In The Hobbit: There & Back Again, most chapters use a shared draft of five white journey dice. Choose a die, use it immediately on your own dry-erase adventure guide, and follow that chapter’s path, resource and scoring rules. The adventures are independent, so you may learn Part 1 without committing to all eight. This guide explains the common system, then points out the two chapters that use a different black-die procedure.

Set up an adventure

Each player takes one of the four adventure books and a dry-erase marker. Agree on a part and turn everyone’s book to the same spread. The left page is the scoresheet with the chapter’s action boxes and end condition; the right page is the map. Read that part’s specific rules and take only the named components. For example, Part 1 uses five white journey dice and swords, but neither bread tokens nor the black die. Other parts add the black die, bread or pinecones. Choose a random first player; the publisher also gives a thematic shortest-player option.

The ordinary white-dice round

1. The first player rolls all five white journey dice into the center.
2. Starting with that player and moving clockwise, each player drafts one die and immediately uses its face in their own book. Continue until all five have been taken.
3. The player who would take the next turn becomes the next round’s first player, gathers all five dice, rerolls and takes the first die.

This means the split changes with player count: two players take three and two dice in a round; three players take two, two and one; four players take two, one, one and one. The starting position rotates through the ongoing turn order rather than resetting to the same person each round. An adventure can end as soon as its printed condition is satisfied, even if dice remain in the center.

Path, resource and action dice

Three white dice show path pieces across one, two or three map spaces. Draw the entire pictured piece, beginning at that adventure’s start space or touching/crossing a path already drawn. You may rotate or mirror the shape. You may overlay an existing path to join or extend a route. A thick-bordered space cannot be entered; the distinction between connecting to a space by touching its edge and entering it with a path matters for several goals and rewards.

The other two white dice offer bread, swords or wizard hats. Bread and sword symbols may give tokens or scoresheet marks, according to the chapter. When you first enter a resource space on a map, take its effect as indicated. A hat fills one hat box on your scoresheet. Completing all boxes beside a magic action unlocks it and you use it immediately, once per adventure. If a die gives two hats, put both on the same magic action; excess can be lost if it needs just one box.

Instead of using any selected die’s printed face, you may ignore it and fill any one of the die symbols in Bilbo’s burglar-action area. Once the required symbol or symbols are marked, resolve that action at once; each burglar action can be used only once. This is useful when the remaining die cannot draw a legal or helpful path, or an action will solve a resource bottleneck. The cost is forfeiting that die’s ordinary effect.

What changes on later maps?

Some maps divide the route into regions. Once you enter a new region, the general rule prevents drawing new path sections in the previous one. Check that chapter’s exception before you move on: Part 7, for example, permits further drawing in its Forest River region. Part 3 adds a black die that creates storm hazards, and Part 5 uses its roll to block Warg spaces unless you spend pinecones. These effects occur at the times stated in the corresponding chapter rules, often before anyone drafts a white die.

Parts 4 and 6 are different. They use the black twelve-sided die rather than the white-dice draft. A number is rolled for everyone; each player independently chooses a shape at that number or lower, marks its scoresheet and fills a connected group of map spaces. Part 4 is the riddles map; Part 6 is the spider map. Do not teach these as ordinary path-piece turns. Their end conditions also let the other players finish the current shared roll after someone completes the target.

How does an adventure end?

Look for the green-check condition in the chosen part’s rules. In Part 1, connecting all twelve Dwarves other than Thorin to Bag End ends play immediately; Thorin and Gandalf can still be worth points. In Part 2, a path reaching Rivendell ends the chapter. Part 4 ends when someone solves all eight riddles, but the remaining players complete the shared black-die turn. Each player then fills the score rows for that chapter, adds glory earned for being first to certain tasks, and totals the rows. Highest score wins; ties share victory. Reaching the trigger first and winning on points are separate things.

Three teachable mistakes

• Path shape: draw the entire die piece even when only one branch reaches a target. Rotation and mirroring are allowed; ignoring half is not.
• Action timing: unlocked magic and burglar actions happen when completed, rather than waiting for a later turn.
• Chapter scope: no universal scoring track covers all eight maps. Check the current chapter’s rows and its end condition before taking the first die.

Continue: Strategy · All eight adventures and scoring · Solo, hard and epic modes · Game overview.

Source: Office Dog/Asmodee official English rulebook, checked October 3, 2026. The book for your chosen part and its chapter rules govern any map-specific exception.