Roll five dice up to three times a turn, keep the ones you like, and fill thirteen boxes on your score sheet.
Yahtzee is a dice game with a score sheet. Each turn you roll five dice up to three times, keeping the ones you like, and then write the result in one of 13 boxes. Each box can only be used once.
After 13 turns every box is full and the highest total wins. Five of a kind is a , worth 50.
You need five dice, a cup to shake them in (or just your hands) and a score sheet each. One to six people can play, and it works well alone too.
The sheet has an upper section (ones to sixes) and a lower section (the poker-like combinations).
Everyone rolls all five dice; the highest total starts. Play then goes to the left.
You rolled 2, 4, 4, 5, 6: 21. West rolled 23 and starts.
Roll all five dice. Look at what you have and decide which box you are heading for.
This roll is 4, 4, 2, 5, 4. Three 4s: a good start, and it fits the Fours box, three of a kind and four of a kind.
Three 4s already.
Put aside any dice you want to keep and pick the others up. Roll only those. You can roll twice more, three times in all, and you may change your mind about what to keep every time.
You keep the three 4s and re-roll the two others. They land 4 and 6: four 4s.
When you stop, or after your third roll, you must write a score in one box. It does not have to be the best one, only a box you have not used.
Four 4s and a 6 fits Four of a kind (the total of all five dice, 22) or the Fours box (16).
Your move
Your last roll is 4, 4, 4, 4, 6. Which box do you write it in?
Every turn you must fill one box, even when your dice are no good for any of them. Then you write a 0, called a . Pick the box you are least likely to need.
Late in the game only Yahtzee and Large straight are free. You roll 2, 3, 3, 6, 6, which fits neither, so you scratch the Yahtzee box.
Five dice all showing the same number is a Yahtzee, worth 50 points. If you roll another Yahtzee later, and you scored 50 in the Yahtzee box before, you get a 100-point bonus. Either way you must fill in a box, using the joker rule: the matching upper box first (five 4s go in Fours), otherwise any open lower box, and only if those are all full a zero in an open upper box. The joker rule applies even if you scored 0 in the Yahtzee box, but then there is no 100-point bonus.
Yahtzee!
| Ones to sixes | total of those dice |
| Three of a kind | total of all five dice |
| Four of a kind | total of all five dice |
| Full house | 25 |
| Small straight (4 in a row) | 30 |
| Large straight (5 in a row) | 40 |
| Yahtzee | 50 |
| Chance | total of all five dice |
A is three of one number and two of another. Chance takes any roll.
If your six top boxes (ones to sixes) add up to 63 or more, you get a . 63 is exactly three of each number, so aim for at least three of a number when you can.
Sixes are the biggest: three 6s is 18, which makes the bonus easy.
The game ends when everyone has filled all 13 boxes. Add the upper section, the upper bonus if you earned it, the lower section and any Yahtzee bonuses. The highest total wins. A typical game is 200 to 250 points.
Point at a dot to see why it matters
Roll five dice up to three times a turn and fill all thirteen boxes. How high can you score?
Three times per turn. The first roll uses all five dice. After that you choose which dice to keep and re-roll the rest, twice.
35 points if the six upper boxes (ones to sixes) add up to 63 or more. That is three of each number: 3+6+9+12+15+18.
50 points in the Yahtzee box. A second and later Yahtzee earns a 100-point bonus, as long as you scored 50 (not 0) in the Yahtzee box.
A small straight (four numbers in a row, like 2-3-4-5) is 30 points and a large straight (five in a row) is 40.
Yes. You must fill one box every turn. When your dice fit nothing useful, write a 0 in the box you are least likely to need.
Roll six dice, bank your points, and don’t Farkle.
2 to 8 players · 30 min · 8+Three dice, six rounds, and a shout when you roll a Bunco.
4 to 24 players · 1 hr · 8+Pass chips left, right or to the middle. Last one holding chips wins.
3 to 10 players · 15 min · 6+