Yahtzee Rules

This is the most-asked question in Yahtzee and the most misunderstood rule. Ever since a typo in the original 1956 Yahtzee set omitted all mention of the situation, rolling more than one Yahtzee has confounded rollers for decades.

Rolling multiple Yahtzees invokes what is known as the Bonus Yahtzee Rule and grants the player a 100 point reward for each extra Yahtzee. The player then records a score according to the Joker Rules, which mandates taking it in the Upper Section if the given number remains unscored. Otherwise the player may use the dice as a wild card in the Lower Section.

This often leads to the second most-asked question:

It’s a major bummer but entirely possible to score a zero after rolling a second Yahtzee. When it is late in the game and there aren’t many open scoring categories left, a player can easily be forced into this bittersweet result. If all of the Lower Section boxes are already filled, for example, the player is required to take it Upstairs. If the number in which the Yahtzee was rolled has been scored there, the result is a zero. The 100 Bonus Points, however, are always awarded so a player in this situation will certainly not leave empty-handed.

Yahtzee relies on the concept of randomness. Dice, after all, are the world’s original random number generator. So luck will always form one of the game’s foundational pillars. But the important role that chance plays in Yahtzee can sometimes obscure its many other facets. Skill, karma, organization, and strategy are all equally-important fundamental Yahtzee concepts.

The PROVEN Yahtzee strategy is one the most successful systems for maximizing a player’s potential. Developed by legends of the Yahtzee Pro Circuit, Park Hee-Soo and Claude Jenkins, PROVEN is a set of principles that can help guide your game to another level:

Prioritize the Upper Section Bonus - The Upper Section’s 35-point bonus is the second most important objective in a game of Yahtzee, behind only the five-of-a-kind itself.

Remain Adaptive – Achieve success by remaining open to new possibilities.

Organize - A well-managed approach to Yahtzee will benefit players of all levels. Choose a strategy early and keep your head in the game at all times.

Value the Yahtzee – It’s the name of the game. Keep it open on your scorecard for as long as possible.

Embrace Eventualities - Ones and Chance are the safe havens of the Yahtzee scorecard. Use them wisely to keep your head above water.

Never Back Down - Take control of the dice and stand up for your Yahtzee rights.

An encounter with a tie game is inevitable for a long-term player. The official Yahtzee rules don’t address the subject so it remains the responsibility of the game host to develop a plan for dealing with ties. It will depend on each unique situation, but in most cases a tied game should pose no problem. This is particularly true in series play where the sum total of several games determines the outcome. In this case, a tie in a single match doesn’t matter and will stand as it was rolled. In a sudden-death tournament match, however, a tie will need to be broken.

You can break a tie in Yahtzee in a number of ways. The simplest method is for each player to roll a single die where the highest number wins. Or roll all five dice and use the highest Chance score to settle it. The most used tie-breaker in tournament play involves rolling up to three times in a single turn and using the best result as the determinant.

Under standard rules, the highest possible Yahtzee score is 1575 points. The player needs to roll 13 consecutive Yahtzees, many of which must be in a given number, earning hundreds of bonus points in the process. The Upper Section would be maxed out with five Yahtzees for 105 points before bonuses.

The lowest possible score is five points. In this scenario, the player would roll a zero in every category except for Chance where she scores five Ones. The odds of rolling either the maximum or minimum grand totals are exceedingly small.

To score a legal Full House, the player must roll three dice of one number and two dice of a different number. Five-of-a-Kind is a Yahtzee, not a Full House.

That depends on what your definition of good is. The centered player will find joy in even the lowest score. But statistically speaking, a capable player will score 250 points in roughly half of all games. High rollers who don’t have to score a zero for any category can land comfortably above 300. True high score aspirants can dream of rolling 500 points or more – it happens in less than 1% of all games.

Yahtzee’s inventor, E.S. Lowe, claimed that he got the idea for the game in the early 1950’s from a wealthy Canadian couple who played dice while sailing around the world on a yacht. So the name is a play on the type of boat upon which the game was created. But the couple have never been publicly identified and their absence remains a mystery to this day. This leads many to suspect that Lowe’s story was nothing more than a marketing gimmick, seeking to lure in customers with fantastic tales of board games from exotic locales like Canada.

Some experts doubt that Yahtzee was created either by Lowe or a random Canadian couple, but that it shares a common origin with the ancient dice game “Ya-Tsee”. This suggests a much more distant origin and gives rise to the possibility that 20th century gaming executives appropriated a sacred ancient ritual to amuse the middle class. Like the game itself, the etymology of Yahtzee is multilayered and aloof. Research into the matter is ongoing but we may never uncover the whole story.

Game designers have put a lot of thought and effort into creating the perfectly balanced masterpiece that is Yahtzee. But some players choose to spit the face of fair play and use dirty tricks to succeed. Is your opponent willing to break the rules? Come to the table prepared. Here are the top six ways to cheat at Yahtzee:

  Con Job: A player may hustle their way into a game posing as a know-nothing bumpkin to catch their opponents off guard. A simpleminded demeanor and friendly countenance can lull players into a false sense of security. In fact, the Yahtzee predator is preparing to pounce. The con artist uses this ruse to gain a psychological advantage before the first dice are ever rolled, resulting in a relaxed atmosphere where additional cheats stand a greater chance of success.

