Yahtzee

Yahtzee was born in 1954 when a Canadian couple played it on their yacht. They called it 'The Yacht Game.' Edwin S. Lowe, the same entrepreneur who popularized Bingo, bought the rights in 1956 and renamed it Yahtzee. The game sold poorly at first. Lowe's team started hosting Yahtzee parties where people played and learned the rules firsthand. Word of mouth did the rest. By the 1970s, Hasbro had acquired it. Over 100 million sets have sold since. The probability of rolling a Yahtzee (five of a kind) on a single roll is about 0.08 percent. Across a full game with re-rolls, your chances improve to roughly 4.6 percent per turn. Roll the dice above and start your own scorecard.

1. Click the Roll button to throw all five dice at once.
2. After the roll, click any die to hold it. Held dice stay on the table for the next roll.
3. Click Roll again to re-roll the unheld dice. You get up to three rolls per turn.
4. After your first roll, you can also score immediately without using all your rolls. Click any available category on the scorecard to lock in your points.
5. Each of the 13 categories can only be scored once. Once you fill a box, it is locked for the rest of the game.
6. If a roll does not qualify for a category, you must still place a zero somewhere. You cannot skip scoring.
7. The game lasts 13 rounds. After all categories are filled, the player with the highest total wins.

• Five standard six-sided dice are used. Each turn allows up to three rolls.
• The upper section has six categories: Ones through Sixes. Score the sum of dice matching the category number. For example, rolling three 4s scores 12 in the Fours box.
• If your upper section total reaches 63 or more, you earn a 35-point bonus. That works out to three dice in every upper category.
• Three of a Kind scores the sum of all five dice when at least three match.
• Four of a Kind scores the sum of all five dice when at least four match.
• Full House (three of one number plus two of another) scores a fixed 25 points.
• Small Straight (four consecutive numbers) scores 30. Large Straight (five consecutive numbers) scores 40.
• Chance scores the sum of all dice regardless of combination. Use it as a safety net.
• Yahtzee (five of a kind) scores 50. Each additional Yahtzee after the box is filled earns a 100-point bonus.
• The Joker rule lets an extra Yahtzee fill any lower section box if the corresponding upper box is already filled.

• Aim for the upper bonus early. You need 63 points across the top, which means averaging about 10.5 per category. Prioritize high rolls in Fours, Fives, and Sixes. Three 4s gives you 12, which clears the bar for that box.
• Do not waste Chance on a high roll. Save it for a turn where you roll something like 1-1-2-3-4 that fits no category. A 25-point Chance save is worth more than spending it on a lucky 28.
• Hold pairs and three-of-a-kinds on your first roll. Re-rolling two or three dice gives you a real shot at a Full House or Four of a Kind. Re-rolling four dice rarely improves your hand.
• Go for straights when you already hold four consecutive numbers. A Small Straight is worth 30 and a Large Straight is worth 40. The expected value of re-rolling one die for a Large Straight is about 6.7 points, which beats settling for a low upper score.
• If you roll a Yahtzee early, fill the Yahtzee box immediately. Every subsequent Yahtzee then earns 100 bonus points, which can swing a close game. A Yahtzee of 5s or 6s can also fill the upper section through the Joker rule.

• Classic Yahtzee: The standard 13-category game described above. Play solo for a high score or head to head.
• Yahtzee Bonus: Also called Triple Yahtzee. Players fill three scorecards and multiply scores by 1x, 2x, or 3x. Games are longer and scores can exceed 800.
• Challenge Yahtzee: All players roll simultaneously each turn. The fastest scorer locks in their category first, adding a speed element.
• Farkle: A different push-your-luck dice game on this site. Roll six dice, bank or risk it all.

• Every turn is a mini puzzle. You evaluate five dice, decide what to hold, and calculate whether re-rolling improves your odds.
• The upper bonus creates a long-term goal. You track your progress across 13 rounds, not just turn by turn.
• A single Yahtzee can swing 150 points. Comeback mechanics keep games competitive until the last roll.
• The game needs only five dice and a scorecard. You can play it anywhere, which explains its staying power since 1956.

Play Yahtzee right here in your browser. No downloads, no sign-ups, no dice to chase under the table. Roll against the CPU at three difficulty levels, play solo for a high score, or challenge a friend in pass-and-play mode. Your best score saves automatically.

Yahtzee combines luck and decisions in equal measure. You cannot control the dice, but you control which ones to hold, when to score, and where to place your zeros. Start a game above and see if you can break 300 points.

• Yahtzee - Wikipedia
• Yahtzee Probability - ThoughtCo