Children's Game · Comic Book / Strip

Yahtzee

Yahtzee is a classic dice game played with 5 dice. Each player's turn consists of rolling the dice up to 3 times in hope of making 1 of 13 categories. Examples of categories are 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, straight, full house, etc. Each player tries to fill in a score for each category, but this is not always possible. When all players have entered a score or a zero for all 13 categories, the game ends and total scores are compared.

2–10 players30 minages 6light difficulty

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About the game

What is Yahtzee

The traditional (public domain) game Yacht predates the trademarked game, and has slightly different scoring.

There are four basic scoring difference between the tradition game Yacht and Yahtzee. They are: 1) Yacht has no Three of a Kind category, 2) there are no bonuses in Yacht, 3) there are no Joker rules in Yacht, and 4) the Full House category is scored as the sum of the dice. The other scoring rules are identical between the two games.

Travel versions of the game use a device that keeps the dice captured within compartments of a plastic box and allows players to "lock" a particular die between rolls.

Specs

Game details

Players: 2–10
Age: +6
Duration: 30 min
Difficulty: Light
Type: Board game
Year: 1956
Mechanics: Dice Rolling · Paper-and-Pencil · Push Your Luck
Categories: Children's Game · Comic Book / Strip · Dice
Designer: Edwin S. Lowe
Publisher: Milton Bradley · Ravensburger · Piatnik · Peri Spiele

What is a full house in Yahtzee?

A full house is three dice showing one number plus two dice showing a different number, such as three 4s and two 6s. It is worth a flat 25 points, no matter which numbers make it up.

The two numbers have to be different: five dice of the same number is a Yahtzee, not a full house. And because the 25 points are fixed, a full house built from ones scores exactly the same as one built from sixes, so there is nothing to gain by rerolling for higher dice once the combination is there.

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