I read a hadeeth which says, “Whoever plays with dice, it is as if he dipped his hand in the flesh and blood of a pig.” And I read that what this means is that playing with dice is haraam. So an important question came to my mind, namely, 

Are all kinds of games haraam, even if they are beneficial? Especially since there are Islamic games which are based on use of dice. Are all these games haraam? Or does the prohibition apply only to specific games? Please explain this matter, may Allaah reward you with good?


Praise
be to Allaah.  

Games fall into two categories: 

The first category is games which help in jihaad for
the sake of Allaah, whether that is physical jihaad (fighting) or verbal
jihaad (i.e., knowledge), such as swimming, shooting, horse-riding,
and games which involve developing one’s abilities and Islamic knowledge,
etc. These games are mustahabb and the one who engages in them will
be rewarded so long as his intention is good and he seeks to support
the religion thereby. The Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Shoot, O Bani Adnaan,
for your father was an archer.” Shooting or archery includes by analogy
all similar actions. 

The second category is games which do not help in jihaad.
These are of two types. 

The first type is games which are specifically forbidden
in the texts, such as playing with dice as mentioned in the question.
These games should be avoided by the Muslim. 

The second type is games which are neither enjoined nor
forbidden in the texts. These are of two kinds:  

The first kind is games which include something that
is haraam, such as games that involve statues or images of living beings,
or which are accompanied by music, or games which lead to arguments
and conflicts among people and result in their saying or doing something
bad. These come under the prohibition because of the haraam consequences
to which they lead or because they are a means to something that is
haraam. If something is the means that usually leads to something that
is haraam, then we should refrain from it. 

The second type is games which do not involve anything
haraam, and which usually do not lead to it, like most of the games
we see of football (soccer), volleyball and table-tennis etc. These
are permissible, subject to the following restrictions: 

1 – They should be free of gambling, i.e., betting between
the players. 

2 – They should not form an obstacle to the obligatory
remembrance of Allaah, or to prayer, or to any obligatory act of worship,
such as honouring one’s parents. 

3 – They should not take up a lot of the player’s time,
let alone taking up all of his time or causing him to be known among
the people for that, or becoming his job, because then there is the
fear that the aayah (interpretation of the meaning) “Who
took their religion as an amusement and play, and the life of the world
deceived them. So this Day We shall forget them” [al-A’raaf 7:51]
may become applicable to him. 

The last condition does not have a set limit, but should
be referred to what is customary among the Muslims; whatever they regard
as excessive is not allowed. A person should set a limit for the time
spent playing and for the time spent in serious pursuits; if (the time
devoted to playing) is half or one-third or one-quarter, then this is
too much. 

And Allaah knows best.