Yahtzee
Yahtzee is five dice and thirteen boxes. Each turn you roll, keep the dice you want, and roll the rest up to twice more — then you must write the result into one of the thirteen scoring boxes, each of which can be used exactly once. Fill all thirteen and add up the card. The whole game is deciding which box to spend.
Upper section
| OnesTotal of every 1 | |
|---|---|
| TwosTotal of every 2 | |
| ThreesTotal of every 3 | |
| FoursTotal of every 4 | |
| FivesTotal of every 5 | |
| SixesTotal of every 6 | |
| Bonus at 630 so far | 0 |
Lower section
| Three of a kindTotal of all five dice | |
|---|---|
| Four of a kindTotal of all five dice | |
| Full house25 | |
| Small straight30 — four in a row | |
| Large straight40 — five in a row | |
| Yahtzee50 — five of a kind | |
| ChanceTotal of all five dice | |
| Yahtzee bonus100 each | 0 |
Your statistics
- Played
- 0
- Won
- 0
- Win rate
- 0%
- Streak
- 0
- Best streak
- 0
- Best time
- —
A game counts as a win at 230 points or more, which is roughly the top quarter of ordinary play. Kept in this browser only.
Today’s game
Every roll is a pure function of the game number, so today’s game deals the identical thirty-nine rolls for everyone. Game #1567004040.
Keyboard
- Space / R
- Roll
- 1 – 5
- Keep or release that die
- H
- Advice — what to keep, or what to score
- F
- Full screen
- Dice
- 5
- Rolls per turn
- 3
- Turns
- 13, one per box
- Maximum score
- 1,575
How do you play yahtzee?
Roll all five dice. Keep any you like, reroll the rest, and do that once more — three rolls in total. Then choose a box on the scorecard and write in what these dice are worth in that box, which may well be zero. That box is now used for the rest of the game.
There are thirteen boxes and thirteen turns, so every box gets filled exactly once. You are never allowed to skip: if nothing scores, you still have to put a zero somewhere, and choosing where is often the hardest decision in the game.
How is yahtzee scored?
| Box | Scores | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Ones to Sixes | Total of that face only | Three of each is par for the bonus |
| Three of a kind | Total of all five dice | Not just the three matching ones |
| Four of a kind | Total of all five dice | Same again |
| Full house | 25 | Three of one, two of another |
| Small straight | 30 | Four consecutive |
| Large straight | 40 | All five consecutive |
| Yahtzee | 50 | Five of a kind |
| Chance | Total of all five dice | The safety valve |
Two bonuses sit on top. If the six upper boxes total 63 or more — which is exactly three of each face — you get 35 points. And every Yahtzee after the first one, provided the Yahtzee box already holds 50, is worth another 100.
The three-of-a-kind rule catches nearly every clone: it scores the total of all five dice, not just the matching three. Five-five-five-two-one is eighteen, not fifteen.
What is the joker rule in yahtzee?
It governs what a second Yahtzee may be used for. Once the Yahtzee box has been used — scored at 50 or crossed off at zero — and the matching upper box is also full, a further five-of-a-kind may be written into full house, small straight or large straight and scores the full 25, 30 or 40, even though five identical dice are obviously none of those things.
It is an official rule and it is the one most implementations get wrong or omit entirely. This one implements it, and the test suite checks each of the three conditions separately.
What is a good score in yahtzee?
For ordinary play, anything over about 230 is a good card and 300 is a very good one. The theoretical maximum is 1,575: thirteen Yahtzees of sixes, the upper bonus, and twelve 100-point Yahtzee bonuses. Optimal solitaire play — a computer maximising expected score — averages a little over 254, which is a useful benchmark for how well you are doing against the dice rather than against a person.
How do you get better at yahtzee?
- Protect the upper bonus earlyThirty-five points is worth more than any lower box except Yahtzee itself, and it is far easier to bank early than to rescue late. Three of a face is par; four of a face buys you a whole box of slack elsewhere.
- Do not spend Chance earlyChance takes whatever the dice happen to total, which makes it the only box that can absorb a genuinely bad turn without costing you anything. Spending it on a 22 in turn two means a rotten turn eleven has to go somewhere much more painful.
- Cross off Ones before you cross off YahtzeeA zero in Ones costs at most five points. A zero in Yahtzee costs fifty, and it also throws away every 100-point bonus you might have earned later — the most expensive single decision on the card.
- Keep four of a run over a low pairA small straight is 30 points and needs one specific face from a reroll; a pair of twos is on its way to nothing much. When the dice offer both, take the run.
- Count what a reroll is actually worthWith a full house already in hand, rerolling the pair to chase four of a kind risks 25 guaranteed points for an uncertain gain. Late in the game, with the relevant boxes still open, that gamble is often right; early, with everything open, it usually is not.
Yahtzee questions people ask
- How many dice do you need for yahtzee?
- Five, and three rolls per turn. This version rolls them for you, and every roll is derived from the game number so the same numbered game deals the identical dice on any device.
- Does three of a kind score all five dice in yahtzee?
- Yes. Three of a kind and four of a kind both score the total of all five dice, not just the matching ones. It is the single most commonly mis-implemented rule in the game.
- What happens if you roll a second Yahtzee?
- If the Yahtzee box already holds 50 you get a 100-point bonus, and you may then fill any open box with the dice — including, under the joker rule, a straight or a full house at full value once the matching upper box is also used.
- Can you skip a turn in yahtzee?
- No. Every turn ends with a box being filled, even if that means writing a zero. Deciding which box to sacrifice is a real part of the game, and giving up Yahtzee early is usually the most expensive choice available.
- How do you get the 35-point bonus in yahtzee?
- Score 63 or more across the six upper boxes. That is exactly three of each face, so any box where you manage four of a kind buys you slack somewhere else.
The rules in six lines
- 1Roll five diceThe first roll of every turn uses all five. You then decide which to keep before rolling again.
- 2Keep and reroll, twiceClick a die to keep it and click again to release it. You get two rerolls, so three rolls in total, and you may keep different dice each time.
- 3Choose a box and write the scoreEvery turn must end with a box being filled. If nothing scores, you have to enter a zero somewhere — there is no passing.
- 4Each box is used exactly onceThirteen boxes, thirteen turns. Spending Chance on a mediocre roll early is a decision you will feel in the endgame.
- 5Chase the upper bonusSixty-three points across Ones to Sixes — three of each face — earns 35 more. It is the single largest swing on the card outside a Yahtzee.
- 6Add up the cardUpper section plus the 35-point bonus if earned, plus the lower section, plus 100 for every Yahtzee after the first.
The long version, with worked examples and the questions beginners actually ask, is on how to play yahtzee.
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