  What's That?: One of the most basic cheating methods is the time-tested attempt at getting your opponent to look away from the gaming table so you can tamper with the game state or equipment. This is typically deployed with a sudden exclamation to the effect of, "Holy cow, what's that behind you!?" While your opponent's back is turned, a cheater could alter the outcome of their roll or even swap in substitute dice to misalign their balance. While it may not seem reasonable that a seasoned player would resort to such childish behavior, a cheating mind is liable to plumb such depths in their desperation.

  Dice Manipulation: The ideal set of dice exist in a state of equilibrium where each face has a perfectly equal chance of coming up on any given roll. But outside of a casino or a professional Yahtzee tournament, such a high level of craftsmanship is rare. The standard Yahtzee set from the local toy store includes a lower quality dice where the balance is not exact. This surely works against the notion of random number generation but its effects tend to equal out as all players use the same dice for every turn.

A cheater who is skilled in the art of distraction is able to insert and remove crooked dice from play at will. This so-called “dice mechanic” can slip in a loaded die to guarantee the six they need for their next Yahtzee but then extract it before the next player rolls. Techniques such as the “Mouth Switch”, where a player uses a pretend cough or sneeze to mask a die swap, or the “Casino Thumb Palm Dice Switch”, an adept illustration of sleight of hand, have been perfected by craps players in casinos worldwide. These routines, therefore, are at the ready for a would-be Yahtzee fraudster.

  Fake Roll: The fake roll is a discreet illusion, carefully play-acted by the roller to portray the appearance of randomized dice while they remain in a fixed position of their predetermined choosing. These types of trick rolls are often described by their perpetrators as “honest cheating”, in the sense that they require a high level of skill to pull off. But to even associate these techniques with the concept of honesty only accentuates the depths of their depravity.

Rhythm rolling is a popular concept amongst Yahtzee cheaters, but its reliability remains highly dubious. The technique involves the player taking advantage of precise, repeatable movements to control the movement of the rolled dice. In such a setup, the player ensures that the dice remain in a particular formation, whether in the hand or cup. Followed by a well-trained rolling movement, the idea is to exert absolute control over the dice’s trajectory and alignment to reliably convert the desired face.

Due to the lure of financial windfall that accompanies the perfection of dice manipulation, a booming cottage industry has sprouted up around educating the next generation of dice cheaters. Millions of dollars are made teaching the skills but the results are questionable. The success of a fake roller is oftentimes only in their own heads.

  Extra Roll: It is not uncommon for a Yahtzee player’s focus to drift during an opponent’s turn. Perhaps they begin to add up their score, plan their strategy for their remaining rolls, or chat with the other players. Not only is this poor etiquette, it opens the door for a cheater to exploit their distraction. If their counterparts’ attention is wandering, a dishonest player can attempt to roll the dice for a fourth time during a single turn. More often than not, the subterfuge will pass unnoticed.

This tactic becomes even more likely to succeed if the players are under the influence of alcohol or other mind-altering substances, a common occurrence in casual games. If questioned, a drunken “Hey that was only my second roll, right?” can provide cover as an innocent mistake, or serve to legitimize the illicit fourth roll.

  Math is Hard: Using creative addition to tally one's final score is one of the simplest ways to cheat at Yahtzee. Players who do not relish the task of calculating their total scores at the end of the game are typically not willing to do even more math to check an opponent’s tally. This lack of oversight leaves a wide latitude for Yahtzee cheaters to doctor their official scorecard. A player may choose to score Large Straights as 45 points, for example, as a way to pad his total. But if they truly believe no one is watching, the cheating may be even more egregious.

The most common method of unintentional Yahtzee cheating is bad math. So the scorecards of even well-intentioned and trusted players should be scrutinized for accuracy. Coincidentally, Yahtzee is a great way to teach math to children (or adults).

There have numerous works of literature about Yahtzee, going back hundreds of years. Some researchers believe that passages in the I-Ching reference an early version of the game. Yahtzee has been featured in novels, instructional guides, strategy books, technical manuals, poems, comic books, and other forms of print media. Here’s one of our favorite haikus:

dice cacophony
anticipation rattles
sowing a yahtzee

But you’re probably thinking about Yahtzee experts Rick McCallister and Louise Proctor. In collaboration with the World Yahtzee Institute Press, the duo published The Yahtzee Manifesto in 2011 to raise Yahtzee awareness in a changing 21st century world. The book covers the Yahtzee basics, including strategy, tips, and higher concepts. Rick, Louise, and the entire team at the WYI remain committed to providing you with only the finest Yahtzee propaganda.

In Yahtzee, a player does not have to roll the dice three times. While they can roll the dice up to three times, they can choose to end their turn after one or two rolls if they are satisfied with the dice they have.

A game of Yahtzee requires five dice.

Start with the Yahtzee rules and score card - these contain everything you need to know. Then check out The Yahtzee Manifesto for a more in-depth analysis of the game.

Yahtzee was first released in 1956 and thrives today in a digital world - it shows no signs of slowing down. But a game of Yahtzee ends after each player has completed their 13th and final round. Then it's time to tally the final scores and declare a winner.

No, it is not possible to get an extra roll or turn in standard Yahtzee. There are some possible exceptions, such as to break a tie or re-rolling a die that has rolled off the playing surface. Score all subsequent Yahtzees under the Yahtzee Bonus Rules.

Yahtzee is produced by Hasbro, one of the largest toy and game companies in the world. It was originally released in 1956 by the E.S. Lowe Company and sold to Milton Bradley in 1973 which then became a part of Hasbro in 1984.