Yahtzee Rules: How to Play, Scoring and Odds
Yahtzee is the best-known game you can play with five dice. Each turn you get three rolls to make a good combination, and then you must write a score in one of 13 boxes on your card. The trick is that every box can only be used once. Here are the rules, the scorecard, the real odds of rolling a Yahtzee and some simple strategy.
What You Need
- Five six-sided dice.
- A scorecard for each player (you can draw one on paper from the tables below).
- One or more players. Yahtzee works fine as a solo game too.
No dice? Set the Dice Roller to five dice, then roll only as many as you are rerolling.
How to Play
- Roll all five dice. On your turn you get up to three rolls.
- Keep what you like. After each roll, set aside any dice you want to keep and reroll the rest. You can also pick kept dice back up and reroll them.
- Score one box. After your last roll (or earlier, if you are happy), write a score in one empty box on your card. If your dice do not fit any open box, you must write a zero in one of them.
- Thirteen rounds. The game ends when everyone has filled all 13 boxes. Add up your card; the highest total wins.
The Scorecard: Upper Section
The upper section has one box for each number. You score the total of the dice that show that number, so three 4s in the Fours box score 12.
| Box | Score |
|---|---|
| Aces (ones) | Total of all 1s |
| Twos | Total of all 2s |
| Threes | Total of all 3s |
| Fours | Total of all 4s |
| Fives | Total of all 5s |
| Sixes | Total of all 6s |
| Bonus | 35 points if the six boxes add up to 63 or more |
The bonus is the key to the upper section. 63 is exactly what you get with three of each number (3 + 6 + 9 + 12 + 15 + 18), so think of three of a kind in every upper box as par. Four 6s can make up for a weak Aces box.
The Scorecard: Lower Section
| Box | You need | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Three of a kind | At least three dice the same | Total of all five dice |
| Four of a kind | At least four dice the same | Total of all five dice |
| Full house | Three of one number and two of another | 25 |
| Small straight | Four in a row (1-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5 or 3-4-5-6) | 30 |
| Large straight | Five in a row (1-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6) | 40 |
| Yahtzee | All five dice the same | 50 |
| Chance | Anything | Total of all five dice |
A roll can fit more than one box. Five 3s, for example, count as three of a kind, four of a kind and a Yahtzee. You choose where to put it.
Yahtzee Bonus and Joker Rules
If you roll another Yahtzee after already scoring 50 in the Yahtzee box, you get a bonus of 100 points. You also have to place that roll in a box, using the joker rules:
- If the matching upper box is still open (Fives for five 5s), you must use it.
- If it is filled, you can use the roll in any open lower box at full value. A joker counts as a full house or a straight here.
- If no lower box is open either, you must write a zero in an open upper box.
If you had written a zero in the Yahtzee box, later Yahtzees earn no bonus. With every Yahtzee bonus possible, the top score in the game is 1,575, but you will never see it in real play.
The Odds
We counted every possible roll of five dice. Here is how often each combination appears on the very first roll:
| On a single roll of five dice | Chance |
|---|---|
| Yahtzee (five of a kind) | 6 in 7,776, about 0.08% |
| Four of a kind or better | about 2% |
| Full house | about 3.9% |
| Large straight | about 3.1% |
| Small straight or better | about 15.4% |
| Three of a kind or better | about 21.3% |
Rerolls change everything. If you always keep the biggest group of matching dice and reroll the rest, you finish with a Yahtzee in about 4.6% of turns, roughly once every 22 turns. A full game has 13 turns, so a Yahtzee in a game is common, but not something to count on. For the maths behind these numbers, see our guide to dice probability.
Simple Strategy
- Chase the bonus early. Three or more 5s and 6s in the upper section make the 35-point bonus much easier.
- Keep the Chance box for emergencies. It takes any roll, so it saves a turn that went wrong.
- Know where to take a zero. If you must zero a box, Aces (worth at most 5) or Yahtzee late in the game hurt the least.
- Go for straights with the middle numbers. 3 and 4 appear in every straight, so keep them first.
- Do not chase the Yahtzee too long. Late in the game, a sure 25 for a full house is often better than a small chance of 50.
Computer studies have found the best possible play, and it averages about 254 points per game. A typical casual player scores well below that, so beating 200 is a good game.
Where Yahtzee Comes From
Yahtzee was put on the market in 1956 by the American game maker Edwin S. Lowe. The usual story is that a Canadian couple played the dice game on their yacht and asked Lowe to make sets for their friends, which explains the name. Milton Bradley bought Lowe's company in 1973, and the game now belongs to Hasbro.
The idea is older than the brand. Similar public-domain games include Yacht, Generala in Latin America and Kniffel in Germany, each with slightly different boxes and scores. Yahtzee is a trademark of Hasbro; this page explains the rules and is not affiliated with it.
Want a lighter dice game? Try Farkle, Pig or Ship, Captain and Crew. More quick games are in our list of easy dice games.
FAQ
How many rolls do you get in Yahtzee?
Up to three rolls per turn. After each roll you can keep any dice and reroll the rest.
What are the odds of rolling a Yahtzee?
On one roll of five dice it is 6 in 7,776, about 0.08%. If you keep matching dice and use all three rolls, it is about 4.6% per turn.
How do you get the upper section bonus?
Score 63 or more in the six upper boxes (Aces to Sixes). That is three of each number. The bonus is 35 points.
What happens if you get a second Yahtzee?
If your Yahtzee box already has 50, you get a 100-point bonus and use the roll as a joker in another box, following the joker rules.
Is a Yahtzee a full house?
Under the official joker rules, a bonus Yahtzee can be scored as a full house for 25 when its upper box is already filled. Many families also allow it in any case; agree before you play.
What is the highest possible Yahtzee score?
1,575, with a Yahtzee every turn and every bonus. Nobody gets close to that in a real game.