Yahtzee
Dice games · Yahtzee-family/category dice
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Summary
Yahtzee is a dice game for any number of players: roll five dice up to three times a turn and fill the thirteen boxes on your card. Each box scores in its own way, three of each number in the top six earns a bonus of 35, and five of a kind is a Yahtzee worth 50. Highest card wins.
- Scored by
- cumulative points; most points wins
- Players
- Not listed by the source.
- Origin
- United States; first marketed as Yahtzee by Edwin S. Lowe in 1956, derived from earlier games such as Yacht
How it plays
1 of 7
Three rolls, and you choose
Roll all five dice. You may then re-roll any of them up to twice more, keeping whatever you like between rolls. Three rolls is the whole turn — there is no fourth, and nothing carries over to the next player.
Rules
How to play
Players and equipment
Any number of players, five dice, and a scorecard each. Two to four is the usual table. SquareScores draws the card and checks each entry against what the dice can actually produce, because putting a number in the wrong row is the commonest scoring mistake in the game.
The deal
There is no deal. On your turn, roll all five dice, then re-roll any of them up to twice more, keeping whatever you like between rolls. You can stop early if the dice are already what you want.
Play
After the third roll you must write a score into one of the thirteen boxes, and each box may be used only once in a game. If nothing fits, a box has to be taken at zero — a scratch is a real move and uses up the box. Then the dice pass to the left. The whole game is your own thirteen decisions about which box to spend on which roll.
Scoring
Scoring
Thirteen boxes, each used once in a game. If nothing fits, a box has to be taken at zero.
Upper section
- Ones
- Total of those dice
- The dice showing 1
- Twos
- Total of those dice
- The dice showing 2
- Threes
- Total of those dice
- The dice showing 3
- Fours
- Total of those dice
- The dice showing 4
- Fives
- Total of those dice
- The dice showing 5
- Sixes
- Total of those dice
- The dice showing 6
- Upper bonus
- 35
- Automatic, if those six boxes reach 63
63 is three of each number. A box taken short of three has to be paid back somewhere else in the column.
Lower section
- Three of a kind
- Total of all five dice
- Three matching dice
- Four of a kind
- Total of all five dice
- Four matching dice
- Full house
- 25
- Three of one number and two of another
- Small straight
- 30
- Four in sequence
- Large straight
- 40
- Five in sequence
- Yahtzee
- 50
- Five matching dice
- Chance
- Total of all five dice
- Anything at all
The three that score the dice rather than a flat number are the ones people get wrong. Three of a kind is three matching dice, but what you write down is the total of all five — the two that do not match included.
Extra yahtzees
- Second and later yahtzee
- 100 each
- Only if the first was scored as 50 rather than zeroed
- Where the dice go
- Its usual value
- The matching upper box, if it is still free
If that upper box is taken as well, the printed card's joker rule lets the dice fill any free lower box at its usual value, a full house or straight included. SquareScores does not apply the joker on its own: its dice offer three of a kind, four of a kind and chance at the total showing, and a table that plays the joker types the 25, 30 or 40 in — the host's job when the dice are scoring the cards.
A worked card
Alice's card, box by box:
- Ones
- 2
- 1, 1, 3, 4, 6
- Twos
- 6
- 2, 2, 2, 5, 6
- Threes
- 9
- 3, 3, 3, 1, 5
- Fours
- 16
- 4, 4, 4, 4, 2
- Fives
- 15
- 5, 5, 5, 2, 3
- Sixes
- 18
- 6, 6, 6, 1, 4
- Upper bonus
- 35
- 66 is past 63
- Three of a kind
- 23
- 5, 5, 5, 2, 6
- Four of a kind
- 18
- 3, 3, 3, 3, 6
- Full house
- 25
- 2, 2, 2, 4, 4
- Small straight
- 30
- 2, 3, 4, 5, 5
- Large straight
- 0
- Never came, scratched
- Yahtzee
- 50
- 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
- Chance
- 22
- 4, 6, 6, 5, 1
The six number boxes come to 2 + 6 + 9 + 16 + 15 + 18 = 66. Her ones were one short of the three-of-each pace and her fours four over, which paid for them: 66 is past 63, so the 35 is added and the upper section is worth 101. The lower boxes are 23 + 18 + 25 + 30 + 0 + 50 + 22 = 168. Her card totals 269.
The three fives went in three of a kind for 23 because fives was already full, and the scratched large straight cost her only the box — a zero there is cheaper than a zero in sixes or yahtzee. A second five of a kind would have been 100 in the bonus row on top of wherever the dice went.
Ending
The game ends when every player has filled all thirteen boxes. Highest total wins. A round here is a whole card, and a session is however many of them you play.
Strategy
The upper bonus
Play the top six boxes for 63 from the first turn. Three of each number is the pace, and sixes and fives are where you get ahead of it: four sixes puts you six over, four ones puts you one over. Take a short box in ones or twos early if you have to, and make it back with a fourth five or six. Ten short with only ones left means the bonus is gone; stop chasing it.
