Yahtzee Rules: How to Play and Score, With Examples

Yahtzee is a five-dice game played over 13 rounds. On each turn you roll up to three times, keeping the dice you like between rolls, then write a score in one of 13 boxes on your scorecard. Every box can be used only once, so the game is about choosing where each roll does the most good. Highest total after 13 rounds wins.

Below are the rules as Hasbro’s instructions set them out, followed by worked examples and the odds that help you decide what to keep.

What you need

• Five standard six-sided dice and a cup to shake them in.
• One Yahtzee score sheet per player (or a copy of the scorecard layout below on paper).
• A pencil. Any number of people can play, and the game works solo too.

Yahtzee was sold by the E. S. Lowe Company from 1956 and is now a Hasbro brand. Similar public-domain games go by names such as Yacht and Generala.

How a turn works

1. First roll. Roll all five dice.
2. Keep or reroll. Set aside any dice you want to keep and roll the rest. You may change your mind: a die kept after the first roll can be picked up and rolled again on the third.
3. Third roll (optional). Reroll any dice once more. You may stop after the first or second roll if you already like the result.
4. Score. Choose one empty box on your scorecard and enter the score the final dice earn there. If they fit no box you still need, you must enter a zero in a box of your choice.

To decide who starts, each player rolls all five dice and the highest total goes first; play then moves clockwise. The game ends when everyone has filled all 13 boxes.

The scorecard: upper section

The upper section has six boxes, one for each face from Aces (ones) to Sixes. You score the sum of only the dice showing that face. Rolling 4-4-4-2-6 and choosing Fours gives 12; choosing Sixes gives 6.

If your six upper boxes add up to 63 or more, you earn a 35-point bonus. Sixty-three is what you get with three of each face (3 + 6 + 9 + 12 + 15 + 18), so the target is “three of a kind in every upper box”. A fourth six in the Sixes box makes up for a shortfall elsewhere.

The scorecard: lower section

A roll can qualify for several boxes, and you pick one. 3-3-3-5-5 can go in 3 of a kind (19), Full House (25), Threes (9), Fives (10) or Chance (19). Small Straight can hold a Large Straight roll too, but you would only do that if Large Straight is already filled.

Yahtzee bonus and Joker rules

Rolling a second YAHTZEE is where the biggest scores come from. The rule depends on what is already in your YAHTZEE box:

• YAHTZEE box holds 50: you earn a 100-point Yahtzee bonus for each extra YAHTZEE, and you also score the roll in another box.
• YAHTZEE box holds 0: no bonus, but you still score the roll in another box.
• YAHTZEE box still empty: just score it there for 50.

Where the extra YAHTZEE goes follows the Joker rules. First, if the matching upper box is open (Fives for 5-5-5-5-5), you must score it there. When that box is already used, put it in any open lower box: 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind and Chance take the dice total, while Full House, Small Straight and Large Straight score their usual 25, 30 or 40 even though the dice do not form that pattern. If all lower boxes are full too, enter a zero in an open upper box.

Totalling up

At the end, add the upper boxes, add 35 if they reach 63, then add the lower boxes and any Yahtzee bonuses. The highest grand total wins. A perfect game, with 13 YAHTZEEs and every box at its maximum, scores 1,575; without any extra Yahtzees the ceiling is 375.

Worked turns

Turn 1: chasing a straight

First roll: 2-3-4-6-6. You keep 2-3-4-6 and reroll one die, hoping for a 5. It lands 1, giving 1-2-3-4-6: a Small Straight (1-2-3-4) for 30. A third roll is free value: keep 1-2-3-4 and reroll the 6, which needs a 5 (one chance in six) for a Large Straight, while the Small Straight stays in hand whatever happens. The die shows 5, and you score 40 in Large Straight.

Turn 2: a weak roll

Three rolls end at 1-1-3-4-6. Nothing fits well. Options: Aces for 2, Chance for 15, or a zero somewhere. Early in the game, 2 in Aces is often the least damaging choice, because Aces is worth at most 5 and missing it barely affects the 63 target (three 1s are only 3 points of it).

Turn 3: an extra Yahtzee

Your YAHTZEE box already holds 50, and Sixes holds 18. You roll 6-6-6-6-6. You earn the 100-point bonus. Sixes is used, so the Joker rule lets you place it in an open lower box; with Large Straight still empty you take 40 there. That one roll is worth 140 points.

A sample finished scorecard

Grand total: 71 + 35 + 208 = 314. Note how the four 6s and four 3s carried the upper section past 63 despite a weak Aces box.

Odds worth knowing

Five dice can land 7,776 ways (6 to the power of 5). Counting them gives the chance of each pattern on a single roll:

• YAHTZEE: 6 ways, about 0.08% (1 in 1,296).
• Large Straight: 240 ways, 3.09%.
• Full House: 300 ways, 3.86%.
• Small Straight or better: 1,200 ways, 15.43%.
• Three or more of a kind: 1,656 ways, 21.30%.

Rerolls change the picture a lot. A player who chases a YAHTZEE with all three rolls, keeping the most common face each time, ends up with one roughly 4.6% of the time. Tom Verhoeff’s work at TU Eindhoven computed the best possible solitaire play: it averages about 254.6 points per game.

Strategy tips

• Aim for the upper bonus early. Three of a kind in each upper box gets you to 63. A score below three of a face is fine for Aces and Twos, risky for Fives and Sixes.
• Keep Chance as a safety net. Using it on turn 2 for 14 points leaves you nowhere to dump a bad roll later.
• Use Aces or the YAHTZEE box for zeros late on. Zeroing Aces costs at most 5 points; zeroing YAHTZEE late is often right when it is still empty and few turns remain.
• Straights: keep runs, not pairs. With 2-3-4-4-5, set one 4 aside and roll it for a 1 or 6.
• Three or four of a kind: favour high faces. Four 2s score far less in 4 of a kind than four 6s, so put low sets in their upper box instead.

Common house rules

Families often tweak the rules. Popular variations include forced order (fill the boxes from top to bottom), Triple Yahtzee (three score columns played at once, with the second and third columns counting double and triple) and skipping the Joker rule. None is wrong; agree on them before the first roll.

Want another dice game with pure luck-and-nerve decisions? Farkle uses six dice and a push-your-luck rule. For other dice games and how the probabilities behind them work, see our dice games hub, which also covers sic bo, a three-dice game, and craps, which uses two.

Yahtzee rules FAQ

How many rolls do you get per turn in Yahtzee?

Up to three. You roll all five dice first, then may reroll any of them twice more, keeping whichever dice you like between rolls. You can also stop early.

Can you score a Yahtzee as a Full House?

Only under the Joker rules, which apply when you roll a YAHTZEE and that box is already filled. If the matching upper box is also taken, you may then score 25 in Full House.

What happens if you cannot score anything?

You must still fill a box, entering a zero. Most players choose Aces, Twos or an empty YAHTZEE box for that zero.

How is the 35-point bonus earned?

Score 63 or more across Aces to Sixes. That equals three of every face, so extra dice in high boxes can offset a short score in low ones.

What is the highest possible Yahtzee score?

1,575 points: every box at its maximum plus twelve 100-point Yahtzee bonuses. Without bonus Yahtzees the maximum is 375.