Everything you need to learn how to play the Yahtzee dice game including rules, instructions, strategies, and printable score cards.

How to Play Yahtzee | Rules, Instructions, and Strategies

What is Yahtzee

Yahtzee is a multi-player dice game that requires a mix of luck and skill as players take turns rolling five dice over thirteen rounds in an effort to maximize the points on their scorecards.

Object of Yahtzee

To outscore your opponents by forming the best scoring dice combination on the scorecard over thirteen rounds.

Age

8+ up is the official age recommendation, but it’s fine for younger ages as long as they have a basic math skills (addition is most important).

Equipment / Setup

You can purchase the full Yahtzee game here that includes 5 dice, a shaker, and score sheets, but all you really need are:

Skills

  • Math (Addition, Multiplication, Probability)
  • Decision Making / Critical Thinking

How to Play Yahtzee in 8 Simple Steps

1. Gather 2-4 players

While the official rules of Yahtzee state that it’s for one or more players, Yahtzee is best suited for 2-4 players. With one player, you’re only competing against your own best score; playing with more than four players makes for slow game play as you wait for your turn.

2. Get 5 dice and Yahtzee scorecards

Yahtzee is played with 5 dice, and the tracking of specific rolls and points will require a Yahtzee score card, so each player will need their own score sheet.

3. Determine who goes first through a roll off

To determine who goes first, have each player roll the set of five dice and count their total dots. The player with the highest total goes first, and play will continue clockwise from there.

4. Play a turn with up to 3 rolls to improve your hand

During each turn, players are allowed up to 3 rolls to improve their hand to complete the best score on their scorecard. The second and third rolls are optional. Rolls are as follows:

  • 1st roll: The player rolls all 5 dice. If they are happy with the turn, then can score it right away, OR they can choose to reroll ANY or ALL dice to improve their hand.
  • 2nd roll: If the player chooses to improve their hand, they can reroll the entire hand OR set aside “keeper” dice that don’t get re-rolled. Then they roll the remaining dice to improve their hand. If they’re happy with it, they can score it right away, OR they can choose to do a third roll to improve.
  • 3rd roll: If the player decides to play a third roll, they can again choose to set aside keeper dice. The player can reroll ANY or all dice, meaning dice played as keepers in the 2nd can also be rerolled. Once the player sets aside the keepers, they reroll the remaining dice. This 3rd and final roll must be scored for the turn of round.

Sample rolls:

  • 1st roll: 2, 2, 3, 5, 1. The player opts not to score the roll as-is and instead to improve it with a 2nd roll.
  • 2nd roll: The player “keeps” 2, 2 and rerolls the remaining dice, which turn up 6, 6, 4. The new hand is now 2, 2, 6, 6, 4. The player opts not to score the roll and instead to improve it with a 3rd roll.
  • 3rd roll: The player decides to keep 6, 6, and reroll the other three dice (even though they had kept the 2, 2 in the previous round), which turns up 6, 1, 3. So the final hand is: 6, 6, 6, 3, 1.

5. Choose which score to play on the scorecard

At the end of a player’s turn, they must choose one of the 13 scoring [spots] for their roll. Each [spot] can only be played once during a game, so choose wisely!

The scorecard is divided into 2 sections: Upper Section Combination and Lower Section Combination.

Upper Section

The upper section scoring focuses on dice of the same number, with the player totaling all dice with that number for their score (and no other dice). For example, if you roll: 5, 5, 4, 6, 3, the score for the “fives” category is ten (5 x 2) and none of the other dice count towards the roll. See the scoring section below for more details.

The upper section also has a possible bonus of 35 points if you score more than 63 in the number categories.

Lower Section

The lower section focuses on special groupings of dice. Pay attention to the scorecard, as some of the categories score all dice thrown (such as: three of a kind, four of a kind, full house, and chance), while others have fixed values (small straight, large straight, and Yahtzee). See the scoring section for more details, as well as how to score additional Yahtzee rolls for the Yahtzee bonus (and the rest of the board per the “Joker Rule.”

6. Continue play clockwise to complete the round

Once the first player completes their turn, play continues clockwise to the other players. Once all players have played, the first round is complete.

7. Continue for 13 rounds

Play will continue for 13 rounds in the same order for each round. Players may only score in categories that haven’t already been played in, so the number of options reduced each round. Play ends when all players have played and scored all 13 of their turns.

8. Add up the scorecards and the highest score wins

After all players have played and scored all thirteen of their turns, the game is over. Add up the points per the scoresheet instructions and the player with the highest point total wins.

Yahtzee Scoring

Here are detailed descriptions and examples on how to fill out your score card.

Upper section

In the upper section, you’ll only be counting the dice that match the scoring category number.

