updated: Fri Nov 1 11:56:51 EST 2002 (sklar)
Please see new scoring rules for 3-of-a-kind, 4-of-a-kind, 5-of-a-kind and full house.

game rules

modified from http://grail.sourceforge.net/demo/yahtzee/rules.html

objective of the game

The game consists of 10 rounds. In each round, you roll the dice and then score the roll in one of 10 categories. You must score once in each category -- which means that towards the end of the game you may have to settle for scoring zero in some categories. The score is determined by a different rule for each category; see the section on scoring (below).

The object of the game is to maximize your total score. The game ends once all 10 categories have been scored.

rolling the dice

You have five dice to roll. In a turn, you roll all the dice and then you can either score the current roll or roll again (picking any number or all 5 of the dice). Within one turn, you can roll the dice a total of three times -- the initial roll (in which you must roll all the dice), plus two re-rolls of any or all dice. After rolling three times, that is the end of the turn and you must score the roll.

Once you've scored the roll, you roll all the dice again and repeat the process, i.e., you take another turn. You continue until all 10 categories have been filled, at which time the game is over. Thus the game always consists of exacly 10 turns.

scoring

Once you are ready to score, you score the roll in one of the 10 categories. Once a category has been scored, it is closed out for the rest of the game; you cannot change a category's score once it's been set. Each category defines its own scoring rules, as described below.

ones, twos, threes, fours, fives, sixes

In these categories, you total only the specified die face(s). So if you roll:

+---+  +---+  +---+  +---+  +---+ 
|.  |  |.  |  |. .|  |.  |  |. .|
| . |  | . |  |   |  | . |  |. .|
|  .|  |  .|  |. .|  |  .|  |. .|
+---+  +---+  +---+  +---+  +---+

and score in the threes category, your total for that entry would be 9. This same roll would yield zero points if you scored it in the ones, twos, or fives category, four points if you scored it in the fours category, or six points if you scored it in the sixes category.

3-of-a-kind, 4-of-a-kind and 5-of-a-kind

In these categories, you total only the specified die faces or zero if you don't satisfy the category requirements.

For 3-of-a-kind, you must have at least three of the same die faces. If so, the score is the total of those 3 faces. Similarly for 4-of-a-kind, except that you must have 4 of the 5 die faces the same and your score is the total of those 4 faces. And similarly for 5-of-a-kind, except that you must have all 5 of the die faces the same and your score is the total of all 5 faces. So for example, if you rolled:

+---+  +---+  +---+  +---+  +---+ 
|. .|  |. .|  |.  |  |.  |  |. .|
| . |  | . |  | . |  |   |  | . |
|. .|  |. .|  |  .|  |  .|  |. .|
+---+  +---+  +---+  +---+  +---+

you would receive 15 (=5+5+5) points for 3-of-a-kind, but zero points for 4-of-a-kind and 5-of-a-kind.

full house

In this category, you score either a set amount or zero if you don't satisfy the category requirement. A full house scores the total of all 5 dice.

As in poker, a full house is a roll where you have both a 3-of-a-kind and a pair.