Printable Trouble rules

Trouble in one page

2–4 players · Trouble board · 4 pegs each

Players take turns pressing the Pop-O-Matic bubble and moving one peg the number rolled. You need a 6 to move a peg out of Home, a 6 earns an extra roll, and landing on an opponent sends that peg back Home. The first player to get all four pegs into their Finish zone wins.

In brief

• Pop the bubble once per turn
• 6: move a peg Home to Start, or move 6; then pop again
• Second 6 on the bonus pop: no third pop
• 2–5: move one peg on the track
• 1: you don't move; others may bring a peg out (older sets: move 1)
• End on an opponent: it goes back Home
• Can't end on your own peg
• XX Double Trouble space: take another turn
• Finish zone is safe
• No exact count into Finish (older sets: exact count)
• All 4 pegs in Finish wins

Setup

1. Each player picks a color and puts that color's four pegs in their Home area.
2. Unused colors stay off the board. The die stays sealed in the Pop-O-Matic bubble in the center, so there's nothing else to set out.
3. The youngest player goes first, and play passes to the left.

On your turn

1. Press the Pop-O-Matic bubble once and read the die.
2. Roll a 6: either move a peg from Home onto your Start space, or move a peg already on the track 6 spaces. Then pop again. A second 6 on that bonus pop does not earn a third.
3. Roll a 2, 3, 4, or 5: move one of your pegs on the track that many spaces clockwise.
4. Roll a 1: you don't move. Each other player may move one peg from Home onto their Start space.
5. If your peg ends on an opponent's peg, that peg goes back to its owner's Home. You can't end on your own peg, and if that's your only move, you lose it.
6. If your peg ends on a Double Trouble space (marked XX), take another turn.

Scoring

Winning

The first player to get all four pegs into their Finish zone wins. In the current Hasbro rules a peg doesn't need an exact roll to go in. Once it reaches the Finish zone, it goes into a Finish space.