How to Play Dice Merge: Rules, Controls, and Special Dice

The board and your next move

The game uses a 5×5 grid. Each turn shows a Current piece and a Next preview. The current piece contains either one die or two connected dice. Place it on empty cells; occupied cells cannot be overwritten.

For a pair, both destination cells must be empty and within the board. Rotate the pair before placing it if you need a different direction. The next-piece preview helps you plan where to leave room, rather than deciding everything one move at a time. Next stays locked once shown; it does not change after you place Current.

On a phone, drag the current piece to the grid. On a desktop, use your mouse. The placement preview shows the intended dice and their values; pay attention to it before releasing. You can also tap an empty board cell to place the first die there; for a pair, the second die follows its shown direction.

What counts as a match?

Three or more dice with the same face value must form one connected group. Connections count vertically and horizontally, not diagonally. They do not have to form a straight line.

For example, these three 2-dot dice form a match:

The same dice touching only at corners do not form a match:

When a matching group merges, its dice become one die of the next value. A larger connected group also merges as a group. The newly formed die may create another match, resulting in a chain merge. The merge destination prioritizes the first placed die, then the second die, then cells in row order. Each target's chain finishes before the next target is processed.

Dice upgrades and the golden star

The upgrade path is:

1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → Golden Star

The Golden Star is the special top-level piece. When at least three Golden Stars connect, they trigger an area-clearing burst around the matching stars, opening space on the crowded board. Each participating star clears its surrounding 3×3 area, clipped at the board edge. Overlapping areas clear and score each occupied cell only once. This is different from an ordinary numerical upgrade.

Rotate, preview, and undo

When the current piece is a pair, tap it to rotate clockwise by 90°. Repeated taps cycle through four orientations; the order of the dice matters when their values differ. A single die can spin when tapped, but its value and placement rules do not change.

Use the Next preview to anticipate whether the following piece needs one empty cell or two adjacent empty cells. If you make a placement mistake, use Undo while one of your three charges per game remains.

When does a game end?

Dice Merge is an endless high-score puzzle, not a timed race. Your run ends when the current piece has no legal placement in any allowed orientation and no available recovery action can save the turn.

A board can still have empty cells but be unable to fit a pair. That's why keeping adjacent empty spaces available is especially important.

Your first five moves: a simple plan

1. Keep a few neighboring cells free instead of scattering single-cell gaps around the board.
2. Build pairs of matching values that a third die can join.
3. Check the Next preview before committing to a tight space.
4. Rotate a pair to test its fit and the resulting matches.
5. Leave a route for future low-value dice to merge upward.

Once you understand the basic rules, explore our Dice Merge strategy tips or high-score guide.