How to play Yahtzee
Yahtzee is played over 13 turns. Each turn you roll five dice up to three times, setting aside the dice you want to keep. After your last roll you must enter a score in one of the 13 boxes on your scorecard. Each box can be used only once, so the strategy is choosing which box to use and when.
Scoring
| Box | Needs | Scores |
|---|---|---|
| Ones to Sixes | Any roll | Total of that number only |
| Three of a kind | 3 dice the same | Total of all five dice |
| Four of a kind | 4 dice the same | Total of all five dice |
| Full house | 3 of one number + 2 of another | 25 |
| Small straight | 4 in a row (e.g. 2-3-4-5) | 30 |
| Large straight | 5 in a row | 40 |
| Yahtzee | All 5 dice the same | 50 |
| Chance | Any roll | Total of all five dice |
Strategy tips
- Chase the upper bonus. Three of each number in the upper section is worth the 35-point bonus. Fours, fives and sixes give you room to fall short on ones and twos.
- Save Chance for a bad turn instead of using it early.
- Go for Yahtzee with three or more of a kind on your first roll. You have about a 1 in 22 chance of rolling a Yahtzee on any given turn if you always keep your most common number.
- Know when to scratch. Late in the game, taking a 0 in Ones costs less than giving up a likely straight.
Printable Yahtzee score sheets
Playing with real dice? Download a blank score sheet: PDF, Excel (.xlsx) or CSV.
