How to Play Yatzy
Five dice, three rolls, thirteen boxes: hold, roll the rest, and score where it counts.
Yatzy is the dice game of the thirteen boxes: five dice, three rolls a turn, and a card to fill one box at a time. Hold the dice you like, roll the rest, and write the result where it scores best — or where it hurts least. Three of each face across the upper section earns a 35 bonus, five alike is a Yatzy for 50, and a second Yatzy is worth 100 more. After thirteen rounds the highest total wins. Two to four play, against the computer at three levels or online.
Ways to play Yatzy
Two to four at the board
Play Yatzy against the computer with one, two or three others at the board. Every seat is filled, so a game always starts.
Online with friends and family
Create a board, share the code, and play together on the same board. Online games count towards your rating and My Stats.
Picked up where you left it
Close the tab mid-game and come back to it — the game is kept in your browser, on the board you were playing.
No ads, ever
No advertising, no interruption, nothing to dismiss. The same promise as every Vanikar™ game.
🎯 Objective
Have the highest total on your card after thirteen rounds.
🎲 Yatzy setup
- Five dice along the top of the felt, and the card under them: a row a box, a column a seat, with your total at the foot.
- Choose how many play, from two to four, and the computer’s level. You roll first; the computer takes the seats you do not.
- The card has thirteen boxes: Aces to Sixes in the upper section, and Three of a kind, Four of a kind, Full house, Small straight, Large straight, Yatzy and Chance in the lower.
- While your dice are on the table every open box shows, in a lighter ink, what the dice would score there.
▶ How to play Yatzy
- Roll all five dice.
- Tap the dice you want to keep — they are marked held and stay put while the rest are rolled again. Held dice can be let go again between rolls.
- You may roll up to three times a turn, and you can stop after any roll.
- Tap a box on the card to pick it, then tap it again — or press Score — to write the dice in. Once filled, a box stays filled.
- You must fill a box every turn. If nothing fits, put a zero somewhere you can spare.
- After thirteen rounds every box is full and the cards are added up.
🎬 Watch: How to Play Yatzy
Filmed under the name Yahtzee, the boxed version of this game, with the same five dice and thirteen boxes.
This video is embedded from YouTube and remains the intellectual property of its respective creator and/or rights holder. Vanikar LLC claims no ownership of, or rights in, the video content, and no affiliation with or endorsement by its creator is implied. The video is displayed via YouTube’s public embed feature in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service and the agreements between YouTube and the content uploader.
📖 Detailed guide
A turn
- Roll, hold, roll again: up to three rolls, holding any dice between them and letting them go again if you change your mind.
- Pick a box and the line under the table says what the dice would take there; tap again or press Score to write it in.
- Every turn fills exactly one box. A box once filled is closed for the game.
- When the computer plays, its dice tumble, the ones it holds are ringed, and the line under the table says what it did.
The upper section
- Aces, Twos, Threes, Fours, Fives and Sixes each count the dice of that face: three 4s in Fours are 12.
- Make 63 or more across the six boxes and the card adds a 35 bonus. Three of each face does it exactly.
- Four of a high face in its own upper box is how the bonus is secured early.
- Aces is the cheapest place for a zero when a turn has nothing to offer.
The lower section
- Three of a kind and Four of a kind score the sum of all five dice — when the dice hold them.
- A Full house, three and two, is 25. A Small straight, four in a row, is 30; a Large straight, five in a row, is 40.
- Chance is the sum of the dice, whatever they are.
- Yatzy, five alike, is 50.
Yatzy bonuses and the joker
- Roll a second Yatzy with 50 already in the box and you earn a 100 bonus.
- The joker rule then places it: in its face’s upper box if that is open; otherwise in any open lower box at full value — a Full house 25, the straights 30 and 40; otherwise in an upper box for nothing.
- A Yatzy rolled after a zero in the Yatzy box earns no bonus, but is placed the same way.
- When every seat has filled thirteen boxes the cards are added — both sections, the upper bonus and the Yatzy bonuses — and the highest total wins; equal highest is a draw.
🏁 How Yatzy is won
Aces to Sixes count the dice of that face; 63 or more across the six boxes earns a 35 bonus. Three of a kind and Four of a kind score the sum of all five dice; a Full house is 25, a Small straight 30, a Large straight 40, and Chance is the sum of the dice. Five alike is a Yatzy, 50 in its box. A second Yatzy with 50 already there earns a 100 bonus, and the joker rule places it: in its face’s upper box if that is open, otherwise in any open lower box at full value, otherwise in an upper box for nothing. The highest total after thirteen rounds wins; equal highest is a draw.
❓ Yatzy — frequently asked questions
How many players do you need for Yatzy?
Yatzy is played by 2–4. Seats you do not fill are taken by the computer, so a game always starts.
Where can I play Yatzy?
In your browser at play.vanikar.games, on a computer, a tablet or a phone. Sign in with the same Vanikar™ account you use for the card games.
Is Yatzy included in my subscription?
Yes. One Card Games by Vanikar™ subscription covers the card games, Chess & Checkers and the board games, and every game released after them.
Does Yatzy have ads?
No. No Vanikar™ game has ever carried advertising, and none ever will.
How many rolls do I get in Yatzy?
Up to 3 a turn. Hold any dice between rolls, let them go again if you like, and stop after any roll to score.
What is the upper bonus?
35 points, added when Aces to Sixes total 63 or more. 3 of each face across the 6 boxes gets there exactly.
What happens on a second Yatzy?
With 50 already in the Yatzy box it earns a 100 bonus, and the joker rule places it: the face’s upper box if open, otherwise any open lower box at full value, otherwise an upper box for nothing.
Is Yatzy the same as Yahtzee?
Yatzy is Vanikar’s own implementation of the public-domain dice game also known as Yacht, with the classic card of 13 boxes. Yahtzee is a trademark of Hasbro; Vanikar is not affiliated with Hasbro.
Yatzy is Vanikar’s own implementation of the public-domain dice game also known as Yacht; the artwork, software and text are independently created. Yahtzee is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc. Vanikar is not affiliated with Hasbro.