Aces: Count and add all ones. For example, a roll of: 1, 1, 3, 6, 5 has a score of 2 (1+1).

Twos: Count and add all twos. For example, a roll of: 2, 2, 2, 4, 5 has a score of 6 (2+2+2).

Threes: Count and add all threes. For example, a roll of: 3, 3, 5, 6, 4 has a score of 6 (3 + 3).

Fours: Count and add all fours. For example, a roll of: 4, 4, 4, 4, 3 has a score of 16 (4+4+4+4).

Fives: Count and add all fives. For example, a roll of: 5, 5, 5, 3, 4 has a score of 15 (5+5+5).

Sixes: Count and add all sixes. For example, a roll of: 6, 6, 6, 3, 2 has a score of 18 (6+6+6).

Total Score: At the end of the game, this is where you total your Aces thru Sixes categories. The naming would probably be more clear if it was titled “Subtotal – Upper Section.”

Bonus: If you score 63 or higher in aces-sixes, you get a bonus of 35 points. Note: 63 equals rolling exactly 3 of each of the numbers per category categories, so if you get three or more of each, on average, you’ll earn the bonus.

Total of Upper Section: Add your individual number scores plus the bonus, if applicable.

Lower section

3 of a kind: A three of a kind is any three of the same number. And you add up all dice, not just the three of a kind. For example, a 3, 3, 3, 6, 4 would score a 19 (not 9).

4 of a kind: A four of a kind is any four of the same number. And you add up all dice, not just the four of a kind. For example, a 1, 1, 1, 1, 6 would score a 10 (not a 4).

Full House: A full house is the combination of a three of a kind AND a pair and scores a fixed value of 25 points. For example: 5, 5, 5, 3, 3 is a full house and scores 25 points (not 21 because the value of the dice does not matter). Note: The three of a kind and the pair must be different numbers (i.e. a five of a kind like 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, can not be a full house even though it can be broken up into a group of 3 and a group of 2).

Small Straight: A small straight is a four sequential numbers (e.g. 2, 3, 4, 5) and scores a fixed value of 30 points. Note: the sequence cannot wrap, such as 4, 5, 6, 1.

Large Straight: A large straight is a sequence of 5 numbers (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, OR 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and scores a fixed value of 40 points. Note: the sequence cannot wrap, such as 4, 5, 6, 1, 2.

Yahtzee: A Yahtzee is a five of a kind of any number (e.g. 1, 1, 1, 1, 1; 2, 2, 2, 2, 2; etc) and scores 50 points in the Yahtzee category.

Chance: A chance is a wild card category where you can score any hand and count the point total for the score. For example, a 5, 5, 5, 3, 2 would score 20 points (5+5+5+3+2).

Yahtzee bonus: This is not a playable scoring spot. It is only used to score bonus points when additional Yahtzees are rolled. If the Yahtzee category is already marked 50, a bonus 100 points is awarded and the player also scores it in one of the unplayed scoring categories, per the “Joker Rule.”

Total of Lower Section: Add up all of the lower section points.

Total of Upper Section: Copy the score from the “total of upper section” you calculated above.

Grand Total: Your total points.

Yahzee Video Tutorial

Yahtzee Frequently Asked Questions

Yahtzee Scoring FAQs

A Yahtzee is a 5-of-a-kind, where all five dice are the same number (e.g. Five ones, five twos, five threes, five fours, five fives, or five sixes) and scores 50 points in the “Yahtzee” scoring category (and 100 bonus points each time after the 50 points is scored).

A full house in Yahtzee is a 3 of a kind (all three numbers match) AND a pair of another number and scores a fixed value of 25 points. Some examples of a full house are:

  • 5, 5, 5, 2, 2
  • 4, 4, 4, 3, 3
  • Etc

Generally, scoring of the Yahtzee game is dictated by the instructions on the scorecard. A “Yahtzee” is also a scoring category within the game when a player rolls 5 of a kind of any number (e.g. 3, 3, 3, 3, 3) in a turn, and is worth 50 points in the “Yahtzee” category on the scoresheet. Each additional Yahtzee after the initial scored Yahtzee (can’t be marked zero in the box already) is scored a bonus of 100, and then one of the remaining 13 scoring slots is scored per the joker rules.

The first time a user rolls a Yatzee and plays it in the “Yahtzee” category, it is worth 50 points. For each additional Yahtzee rolled, the player earns a 100 point bonus, and also marks a score in an unused scoring slot, per the “joker rules.”

The single most confusing rule of Yahtzee is how to score additional, bonus “Yahtzees” (five of a kind). This is because there are three common variations of how to score it.

