The quick version
Roll all four dice and split them into two pairs. The two sums select columns. For example, one, four, five and six can make five and eleven, six and ten, or seven and nine.
Saved on this device only — clearing your browser's cache or site data removes them (no account backup).
Prepare the table
Use the game's board with columns numbered two through twelve; their unequal lengths are part of the game. Everyone chooses a marker color. Put the three shared neutral runners and four dice beside the empty board. Choose a starter and play clockwise. Colored markers record banked progress; neutral runners record only the active turn.
Play a turn
Roll all four dice and split them into two pairs. The two sums select columns. For example, one, four, five and six can make five and eleven, six and ten, or seven and nine. Choose one pairing, using both sums wherever legal. Put a runner in each selected open column: on its bottom space if you have no marker there, otherwise immediately above your colored marker. A sum matching a current runner advances it one space. Two equal sums can advance the same runner twice.
You have only three runners, so after all are assigned only those columns can advance this turn. Never move a runner sideways into a new column. If one sum can advance and the other cannot, use the legal one. You must make a legal placement or advance if any pairing permits it. After a successful roll, choose to stop or roll all four dice again.
When stopping, replace runners with your colored markers at their new positions, moving previous markers upward. If no pairing from a roll can place or advance any runner, the turn fails: remove every runner and keep only your earlier banked positions. Opponents' markers normally neither block nor give extra movement.
Finish and score
A runner reaching a column's top is not a claim until you stop and bank it. Once claimed, remove opponents' markers from that column; nobody may use it again. A runner already at the top cannot advance further and still occupies one of your three runners while you continue. The first player to bank their third claimed column wins immediately.
Host the first game
Show a failed roll with all three runners committed, and a top reached but not banked. Current Reddit recommendations name Can't Stop among accessible push-your-luck choices; the quick explanation works best when the temporary runners and permanent markers remain visibly distinct.
Already know the game?
Ideas & Twists
Choose a variation together before you start.
Can't Stop · See main rules
Published Yucata variantJump occupied spaces
When a runner would land on an opponent's marker, move it to the next unoccupied space above, skipping a chain if necessary. This changes only movement, not the need to bank at the top.
Can't Stop · See main rules
Published Yucata variantForced onward
You cannot stop while any neutral runner shares a space with an opponent's marker. Keep rolling until all runners stand clear or the turn fails. Do not combine with the jumping variant.
Can't Stop · See main rules
Adapted Yucata target variantFour-column duel
For exactly two players, win by banking four columns instead of three. With eleven columns available, a winner remains possible without exhausting the board.
Can't Stop · See main rules
Original STUDplay house twistOne reroll chance
Give each player one paper token. Immediately after a failed roll and before removing runners, they may discard it to reroll all four dice once. Resolve that roll normally, including failure; unused tokens score nothing.
Can't Stop · See main rules
Original STUDplay house twistTwo-runner climb
Use only two neutral runners for everyone. Once both are assigned, every later roll must advance one of those two columns. The first to bank three columns still wins.
About this guide
Requires the named physical game and its supplied components. Rules are paraphrased teaching guidance; keep the box's cards and reference diagrams beside the table. Original STUDplay house twists are optional, untested suggestions rather than publisher rules. Agree one before setup; unchanged rules still apply.
Ready for something different?
Find another game →