Yahtzee is a dice game made by Milton Bradley (a company that has since been acquired and assimilated by Hasbro). It was first marketed under the name of Yahtzee by game entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. The game is a development of earlier dice games such as Poker Dice, Yacht and Generala. It is also similar to Yatzy, which is popular in Scandinavia.

The objective of the game is to score points by rolling five dice to make certain combinations. The dice can be rolled up to three times in a turn to try to make various scoring combinations and dice must remain in the box. A game consists of thirteen rounds. After each round, the player chooses which scoring category is to be used for that round. Once a category has been used in the game, it cannot be used again. The scoring categories have varying point values, some of which are fixed values and others for which the score depends on the value of the dice. A Yahtzee is five-of-a-kind and scores 50 points, the highest of any category. The winner is the player who scores the most points.

Yahtzee was marketed by the E.S. Lowe Company from 1956 until 1973. In 1973, the Milton Bradley Company purchased the E.S. Lowe Company and assumed the rights to produce and sell Yahtzee. During Lowe's ownership, over 40 million Yahtzee games were sold worldwide. According to the current owner, Hasbro, as of 2007, 50 million Yahtzee games are sold each year. Wood

According to Hasbro, the game was invented by an anonymous Canadian couple, who called it The Yacht Game because they played it on their yacht with their friends. Later they asked Lowe if he would make up some sets to be given as gifts to their friends who enjoyed the game. Lowe perceived the possibility of marketing the game, and acquired the rights to the game from the couple in exchange for 1,000 gift sets. This story is expanded by Lowe in the 1973 book A Toy is Born by Marvin Kaye. According to Lowe, the game did not initially do well commercially, since the rules and appeal were not easily conveyed in an advertisement. Eventually, he had the idea of organizing Yahtzee parties at which people could play the game and thereby gain a first-hand appreciation of it. The idea was successful, and enthusiasts quickly popularized the game through word of mouth.

The E.S. Lowe Company sold Yahtzee from 1956 to 1973. During Lowe's ownership, a number of changes were made to the game's packaging, contents, and appearance. Between 1956 and 1961, the game's advertising slogan was changed from "The Game That Makes You Think While Having Fun" to "The Fun Game That Makes Thinking Fun!"

The game and its contents were copyrighted by Lowe in 1956, 1961, 1967, and 1972. In 1973, Milton Bradley purchased the E.S. Lowe Company and assumed the rights to produce and sell Yahtzee. During Lowe's ownership over 40 million Yahtzee games were sold in America and around the globe. The game has maintained its popularity. According to current owner Hasbro, as of 2007, 50 million Yahtzee games are sold each year.

The Yahtzee scorecard contains 13 different category boxes. After completing each round, a player must enter a score in one of these category boxes. The score entered in the box depends on how well the five dice match the scoring rule for the category. Once a score has been entered for a category, that category may not be used again by that player in that game. The game is completed after 13 rounds by each player, with each of the 13 boxes filled. The total score is calculated by summing all thirteen boxes, together with any bonuses.

The 375 is achieved by scoring five ones (5), five twos (10), five threes (15), five fours (20), five fives (25), five sixes (30), the Upper Section bonus (35), five sixes scored as Three of a Kind (30), five sixes scored as a Four of a Kind (30), the Full House (25), the Small Straight (30), the Large Straight (40), Yahtzee (50), and five sixes scored as Chance (30). The score of 1,575 requires using the "Joker" rules for the Full House, Small Straight, and Large Straight categories. The highest possible score without using the "Joker" rules for the Full House, Small Straight, and Large Straight categories is 1,480. The highest possible score naturally rolling all the appropriate combinations is 1,275 and involves throwing 10 Yahtzees, a Full House, a Small Straight, and a Large Straight, scoring 9 Yahtzee bonuses of 100 points each.

The highest possible score without a Yahtzee bonus is 351, which is achieved with scoring a five-of-a-kind as a Yahtzee (50), 84 in the Upper Section (four-of-a-kind in each category), and 29 in each of Three of a Kind, Four of a Kind, and Chance. The highest possible score without rolling a five-of-a-kind is 301.

Minimum score

The lowest possible score is 5, which is achieved by scoring five ones (5) as Chance and scoring 0 points in every other category. The lowest possible score without rolling a five-of-a-kind is 6.

The lowest possible score without scoring a 0 in any category is 184, which is achieved with scoring the Full House (25), the Small Straight (30), the Large Straight (40), the Yahtzee (50), 21 in the Upper Section (one of each in each category), and 6 in each of Three of a Kind, Four of a Kind, and Chance.

Commercial versions

Deluxe and collector editions

Deluxe edition games have been sold alongside the regular issue games since the early 1960s. They all contain components that are more luxurious than standard game parts. In recent years, a number of collector issue Yahtzee games have been sold as well. Some of these collector issues have dice that replace the pips with certain symbols connected to a theme, but still correspond to the numbers one to six.

Travel Yahtzee

Since the 1970s, Travel Yahtzee has been sold in various forms as part of Milton Bradley's line of travel games.

