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Yahtzee is a beloved dice-rolling game where players roll 5 dice and try to create unique, high-scoring combinations for 13 rounds. Whether you’re playing by yourself or with a friend, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about this simple game, including how to play and score your match correctly. We’ll also touch on some handy strategies you can apply to your next game so you can achieve the highest possible score.
How do you play a turn in Yahtzee?
- Roll the dice and see if you have any multiples (like three 2s) or potential combos (like a 1, 2, and 3). Take these “keeper” dice and set them aside.
- Roll the remaining dice a second time and hold onto any promising dice that can help you complete a combo worth lots of points.
- Roll any leftover dice a third time and decide which combo category you’d like to score for this round. Write your score down on the score card.
Steps
How to Play Yahtzee
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Roll the dice to see who goes first. Each player rolls the 5 Yahtzee dice and adds up their total—whoever gets the highest score goes first. From there, play continues in a clockwise direction. [1] X Research source
- Your Yahtzee game should come with a set of dice and a cup/shaker to use.
- Skip this step if you’re playing Yahtzee by yourself.
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Roll the dice for the first time. Take a look at what you’ve rolled: do you see any multiples of the same number or a wide range of numbers that could work well for a combo? Separate any “keeper” dice from the rest and hold onto them for the rest of your turn, or put them back in the cup to reroll. If you’re happy with your first dice roll, you can end your turn here (you can roll up to 3 times in a single turn of Yahtzee). Here’s a quick refresher of the different Yahtzee dice combos: [2] X Research source
- Aces: Having at least one 1 dice (point value: the sum of all your 1s)
- Twos: Having at least one 2 dice (point value: the sum of all your 2s)
- Threes: Having at least one 3 dice (point value: the sum of all your 3s)
- Fours: Having at least one 4 dice (point value: the sum of all your 4s)
- Fives: Having at least one 5 dice (point value: the sum of all your 5s)
- Sixes: Having at least one 6 dice (point value: the sum of all your 6s)
- 3 of a kind: Three identical dice (point value: the sum of all your dice)
- 4 of a kind: Four identical dice (point value: the sum of all your dice)
- Full House: A pair of identical dice and a trio of identical dice (worth 25 points)
- Small Straight: A 1, 2, 3, and 4; a 2, 3, 4, and 5; or a 3, 4, 5, and 6 (worth 30 points)
- Large Straight: A 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 or a 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (worth 40 points)
- Yahtzee: Five identical dice (worth 50 points)
- Chance: Any assortment of 5 dice (point value: the sum of all your dice)
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Roll for the second time. Put the remaining dice in the cup and roll them out again. As you did before, look over the dice and decide if there are any you’d like to hold onto. Put these aside with any dice you already separated earlier, or simply put all the dice back in the cup to reroll. [3] X Research source
- If you’re happy with your dice, feel free to end your turn here.
- Keep a few different scoring categories in mind as you roll to help maximize your score.
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Roll for the third time. Stick any leftover dice back in the cup and shake them out again (if you’re still unhappy. At this point, look at your scorecard and decide which of the 13 scoring categories you’d like to use for this round. [4] X Research source
- For example, if you rolled three 1s and two 4s, you could stick your score in the “Ones” or “Fours” row (for 3 or 8 points, respectively), or count it as a Full House for 25 points.
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Write your score on the scorecard and end your turn. Choose a category on your scorecard (e.g., Ones, Twos, Full House, 3 of a kind, etc.) to use for the round—once you choose one and enter a score on your scorecard, you can’t erase or swap it with another category later on. The player sitting to the left of you can then take their turn, with gameplay continuing in a clockwise direction. [5] X Research source
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Repeat the rolling and scoring process for another 12 turns. As you roll and reroll on your turn, try to maximize your point total. Jot down each round’s score in a new row until everyone has finished their 13th turn. [6] X Research source
- If your dice total doesn’t work for any of the scoring categories, put a “0” down for one of the categories instead. [7] X Research source
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Tally up your points and declare a winner. Take a look at the Upper Section of your scorecard: did you net at least 63 total points? If so, add an extra 35 points to your score. Combine the scores of the Upper and Lower scorecard Sections (including the 35-point bonus and any 100-point Yahtzee bonuses) to get your grand total. Whoever has the highest score wins the game!
- Yahtzee scorecards are designed to track multiple games, so feel free to start another game if everyone’s feeling up to it!
Community Q&A
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QuestionCan I use the score of one of the dice in the upper section?Community AnswerYes, if the section is open, or you can take zero for anything, whenever you wish.
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QuestionIf you get a second Yahtzee with fives, do you get to count the Yahtzee and 25 in your fives?Community AnswerYes. Score 25 in your fives and add a check mark in the lower section for a bonus Yahtzee. At the end of the game, multiply your check marks by 100 for your total bonus Yahtzee score.
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QuestionCan I only write 0 in the top?Community AnswerNo, you write down the total you got for that number. For example, if you had only one "2," you could enter "2" in the twos row. Obviously, if you don't have any twos, then it would be zero.
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Tips
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Thanks
References
- ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/yahtzee.pdf
- ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/yahtzee.pdf
- ↑ http://www1.lasalle.edu/~blum/c340wks/YahtzeeRules.htm
- ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/yahtzee.pdf
- ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/yahtzee.pdf
- ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/yahtzee.pdf
- ↑ http://www1.lasalle.edu/~blum/c340wks/YahtzeeRules.htm
- ↑ https://www.eecis.udel.edu/~davis/yahtzee.pdf
- ↑ https://www.eecis.udel.edu/~davis/yahtzee.pdf
- ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/yahtzee.pdf
- ↑ https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2006-2007/Probability/Yahtzee.htm
- ↑ https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2006-2007/Probability/Yahtzee.htm
- ↑ https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2006-2007/Probability/Yahtzee.htm
- ↑ https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2006-2007/Probability/Yahtzee.htm
About This Article
Yahtzee is a fun dice game for 2 or more players where players roll dice and try to get combinations to get the highest score. To play the game, start by rolling all 5 dice. You can keep your roll as is, re-roll all of the dice, or save some of the dice and re-roll the rest. You can roll a total of 3 times per turn. As you’re rolling, you want to try to get one of the combinations listed on your score sheet. The upper section of your score sheet has score boxes for ones, twos, threes, fours, fives, and sixes. If you have 3 sixes at the end of your turn, you could write “18” in the sixes box since that’s how much all of your sixes add up to. Or, if you end your turn with 2 fives, you could write “10” in the fives box. It works the same for the rest of the boxes in the upper section. You can only score one box per turn. If all of your scores in the upper section add up to 63 or higher, you earn a 35 point bonus at the end of the game. The lower section of your score sheet has score boxes for different dice combinations you can roll, including 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, full house, small straight, large straight, Yahtzee, and Chance. If you end your turn with one of these combinations, write the corresponding score that appears on the scoresheet in the box for that combination. A Yahtzee is when you roll 5 of a kind. Your first Yahtzee is worth 50 points, then subsequent Yahtzees are worth 100 points. Chance is the total of any 5 dice combined, and you can score it at the end of any turn in the game no matter what you rolled. If a player isn’t able to fill in one of the score boxes on their sheet at the end of their turn, they must cross any score box off of their choosing. Play continues clockwise until every player has filled in or crossed off all of the boxes on their score sheet. Then, the players add up their total scores. Whoever scores the highest wins the game! To learn about different Yahtzee strategies, keep reading!
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