How to Play Yahtzee Rules 

Our How to Play Yahtzee provides a summary of the key rules and instructions to get your card game started quickly.

Yahtzee Winning Strategy

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Players: 2 to 10 | Game duration from: 30 mins | Game Complexity: EASY How to play Yahtzee rules in simple steps Yahtzee rules pdf / rulebook

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What is the goal?

The goal of Yahtzee is to obtain the highest score from throwing 5 dice. Players take turns to throw dice and score based on different dice combinations thrown.

Yahtzee Setup

Each player takes a Yahtzee Score Sheet and rolls 5 dice. Player with highest total starts the game.

Step by Step Gameplay and Rules

On your turn, roll the 5 dice

Roll dice. You can roll up to 3 times to form a scoring combination. On each roll, decide on which dice to set aside to score and which to re-roll.

First Roll of Dice

Set aside any dice you wish to keep and continue rolling. You may also stop and score your current combination of dice.

2nd Roll of Dice

Re-roll any dice or ALL of the dice (if you decided not to keep any in the first roll or changed your mind). After rolling, you may stop and score or set aside any dice you wish to keep and roll again.

3rd Roll of Dice

Re-roll any dice or ALL of the dice. This is the final roll and you must now score by filling the boxes on your Yahtzee Score sheet.

Scoring your Yahtzee Scoresheet

Score your 5 dice combination of 5 dice by filling the Yahtzee Score sheet. 
Yahtzee score sheet table has 2 sections, the Upper section and the Lower section. Once a box has been scored, it cannot be scored again for the remainder of the game (except the Yahtzee category) so choose wisely.

Yahtzee Scorecard

Scoring Upper section of Yahtzee Score Table

When scoring Upper Section, the score is the total of the specified die face:
For example, If you roll 5 – 2 – 5 – 6 – 5 and score in the Fives category, the total is 15 as you add only 3 5s. If the One, Three or Four categories were scored, you score a 0. If placed in the Two or Six category, you would score 2 and 6 respectively. If the total of Upper scores is 63 or more, add a bonus of 35.

Scoring Lower Section of Yahtzee Score Table

You score either a set amount, or zero if you don’t satisfy the category requirements. Lower section comprises the following categories: 3 of a Kind, 4 of a Kind, Full House, Small Straight, Large Straight, Yahtzee and Chance.

3 of a kind yahtzee

Scoring 3 of a Kind or 4 of a Kind

For 3 of a kind, you must have at least 3 of the same die faces and then you will score the total of all the dice. For 4 of a kind, you would need the same 4 dice faces

Scoring a full house in Yahtzee

Scoring Full House

You have 3 of a kind and 2 of a kind. Full house’s score 25 points.

Scoring a Yahtzee

Scoring a Yahtzee

A Yahtzee is 5 of a kind and it scores 50 points. If you have scored 50 (not a zero) in the Yahtzee box, additional Yahtzees rolled give you bonus 100 points. Check the bonus box to tally your bonuses. You must also score the additional roll in any unscored Upper Section category. If the Upper Section category is scored, you can use the Yahtzee rolled as a JOKER and score any unscored Lower Section category.

Scoring a Chance

You can roll anything and be able to put it in the Chance category. You score the total of the die faces

YAHTZEE BONUS

If you roll a YAHTZEE and have already filled in the YAHTZEE box with a 50, you get a 100-point bonus! Take one bonus chip, then [lace a check mark (/) in the YAHTZEE BONUS box on your score card.

Then fill in one of the 13 boxes on your score card according to the JOKER RULES, described below.

As long as you’ve scored 50 in the YAHTZEE box, you get a YAHTZEE bonus for each additional YAHTZEE you roll – just squeeze in the check marks if necessary!

If you roll a YAHTZEE and have already entered zero in the YAHTZEE box, you do not earn a YAHTZEE bonus; however, you must fill in one of the 13 boxes on your score card according to the JOKER RULES below.

JOKER RULES

Score the total of all 5 dice in the appropriate Upper Section box. If this box has already been filled in, score as below in any open Lower Section box:

3 of a Kind: Total of all 5 dice
4 of a Kind: Total of all 5 dice
Full House: 25 points
Small Straight: 30 points
Large Straight: 40 points
Chance: Total of all 5 dice

If the appropriate Upper Section box and all Lower Section boxes are filled in, you must enter a zero in any open Upper Section box.

For example, you roll 5 Fours. You’ve already entered zero in the YAHTZEE box, and have also scored in the Fours box in the Upper Section. The Joker rules allow you to score in any open box in the Lower Section. You decide to score 40 points in the Large Straight box.

How do you win?

After all 13 columns have been filled for each player the game ends. Now, each player totals their score in the following way

Upper Section

Add up the Upper Section scores and enter the total in the TOTAL SCORE box.|
Enter the 35-point bonus in the BONUS box if you scored 63 points or more.
Then enter the total in the TOTAL box.

Lower Section

Add up the Lower Section scores, and enter the total in the TOTAL of Lower Section box. Add 100 points for each check mark in the YAHTZEE BONUS boxes (that is, one check mark for each bonus chip).

Grand Total

Add the Upper Section and Lower Section scores, and enter the total in this box. This is your score for the game.

Winning

After the scores are tallied, the player with the highest Grand Total wins the game!

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