yahtzee rules
the rules of yahtzee-style dice games at a glance — how a turn works, scoring, the bonus and every category. the scorecard knows three rule sets: yahtzee, yatzy and generala. the yahtzee rules come first, the other two are further down.
at a glance
the game is played with five ordinary six-sided dice
each turn, a player may roll up to three times
in yahtzee; yatzy has 15, generala 11. each category can be filled in or scratched exactly once
how a turn works
roll all fivethe active player rolls all five dice
set dice asidekeep as many dice as you like and roll the others again
roll againafter the second roll you may set dice aside once more and roll a third time
enter the scoreafter the third roll at the latest, the result goes into a free category — or a category is scratched
upper section
only the matching dice count. for sixes, only the dice showing six are added up.
| category | points |
|---|---|
| ones | sum of all ones |
| twos | sum of all twos |
| threes | sum of all threes |
| fours | sum of all fours |
| fives | sum of all fives |
| sixes | sum of all sixes |
bonus: +35 points if the upper section adds up to at least 63 points, you get a bonus of 35 points on top.
lower section
| category | requirement | points | example |
|---|---|---|---|
| three of a kind | at least three dice alike | sum of all 5 dice | |
| four of a kind | at least four dice alike | sum of all 5 dice | |
| full house | three alike + two alike | 25 | |
| small straight | four numbers in a row | 30 | |
| large straight | five numbers in a row | 40 | |
| yahtzee | five dice alike | 50 | |
| chance | any combination | sum of all 5 dice |
scratching & end of the game
if a roll fits no sensible free category, you may scratch a category instead — it then counts as 0 points.
the game ends when all categories are filled in or scratched — in yahtzee that is 13. the highest total wins.
other rule sets
besides yahtzee, the scorecard knows two more rule sets; you pick one when starting a new game. everything above applies to all three — five dice, three rolls, each box exactly once — only the boxes and their values differ.
played mostly in scandinavia. the upper section is ones to sixes as here, but the bonus is 50 points from 63. the lower section has nine boxes instead of seven: one pair and two pairs are added, three and four of a kind count only the matching dice, the small straight is exactly 1-2-3-4-5 (15 points), the large straight exactly 2-3-4-5-6 (20 points), the full house scores the sum of all five dice, and a yatzy is worth 50.
two pairs
comes from spain and is at home in argentina and its neighbours. the upper section is ones to sixes without a bonus, the lower section has just five boxes: straight (20), full house (30), poker — four alike — (40), generala — five alike — (50) and the double generala, a second five of a kind, worth 100. a straight, full house, poker or generala rolled on the very first roll (“servida”) counts more: 25, 35, 45 and 60.
straight, servida 25
all three rule sets box by box, with every score, are on the scoring page. on the scorecard itself, the tooltip on every row says what the box requires and what it is worth.