresheet does the teaching: the rules are essentially printed in front of each player
- Very cheap, and about as portable as a game gets - dice and paper
- Fifteen minutes by the publisher’s clock, and it is easy to play twice
- Works at two and at five without changing how it feels
What is not
- It is a dice game. Luck decides more than skill, and a bad run of rolls cannot be played around
- The score pads run out and have to be replaced, which is a small ongoing cost
- It does not look like much unwrapped - dice and a pad of paper in a small box
- The decisions repeat: after a few games you have seen most of what it asks of you
- No theme at all, which some players need in order to care
What it is like at a mixed table
This is where Qwixx earns its place rather than on its own merits as a game. A table with a grandparent, two adults and a nine-year-old is difficult to buy for: the strategy games leave the youngest behind, the children’s games bore the adults, and anything with long turns loses somebody entirely.
Qwixx sidesteps all three. Everybody has the same sheet, the choices are small and immediate, nobody is ever waiting, and the luck of the dice means the youngest player wins often enough to stay interested. It is not the best game on this site and it may be the one that suits the most tables.
Who should skip it
Players who want control. Gamewright’s own framing is risk-taking, and the dice decide what is available. If your household enjoys outplaying each other, a strategy game is the better purchase - our strategy page starts there.
Anyone buying a main present. This is dice and paper. It plays far better than it looks, and it will still look like dice and paper on the day.
Groups larger than five. Gamewright states a ceiling of 5. For a bigger table, our seven-player page lists the games that genuinely scale.
How it compares to the other quick family games we cover
Against Sushi Go! (Gamewright: 2-5 players, 8+, 15 minutes), from the same publisher and at the same length and age, Sushi Go! has more decisions and Qwixx has less waiting. Both are among the cheapest things we recommend.
Against Happy Salmon (Exploding Kittens: 3-8 players, 6+, 90 seconds), Happy Salmon is louder and shorter and takes more people; Qwixx is the one you can play quietly with two.
The rest of the fifteen-minute shelf is on our short board games page, and our family page is where Qwixx sits alongside the bigger boxes.
What it costs
Qwixx is one of the two or three cheapest games we cover, which is right for six dice and a pad, and remarkable for how often it gets played. We never print a remembered price anywhere on this site: the button above shows a live figure when we hold one and says so plainly when we do not. Our picks under $20 put it in context.
What we would buy for this
Chosen from the same registry as our roundups, on the publisher's own figures and a live price.
Qwixx
Gamewright · A table where somebody always complains about waiting
Six dice, a pad of scoresheets, and fifteen minutes. Everybody uses every roll, so nobody is ever waiting for their turn - which is exactly why it works with grandparents and children at the same table.
#ad Price as of October 15, 2026, from Amazon. Prices change. How we make money.
What it actually is
A dice game. One person rolls, but every player marks something off their own sheet from that roll, so there is no downtime.
What the publisher states
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Players | 2-5 | Gamewright, published product page |
| Age | 8+ | Gamewright, published product page |
| Length | 15 min | Gamewright, published product page |
Read from the publisher’s own page. Where a publisher does not state a figure, there is no row for it here.
What is good about it
- Nobody waits - every roll is used by every player
- The scoresheets make the rules self-explanatory
- Very cheap, and about as portable as a game gets
What is not
- It is a dice game; luck decides more than skill
- Score pads run out and need replacing
- Does not look like much when unwrapped
Who should skip it
Skip it for someone who wants meaningful decisions - Qwixx is mostly about making the best of what the dice gave you.
How it scored as a gift
- Easy to explain9.6
- Works for non-gamers9.4
- Group size range7.8
- Repeat plays8.0
- Feels like a gift6.6
Gift fit 8.0 / 10. That is our editorial judgment of how safe and well-aimed this is as a present, read off the published specifications - not a verdict on how good the game is, and not a test result. It is deliberately not marked up as a rating in this page’s structured data. How we pick.
How these were picked
We have not played these games and we do not pretend to have. What we did was read each publisher’s own page, take their stated player count, playing time and age band, check that every pick genuinely fits the constraint in this page’s title, confirm it is still being sold, and pull a live price rather than a remembered one. Every figure here names the publisher it came from, so you can check it yourself in about a minute.
How we pick sets out the full method, including what would change a ranking.
Questions people ask
+−How many players can play Qwixx?
Gamewright states 2-5 players. Unusually, the count barely changes how the game feels, because every player acts on every roll rather than taking turns in sequence.
+−Why is there no waiting in Qwixx?
Because all players are involved with every roll of the dice - Gamewright’s own description. One person rolls, but everybody at the table may then mark their own scoresheet, so nobody sits out.
+−What age is Qwixx suitable for?
Gamewright states 8+. The arithmetic is simple and the scoresheet carries the rules, so the floor is mostly about weighing a certain small gain against a possible bigger one.
+−Do you need to buy more Qwixx scoresheets?
Eventually, yes - the game is played on a pad and a household that plays it often will use it up. Replacement pads are sold separately, and it is the only ongoing cost in an otherwise very cheap game.
+−Is Qwixx good for two players?
Yes - Gamewright states a floor of 2, and because every roll is used by both players it plays almost identically at two and at five. For games designed specifically for two, see our two-player page.