How to Play Knucklebones in Cult of the Lamb

Here’s a fun fact: ancient societies played games of chance using “knucklebones,” the foot bones of cloven-hooved animals like sheep and goats. These games would evolve into the dice games we know today, which is why playing with dice is known as “throwing the bones.” If you’re interested in a nifty midpoint between these two concepts, then here’s how to play Knucklebones in Cult of the Lamb.

How to Play Knucklebones in Cult of the Lamb

Knucklebones is a side game in Cult of the Lamb that you can play for both fun and profit. Your primary Knucklebones opponent will be Ratau, the old avatar of the One Who Waits, retired to the Lonely Shack. However, you can find other Knucklebones opponents all over the world, though you’ll need to pay their coin buy-in first.

You and your opponent will take turns rolling single dice and placing them on the board. Your opponent controls the top field, while you get the bottom. When you roll a die, place it in one of the notches on the board to start building your score. The value of a die becomes your score for that row, and when you put another die in the same row, your score is multiplied. For example, if you had three dice with 1, that’d be 3 dice multiplied by a total value of 3, giving you a score of 9 for that row.

Here’s the tricky part: if you place down a die on your board, all of your opponent’s dice of the same value in the row mirroring it are wiped out. For example, if your opponent’s right row has three 1s and you place a 1 in your own right row, all of your opponent’s 1s in that row are removed.

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The game ends when one player can completely fill all nine notches on their board. Both players’ scores are tallied (you can always check your score by looking at the numbers above your board), and whichever player has the higher total score wins and takes the coin buy-in.

If you’re a shrewd player, Knucklebones is a great way to rake in some quick cash for your Crusades, but it’s also just a fun way to spend some time whenever you get tired of being a cult leader.