counts as his or her final score for that turn, rather than the best result of two or three rolls. Thus, it is in the leader's interest not to roll the dice more than is necessary, as doing so will give opponents more opportunities to beat what might turn out to be a low result. Scoring Two dice are used, and on each roll their separate numerical values are combined into a two-digit number, assigning a tens-column value to the higher of the two dice and a ones-column value to the lower. Thus, a roll of 4-2 would translate into a result of forty-two, a roll of 4-5 would be fifty-four, a roll of 6-5 would be sixty-five, and so on. There are two exceptions to this ranking scheme. One is doubles, which are ranked extra-numerically (6-6 ranks highest, with 5-5 just below it, and so on down to 1-1), and are worth more than any mixed roll. Therefore, the highest possible numerical value would be sixty-five, which itself would rank just below 1-1. The other exception to the rule of numeric value is a roll of 2-1: This counts for a score of twenty-one, the "Mexico" roll after which the game is named, and which is unbeatable, ranking above 6-6. Thus, the lowest possible roll is thirty-one. (Those familiar with the dice game Mia will notice that scoring in the two games is nearly identical.) Although there are thirty-six possible results for any roll of two dice, there are only twenty-one meaningful results in the game of Mexico, since some rolls are cancelled by others. For instance, while 6-5 and 5-6 are considered different results in a statistical sense, they both equal sixty-five in this game. The possible results of any roll, and the ways it can be made, are listed in ascending order as follows: {| border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="border: 3px #aaa solid; font-size: 95%;" |- style="Background: #eee" ! Result !! Ways |- | 31, 32 || 2 Ways |- | 41, 42, 43 || 2 Ways |- | 51, 52, 53, 54 || 2 Ways |- | 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 || 2 Ways |- | any double || 1 Way |- | 21 ("Mexico") || 2 Ways |} Strategy and odds There is a moderate amount of strategy involved in Mexico, thanks to the fact that the first player to roll determines the conditions of