  • In the past, the travel form of Yahtzee was composed of the five dice contained in a special apparatus. "Rolling" the dice is initiated by turning the apparatus over, running it on one hand and turning it upright to see the faces of the dice. Dice to be saved for the next roll are locked by snapping the reverse of the apparatus.
  • Currently, a zip-up cloth deluxe folio edition is sold. It consists of the set of dice, the cup, the scorecards and a tray for the dice to roll on, which includes a holder for the dice to be saved for the next roll. The cup has an oblong lip for easy storage.
  • In addition to the game folio, Hasbro also released Yahtzee to Go. It comes with a dice cup that stores the dice and contents. This is similar to the original Travel Yahtzee only without the apparatus. This is sold in tandem with the game folio.
  • There also exists a red circular travel edition, which includes the dice and scorecards as well as a collapsible cup and detachable dice holder. The bottom half of the case acts as a dice tray. This one uses a different logo from the standard one (the name of the game in uppercase with an exclamation point in front of a green oval) and it is sold outside the United States.
  • There are also miniature versions of the game sold in sets contained either in cups that act as keychains (by the company Basic Fun) or in specially shaped pens (by the company Stylus).

Electronic versions

Various Yahtzee console games have been sold over the years including an early version on the TI-99/4A computer as well as a 1978 version introduced on the Apple II computer. In 1996, the game was first released to PC and Mac users by Atari. The Ultimate Yahtzee CD-ROM game contained standard Yahtzee as well as other varieties. Later, GameHouse also released an authorized special version of the game for Windows users. It was re-released by Hasbro Interactive in 2001 with 700 free hours of AOL.

There are also several electronic versions of the game such as a handheld LCD version, and a cell phone version called Yahtzee Deluxe, which feature the original rules along with Duplicate and Rainbow modes, as well as independently produced versions for the Palm OS and Pocket PC and several cellphone models. The version for the Nintendo Game Boy was licensed from Hasbro and was produced by DSI Games and Black Lantern Studios Inc. It was sold in a three pack that included Life, Pay Day, and Yahtzee. The game has also been released for the iPod, iPod Touch and the iPhone, to be purchased through the iTunes Store, as well as Google Play. Both the iOS app and the Android App are published by Scopely. Yahtzee is available on the Xbox 360 in the Family Game Night game by Hasbro. Pogo.com released a version in 2009, and the game is also available on the Pogo Facebook site as well.

A number of related games under the Yahtzee brand have been produced. They all commonly use dice as the primary tool for gameplay, but all differ generally. The first was Triple Yahtzee, developed in 1972. The game has inspired two short-lived television game shows: 1975's Spin-Off on CBS and 1988's syndicated Yahtzee.

Digital versions

There are a large number of versions of Yahtzee which can be played online or are available to download.

  • "Open Yahtzee" is a cross-platform open-source (free) version of Yahtzee for one player.
  • "YachtC" is a commercially available free app on the Google Play Store. It has three variations: The traditional version, a "7-sided" dice version called "Lucky7", and a "TriColor" version similar to Kismet.
  • "Gidd.io" is a free multiplayer platform where Yahtzee can be played online with up to 20 players.
  • Yahtzee is one of the games playable on Board Game Arena.

Similar games

There are a large number of related games. Yatzy is one of the most popular. Yatzy rules and scoring categories are somewhat different from Yahtzee:

  • The bonus for reaching 63 or more points in the Upper Section is normally 50 points.
  • There are two extra boxes for the One Pair and Two Pairs categories. These score the total of the pair(s) involved. For instance, five-five-four-four-one will score 10 points in the One Pair box and 18 in the Two Pairs box. In the Two Pairs category, the pairs must be different.
  • The Three of a Kind and Four of a Kind categories are scored using the total of the needed number of same-faced dice. For instance, five-five-five-five-six will score 20 points in Four of a Kind and 15 points in Three of a Kind. This scoring rule is the same as the Four of a Kind scoring used in Yacht.
  • Full House scores the total of all dice, as in Yacht.
  • Small Straight and Large Straight have the same definitions as in Yacht. A Small Straight is one-two-three-four-five and scores 15 points (the total of the dice faces); the Large Straight is two-three-four-five-six and scores 20 points (again, the combined value of the dice).
  • There are no Yahtzee bonuses or Joker rule. Yahtzees can be scored in other categories under the normal scoring rules. For example, a Yahtzee of sixes will score 12 in the One Pair box, 18 in Three of a Kind, 24 in Four of a Kind, 30 in Sixes or Chance and 0 in Two Pairs, Full House, Small Straight and Large Straight boxes.

Other related games include:

  • Balut is the name of a Danish dice game played by expatriates in many countries all over the world. The name of the game is taken from balut eggs.
  • Kismet has dice with multiple-colored pips. Both numbers and colors are taken into account when scoring.
  • Yamb has several (usually four) columns filled with special restrictions and MINIMAX categories with the bigger score if the higher is difference between min and max.

Mathematical aspects of Yahtzee

alt=Plot showing the distribution of points during a game of Yahtzee as a histogram with blue vertical bars. A vertical orange line shows the expected value at 245 points.|thumb|239x239px|Distribution of points and expected value for a game of Yahtzee, when playing without Yahtzee bonus

The mathematics behind the game Yahtzee (and variants) has been studied extensively. It is a popular source of exercises for students of mathematics and computer science. The strategy for maximising score has been solved computationally by exhaustively evaluating all possible decisions. Optimal play gives an expectation score of 255.

References

  • The Yahtzee! Page (fansite)
  • P-Yahtzee - Solution, variants, statistics, tactics
  • Regular Yahtzee Game Rules / Instructions