For all three of the Joker rule variations below, the Yahtzee bonus and joker rule are both only activated if the player already has scored a 50 from rolling a previous Yahtzee in the Yahtzee category (they can’t have filled it out with a ZERO). Assuming that is true, a bonus score of 100 is earned AND the player must also play the roll in one of the remaining open scoring spots (there are 13 total scoring spots) per one of the following Joker Rules:

Forced Joker Rule (official)

In this official version (since 1962), the player who rolls an additional Yahtzee after scoring 50 points with a previous Yahtzee:

1. First plays in the “appropriate” upper section scoring slot if it’s available. For example, if they roll: 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 and the “twos” category is open, they MUST play the Yahtzee there and take the appropriate score of 10 (2 x5).

2. If the “appropriate” upper section slot is taken, they MUST play in any of the open lower section categories and will play the total points for the 3 of a kind, 4 of kind, and chance; they will be able to play the hand as a “joker” and earn the points for small straight (30) and large straight (40), even though they wouldn’t otherwise qualify for those.

3. If there are no lower section slots, then the player MUST score a ZERO in one of the remaining upper section categories.

NOTE: Unless you’ve agreed to play a different rule before, you should play by the forced joker rule. It is the default rule, since it’s the official rule as put out by Hasbro since 1961.

Free Choice Joker Rule (simple alternative)

Some people find the official Hasbro joker rule too restrictive and complicated and opt for the simpler “free choice” joker rule. Under this variation, the player who rolls an additional Yahtzee after scoring 50 points with a previous Yahtzee:

Can play in any open spot they want, but:

1: To activate the “joker,” the “appropriate” upper section must already be filled in from a previous roll.
The player can play in any other open slot in either the upper or lower section. In the lower section, the joker allows the player to earn the points of a small straight (30), large straight (40), or full house (25)

2: If the “appropriate spot” is empty, they can play it in any spot, including the “appropriate spot,” but only earn the points per the normal rules (no joker).

Original Joker Rule (retired since 1961)

The original version of the game, from 1956 to 1960, only allowed the joker to be played in the lower section, but has been retired since then.

A large straight in Yahtzee has all five dice in sequential order (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) .

The theoretical highest score in Yahtzee is 1575 (which, oddly the Hasbro forums gets wrong) and is achieved by rolling a Yahtzee (5 of a kind) on all thirteen rolls, with:
at least 4 of those rolls being 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 (to earn the max points in the sixes, three of a kind, four of a kind, and Chance categories),
at least 5 of the rolls with one Yahtzee of each of the other numbers (one, two, three, four, five).

That leaves only 4 rolls that can be flexible duplicates of the above to fill the set point categories (any roll for the first Yahtzee rolled, then a “joker” for the: small straight, large straight, and full house).

The odds of rolling the perfect game are essentially zero, as the odds of rolling a Yahtzee is roughly 1/21 according to ThoughtCo. So the odds of rolling that 13 in a row is (1/21)^13, which = 1 in 154,472,377,739,119,000 (I didn’t know what came after “trillion and had to look up that you’d call this number 154 quadrillion). And the odds of rolling the specific mix of Yahtzee’s above is at least 4 of them all 6s and 5 must be as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 sets, the odds are even lower and not worth calculating!

For online play, the highest scores in Yahtzee have been reported in the 875-932 range (Hasbro forums, Free the Dice scoreboard). However, record setting online players usually restart their game if they don’t roll a Yahtzee on the first roll, so those numbers are hard to achieve in real world play.

For human play, it’s interesting to look at the self reported high scores from The Yahtzee Page of 1000 players over a four year period. The highest reported Yahtzee self-reported Yahtzee score was 997, but it’s not verified. More interesting is to look at the range of reported high scores. A lot of people reported high scores in the 600-750 range, so that looks achievable in the real world. If you’re above that, you’re rocking it!

Personally, my highest score is 609 and I’ve played about 50 games.

A good Yahtzee score is around 250. Regular Yahtzee players are generally happy with a score at or above that range for individual games. This is both based on experience, as well as the fact that in a computer-modeled series of games that were optimized to play the best possible strategy, the average optimized Yahtzee score is 254. In fact, if you’re scoring around that as your average, you’re doing as well as you could possibly expect to do! Individual high scoring games will, of course, go above that frequently. Here are some other benchmarks:

  • 250 is roughly the average score of a perfectly optimized game. Staying close to that as an average is amazing!
  • 300 is a good score in an individual game off Yahtzee, but not off the charts.
  • 400 is a pretty good score in Yahtzee.
  • 500 is an great score in Yahtzee and doesn’t happen very often.
  • 600-750 in Yahtzee is an exceptional score in Yahtzee, but is achievable in the real world.

A 300 is a good score in Yahzee and requires some luck! The average Yahtzee score, when playing all the best strategies, will be just over 250.

