How to Play Aggravation (Board Game)

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Setup, rules, and strategy for the classic marble game

Co-authored by Luke Smith, MFA Reviewed by Ashton Wu

Last Updated: January 7, 2024 Fact Checked

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Setup

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Key Rules

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Gameplay

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Strategies

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Variations

Aggravation is a classic game where the aim is to frustrate your opponents—it’s all in the name! Roll the dice, move your marbles, and bump other players’ marbles back to the start. Just be sure to keep your cool when your opponents do the same to you. We’ll show you how to play, from setup to victory, as well as how to strategize and play team variations of the game.

Things You Should Know

Number of players: 2-6
Object of the game: Move your 4 marbles around the board and into your “home” spaces before the other players.
Key rules: Roll a 1 or 6 to start a marble onto the board. Bump other players’ marbles back to their bases by landing on them.

Section 1 of 5:

Setup

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Aggravation is played with 2-6 total players. Sit your players around the board. Everyone chooses a color, then takes the 4 marbles of that color and places them in the “base” of the corresponding color.^{[1]
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Roll the dice to see who goes first. Every player rolls the 2 included dice. The player who rolls the highest number goes first, and turns move clockwise around the table.^{[2]
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- If 2 players roll the same highest number, they roll them again to break the tie.

Section 2 of 5:

Key Rules

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Knock opponents’ marbles back to their base by landing on them. Any time one of your marbles lands on an opponent’s, their marble gets knocked back to their base and has to start its trip around the board again. This is called “aggravating” your opponent, and you can guess why!^{[3]
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- On the other hand, you can’t land on or jump over your own marbles. Move another marble instead, or wait for another turn to start a new marble out of your base.
- You can jump over other players’ marbles, though.
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Use shortcut spaces to move quickly around the board. When you roll a number that lets your marble land exactly on a “star hole,” or the spaces in the center circle of the board, you may move your marble along the other star holes on your next turn, instead of moving it along the normal spaces.^{[4]
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- You need an exact roll to enter the star hole shortcut, but not to exit it.
- Similarly, move into the center hole by rolling the exact number of spaces to get your marble there. But the only way out is to roll a 1 on a future turn. If you do, move your marble to any star hole.
- Other players can still aggravate you and knock your pieces back to base, even on the shortcut spaces!

Section 3 of 5:

Gameplay

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Roll a 1 or a 6 on your turn to start a marble on the board. At the beginning of the game, all the marbles are in the players’ bases. The first player rolls the dice. If they roll a 1 or a 6, they may move a marble out of their base and onto their labeled “start” space, but not any further.^{[5]
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- After the first player rolls, they pass the dice clockwise to the next player, who takes their turn.
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Move started marbles by rolling the dice on your turn. Once you’ve got a marble out of your base by rolling a 1 or a 6 on a previous turn, start your turn by rolling the dice, as usual. Now, you can move any one of your marbles that are out of the base exactly that number of spaces, clockwise around the board.^{[6]
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- If you roll a 1 or a 6, you may choose instead to move another marble out of your base, as long as you don’t already have a marble on your “start” space.
- Also, after you’ve started a marble, you take another bonus turn if you roll a 6.
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Aggravate other players, and avoid blocking yourself. If your marble lands on another player’s marble on its trip around the board, their marble gets sent back to their base. But watch out, other players can do the same to you!^{[7]
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- Also, you cannot move past or land on your own marbles. Make your moves wisely!
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Win the game by getting all your marbles into “home.” The aim of the game is to get all your marbles safely to your “home” spaces before the other players do the same. But be careful—you must fill up the “home” spaces using your exact rolls. No jumping over or landing on your own marbles!^{[8]
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- Players can’t use half or only a part of the amount they rolled. Marbles must always be moved the full die count.

Section 4 of 5:

Strategies

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Use shortcuts whenever you can. Shortcuts are the key to victory, since they let you skip huge portions of the board.^{[9]
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Research source} Whenever you use a shortcut, try to exit on the star hole that’s just before your home, to get your marble home the fastest way possible.
- You only have a 1 in 6 chance of getting a marble out of the center hole, so only use it when you have other marbles on the board that you may move if you don’t roll a 1.
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Get all your marbles started on the board as soon as possible. Whenever you roll a 1 or a 6, use it to move a marble from your base onto your starting hole. This helps you make sure that you always have plenty of possible moves to make on your turn.
- Remember that you must move a marble the full amount shown on the die, as long as it’s not blocked by your own marbles.
Whenever you have 2 marbles close together, move the one that’s further ahead to get some space between them and ensure that the other marble isn’t blocked on your next turn.
Not only is it fun, but it’s a great way to pull ahead into the lead with a single move.^{[10]
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Research source} Any time a roll would let you bump another player’s piece back to their base, do it! They’ll have to start that piece all over again while you sprint to home.

Section 5 of 5:

Variations

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Play with teams of 2 players. Pair up with another player and sit across from them, and have the other players make their own teams. Now, the rules are all same, but with a few key differences:^{[11]
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- You may jump over your partner’s pieces, but you can also still aggravate them and send them home if you land on them.
- Once you get all 4 of your marbles home, you still roll the dice on your turn. Now, your partner uses your rolls to move their own marbles, as well.
- The team that moves all 8 of their combined marbles home first wins.
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Play with teams of 3 players. Group into 2 teams of 3, and sit so that your opponents are between you, alternating. In this version, the rules are the same as in the 2-player teams version, except:^{[12]
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- If you already have all your marbles home, you have to decide before you roll which teammate you’ll roll the dice for.
- The team that moves all 12 of their combined marbles home first wins.