When rolling a single six-sided die, there are 6 possible outcomes (1 through 6). When rolling multiple dice, the total number of outcomes can be calculated by raising the number of outcomes for one die to the power of the number of dice being rolled.
For three dice, the calculation is:
\[ 6 \text{ (outcomes for one die)}^{3 \text{ (number of dice)}} = 6^3 = 216 \]
Therefore, there are 216 possible outcomes when rolling three dice.