Yahtzee Rules: How to Play, Scoring Chart and Examples

Five ordinary six-sided dice, a score sheet for each player and a pencil. You can print a blank scorecard or fill one in on your phone. Any number of people can play, including one. A game takes about 20 to 40 minutes.

1. Roll all five dice.
2. Keep any dice you like and roll the rest again. Dice you kept can still be rolled on the next roll.
3. Roll a third time if you want. You never have to use all three rolls.
4. Score the dice in one empty box on your sheet. If nothing fits, you still fill a box, with a 0 if needed.

Every box is filled exactly once, so each player gets 13 turns. Choosing which box to use is the real skill of the game.

The sheet has two sections. In the upper section you count only the dice of one number. The lower section holds poker-style combinations.

At least three dice the same. Score the total of all five dice, not just the three: 4-4-4-2-6 scores 20.

At least four dice the same. Again you add up all five dice: 5-5-5-5-3 scores 23.

Three of one number and two of another, such as 3-3-3-6-6. Always 25 points, whatever the numbers.

Four numbers in a row: 1-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5 or 3-4-5-6. The fifth die can be anything. 30 points.

Five numbers in a row: 1-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6. 40 points.

All five dice the same. 50 points, and the reason everyone shouts.

Any roll at all. Score the total of all five dice. Handy for a roll that fits nowhere else.

Roll another Yahtzee after you've already scored 50 in the Yahtzee box and you get a 100-point bonus. You also score that roll in another box, using the Joker rule:

• First choice is the matching upper box: five 4s go in Fours for 20 points, if Fours is still empty.
• If that box is full, use any open lower box. Full house, small straight and large straight then count in full: 25, 30 or 40.
• If the lower section is full too, enter a 0 in an open upper box.

If you scored a 0 in the Yahtzee box earlier, later Yahtzees earn no bonus, but the Joker rule still applies.

Now choose. Four of a kind would score 25. Sixes scores 24, which is 6 more than the 18 you need there for the bonus. Early in the game Sixes is usually the better box: it puts you well on the way to the 35-point bonus and keeps Four of a kind open. Our strategy guide has more of these choices.