500 is a great score and requires a substantially amount of luck. The average Yahtzee score, when playing all the best strategies, will be just over 250.

If you’re playing a normal game with humans, anything in the 600-750 range is a pretty amazing score. If you look at The Yahtzee Page, most people’s reported high scores were in that range.

For online play where users often restart the game if they don’t roll a Yahtzee on the first roll, such as on FreeTheDice, the top 3 scores are 932, 851, and 847. So don’t expect to see that in normal play.

Yahtzee Strategy FAQs

Some people assume that Yahtzee is all about luck and the winner is the one with the luckiest rolls. But Yahtzee also involves a lot of skill. For example, there is skill of which dice you choose as keepers vs rerolls, which scoring categories you’re rolling for, and which scoring categories you ultimately choose to play. All of these impact your odds of winning.

In this forum post, a user posts the optimal strategy for different opening rolls. It’s hard to remember all of that, so my general take away from using the analyzer on my own play is:

1- Roll aggressively for Yahtzee’s early on, especially with higher numbers.

For example, if I rolled a 6, 6, 3, 3, 2, I’d opt to keep the pair of sixes rather than go for a full house. I have a long shot on an Yahtzee over the next two rolls, but also plenty of other great rolls (sixes if I roll 3 or more, chance, etc).

2- Prioritize the upper sections 4, 5, and 6 to get the upper section bonus

The upper section bonus of 35 is earned when you roll a 63 or higher. That 63 number isn’t picked randomly; it’s rolling exactly three of each of the numbered categories. Your best way to hit 63 is to roll more than three of the sixes, fives, or fours since that will count more towards the total.

3- Roll lower section bonuses as they come

Early in the game, if you roll a large straight, take it on any roll. If you roll a small straight, you should keep a pair if you have them. If not, then just probably keep the highest number and reroll the rest. The exception would be an open ended straight (2, 3, 4, 5) in which case you should keep it.

4- Don’t be afraid to “kill” a category with a low score, especially later in the game.

The Aces spot has a maximum score of 6 (which you would normally play as a Yahtzee, so really 5 max points), so it isn’t very valuable to your total score or towards the upper section bonus. Later in the game, killing the Yahtzee category or the four of a kind category is acceptable too.

5- Keep an eye out for open ended straights

Open ended straights (can get a straight with the high or low number) with 4 numbers (2, 3, 4, 5) give you a great shot at a large straight. Even just 3 numbers (2, 3, 4 or 3, 4, 5) on the first roll should be considered.

One of the best ways to improve at Yahtzee is to try playing the optimal Yahtzee analyzer which will analyze each of your rolls to tell you if you played the best strategy for each roll.

When running the analyzer, keep an eye on the OSYP column (Optimal Solitaire Yahtzee Player). And also check out this post outlining the optimal moves are for each opening roll.

Don’t want to play it yourself or want to better understand it? Then watch YouTuber STABGUY play these 3 hands:

Optimal Yahtzee, Typical Game

Early Yahtzee Aggressive Play

Scoring the Tough Hands

Good luck with that! The odds of rolling a Yahtzee on any roll is roughly 1/21 according to ThoughtCo’s calculation. So the odds of rolling a Yahtzee 13 times in a row to get a perfect score is (1/21)^13, which is a 1 in 154,472,377,739,119,000 chance of happening. LOL. The only way you’re rolling a Yahtzee every time is by cheating. ;)

But you should check our other Yahtzee strategy answers above to get better!

About Yahtzee FAQs

Yahtzee is a group dice where players get three turns to improve their roll of five dice to form the best hand and score points. The player who scores the most points on their score card after 13 rounds of play is the winner.

Yahtzee was created by an anonymous Canadian couple in the 1950s. The couple originally called it the “Yacht Game” because they like to play it on their boat. Yahtzee was first marketed under the “Yahtzee” name in 1956.

Yahtzee is a dice game whose name is a made up word derived from the word “yacht.” It is believed that when the game inventors sold the game to a larger company, the name was changed to “Yahtzee.”

Yahtzee is both the name of the game, as well as the name of a specific roll within the game (five of a kind of any number) that scores 50 points the first time and a bonus 100 points each additional time.

Yahtzee’s unusual spelling is derived from the word “yacht.” It is believed that when the game inventors sold the game, the purchasing company modified the spelling from “yacht” to “yahtzee” by removing the “c” and adding the “zee.”

It appears Yahtzee with Buddies is the officially licensed version, but you have to download the app. There are many other versions of Yahtzee that down’t require an app, such as CardGames.io and Solitaired,

Additionally, the Optimal Yahtzee Analyzer is a cool way to improve your game play by reviewing see a statistical analysis of your play vs the optimal play.