If you’ve ever met me before or seen me play video games, you know I spend an abhorrent time doing side quests in video games or simply spend too much timer playing the side mini-games. My Twitch Community knows I spent an equal amount of time playing Gwent as I did playing the real Witcher 3 game.
While I can’t say that I’m a complete master at mini-games and tend to take a bit of time to actually understand how to game the system, for example in the mini-game found in My Time at Portia, I have to say that after losing Knucklebones twice in Cult of the Lamb I was able to win every single match after that with no problem.
At first, the rules of Knucklebones were confusing to me, though I’ve seen that there was a patch that clarified the rules, though I’m still watching a number of my Twitch Colleagues struggling at the game and I promised them I would write a guide to explain how to win the game and hopefully help clarify the rules of the game.
Knucklebones is quite enjoyable and in the mid-game it’s going to be a perfect source for Coins until players have unlocked all the other ways they can acquire Coins. I have to admit, I found myself in the opposite position, since I ended up taking a break from dungeon grinding to just focus on my Cult, I ended up finishing everything there was to do in your base which will drastically raise the number of coins you can collect, so you may not actually need Knucklebones to pad your Coin amount.
Alright, well onto the main topic of the game, let’s talk about everything you need to know about Knucklebones.
HOW TO UNLOCK KNUCKLEBONES & ALL COMPETITORS
Knucklebones is initially unlocked when players meet Ratau in the Darkwood Dungeon. Ratau will open up the Lonely Shack which is its own area on the map and where players will be able to battle 4 bosses total in Knucklebones.
As players unlock the various bosses in Knucklebones they will become more difficult, however, players will not be able to unlock them out of order. The following is everything you need to know about the challenges in Knucklebones.
RATAU
Ratau is the easiest competitor at Knucklebones, being set to a difficult of 1 and allowing players to challenge him for 10 Coins after beating him the first time.
As mentioned, players will have to unlock him in a random encounter in Darkwood.
FLINKY
Flinky is the second challenger in Knucklebones and is rated at a difficulty of 2. Players will be able to bet a maximum of 15 Coins.
Players can locate Flinky randomly in Anura.
KLUNKO AND BOP
Klunko and Bop is the third challenger in Knuckebones and is rated at a difficulty of 3. Players will be able to place a maximum bet of 20 Coins with them.
Players can locate Klunko and Bop in Achordeep.
SHRUMY
The final challenger in Knucklebones is Shrumy. Although Shrumy is rated at a 4 difficulty, I don’t find Shrumy to be that challenging. Shrumy si the best to challenge as players will be able to bet a maximum of 50 Coins on them.
Shrumy is found in Silk Cradle randomly.
HOW TO PLAY KNUCKLEBONES
The Rules for Knucklebones are pretty straightforward. Essentially players will be able to place dice until one side has a total of 9 on the field. Players will have to try to collect the highest amount on their dice before they or the opponent places a total of 9 on the board.
There are two very important things to keep in mind when playing Knucklebones:
Placing two of the same Dice in the same Column will multiply them, though players should know that this is more than double the amount, meaning that players should be cautious if they place dice that are too low without multiplying while the other player has more points.
Placing three of the same Dice will multiply this, even more, being the goal for players if possible.
Players will be able to delete the other sides’ Dice by placing the same amount on their side. So, if an NPC has a Two in one of their column the player can place a Two directly opposite to it to delete it. Obviously the same can be said if an NPC places the same value die across from you.
The upsetting part about this is that if a player stacks more than one of the same value Dice and the NPC places a single one of the same value it will wipe out all of them, making this pretty risky.
Players will need to balance between placing single Dice and duplicate Dice in order to win a round of Knucklebones.
As mentioned, a game of Knucklebones will finish immediately when one of the sides is filled with 9 Dice. This means that a player can either win or lose when they’ve completed their side depending on how many points they have.
TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE SURE YOU WIN EVERY GAME OF KNUCKLEBONES
A few things that I would recommend a player keeps in mind while playing Knucklebones is as follows:
Always try to stack duplicate dice. To start, place place a single dice amount into each column though I would recommend saving the first two columns for dice that are 4-6 and placing all lower ones into the third column. So, if you get three low numbers, just fill them in the third column.
I wouldn’t stress too hard about whether or not the opponent will knock you off the board when making duplicates. You should always have a good amount of time to rebuild if you do. I typically don’t split up high numbers (ie. if you have two 6’s or two 5’s) for safety, because this usually bites you in the butt.
Don’t stress about knocking out an opponent’s lower dice. Realistically it’s going to be much safer for you to leave them on the board and let the opponent fill up their column. If the opponent fills up a column with three dice, this is the safest place to put all of your duplicates as there is little to no chance that the opponent will be able to knock you out.
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