What to keep
After the first roll, keep the pair or better and roll the rest, unless four dice are in a run. Three of a kind on the first roll is the best start there is: two more rolls give you about one chance in two of a fourth matching die and about one in eleven of the yahtzee. Two pairs is a full house one die away, one chance in three on each roll. Do not keep a lone high die; a six on its own is worth six in chance and nothing anywhere else.
When to scratch
A zero is a move, so choose where it goes. Yahtzee is the box to leave open longest: it costs nothing to keep empty and a late five of a kind is worth 50. Ones and twos are cheap to scratch, since even a good roll there is worth four or six. Chance is the dustbin for a roll that fits nowhere, but it is used once, so save it for a high total late on. Never scratch a box the dice could still fill: a bad roll with two threes in it goes in threes for six.
Straights
With 2, 3, 4, 5 showing, either a 1 or a 6 completes the large straight: one chance in three per roll, better than evens over two. With 1, 2, 3, 4 or 3, 4, 5, 6 only one number will do: one in six per roll, about one in three over two. When the large has not come by the third roll, take the 30 in small straight rather than scratch.
The end of the card
With three or four boxes left, roll for what you can still fill and nothing else. If yahtzee and sixes are both open, keep sixes, since every roll works towards both. Count the other cards too: a player twenty behind with two boxes left has to gamble on a 50, and a player twenty ahead should take the sure 18 in sixes and let the yahtzee box go.
Variations
Yacht
The older game Yahtzee was made from. Twelve boxes and no upper bonus: the six number boxes, a full house scored as the dice rather than 25, four of a kind scored as the four matching dice alone, a little straight of exactly 1 to 5 and a big straight of exactly 2 to 6 for 30 each, choice for the total of all five, and yacht for five alike at 50. No bonus for a second yacht.
Kismet
Played with coloured dice — the 1 and 6 one colour, the 2 and 5 another, the 3 and 4 a third — and the lower boxes include a flush of five dice in one colour and a full house in one colour worth more than a plain one. It needs its own dice.
Triple Yahtzee
Three columns on one card, each a full thirteen boxes. The first scores as normal, the second doubles every box and the third trebles them, so a 50 in the third column is worth 150.
No hundred for a second yahtzee
A second five of a kind is simply another roll: it goes in a free box at its usual value and the bonus row stays empty. Agree it before the first roll.
Boxes in order
The thirteen boxes must be filled from the top down, ones first and chance last, whatever the dice show. Quick, luck-heavy, and a good way of teaching the card to children.
FAQs
What counts as a full house in Yahtzee?
Three dice of one number and two of another, such as 4, 4, 4, 2, 2. It scores a flat 25 whatever the numbers are. Five of a kind is not a full house unless your table plays the joker rule, and then only once the yahtzee box and the matching upper box are both filled.
How do you get the 35 bonus in Yahtzee?
By making the six upper boxes — ones to sixes — total 63 or more. 63 is exactly three of each number, so a box on three is on pace, on four ahead and on two behind. The bonus is added automatically once the total reaches 63; it is not something you roll for.
What happens if you roll a second Yahtzee?
If your first yahtzee was scored as 50, a second earns a bonus of 100, and the dice still go somewhere: into the matching upper box if it is free, at its usual value; if that box is used, into three of a kind, four of a kind or chance at their total. If your first yahtzee was scratched, there is no bonus.
Do you have to roll three times in Yahtzee?
No. Three is the most you may roll. If the first roll is five sixes you write down 50 and pass the dice. You may re-roll any number of dice, including all five, and a die you kept may be picked up again for the next roll.
Can 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 be scored as a small straight?
Yes. Five in a row contains four in a row, so it is a large straight for 40 or a small straight for 30, whichever box you would rather fill.
Can you play Yahtzee with two players, or on your own?
Yes to both. Nothing one player does affects another, so two players compare cards exactly as six do, and a game on your own is a run at your best score. Anything above 250 is a good card.
How many dice do you use in Yahtzee, and how many rolls do you get?
Five six-sided dice, and up to three rolls a turn. Roll all five, keep any you like and roll the rest, and once more if you want to; after the third roll you must score the dice in one of the thirteen boxes. You may stop after the first or second roll if the dice already suit you.
What is the difference between a small straight and a large straight?
A small straight is any four dice in sequence — 1-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5 or 3-4-5-6 — and scores 30; the fifth die can be anything. A large straight is all five in sequence, 1-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6, and scores 40. A large straight may be written in the small straight box for 30 if that box is the one you need to fill.
How long does a game of Yahtzee take, and how many can play?
Each player takes thirteen turns, one a box, and a turn is under a minute, so two players finish in about twenty minutes and four in forty. Any number can play, since nobody's card affects anybody else's; two to four is the usual table, and six is about the most before the wait between turns drags.