Yahtzee is a classic dice game, played with five six-sided dice. The object of the game is to score points by rolling certain combinations. It’s easy to learn to play, and can provide hours of fun for players of all ages.
Objective
The goal of Yahtzee is to score the most points by rolling five dice to make certain combinations. The dice can be rolled up to three times in a turn to try to make one of the thirteen possible scoring combinations.
Scoring
After each roll, the player decides which dice to keep, and which ones to re-roll. After the third roll, the player must choose a category on their scorecard in which their dice combination should be entered. Different categories require different combinations be made, and each category has a different point value.
- Ones: The player scores the sum of all ones (1s) rolled.
- Twos: The player scores the sum of all twos (2s) rolled.
- Threes: The player scores the sum of all threes (3s) rolled.
- Fours: The player scores the sum of all fours (4s) rolled.
- Fives: The player scores the sum of all fives (5s) rolled.
- Sixes: The player scores the sum of all sixes (6s) rolled.
The following categories are scored differently:
- Three-of-a-kind: If at least three numbers are similar, then you get the total face value of all five dice added together.
- Four-of-a-kind: If at least four numbers are similar, then you get the total face value of all five dice added together.
- Full house: A full house is when you have both three and two numbers similar. This gives you 25 points.
- Small straight: A small straight is when four numbers in sequence are rolled. This gives you 30 points.
- Large straight: A large straight is when five numbers in sequence are rolled. This gives you 40 points.
- Chance: Chance is when any combination is used and adds up to any amount between 5 and 45. This gives you that total as your score.
Ending the Game
The game ends after thirteen rounds have been completed by each player according to their scorecards. At this point, each scorecard will have been filled out completely, and players can now calculate their total scores by adding up each individual category they scored in throughout the game.