6, 6 c'mon, c'mon 6!!! Oh. Shame. (Yahtzee)

Member Name: marcel_beren

Product:	Yahtzee
Date:	19/04/01 (387 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: see op

Disadvantages: see op

This game is seriously addictive, which won't seem possible when you open the box.

Opening the box reveals... very little. A pad of scoresheets, a pencil, a dice shaker and 5 dice.

C'est tout.

Unless you count instructions and a nasty plastic box lining, cunningly designed to hold the bits and bobs and act as a cup into which to shake the dice.

But fear not, from these unpromising beginnings emerge a game of skill, chance and aggressive shouting in Oriental accents.

You don't need to dress up in a dressing-gown kimono, with a hankie tied round your forehead and it doesn't help if you do, but feel free to yell "Yahtzee!!!" in a suitably frenzied manner when you strike the ultimate goal of this game - five of a kind.

This opinion will split into a "how to play" - useful if you've bought a set and lost the instructions, otherwise possibly useless, but seems to be de rigeur to get people to give you a VU rather than Useful - and then, waaaay down, I've included some tips and tricks to help you score well, which you can guarantee will be stymied by appalling luck with the dice. :-)

Actually, if you can find five dice down the back of the sofa and can be bothered going through this in detail, you too can play Yahtzee, without spending any money on a tackily-packaged version. But please don't tell MB Games I said that, or they'll sue, even though I have the same initials. Oh, and you'll probably need to call it "The Five Dice Game" or something and shout out "Bonsai". Probably.

HOW TO PLAY

Henceforward, any number written (typed!) as digits represent a number on a die. Hope that helps.

On each turn, you have three attempts to throw the (five) dice to get the best com
bination. On your second and third throws, you can throw no dice at all or up to all five, so you can keep 'useful' numbers.

>At the end of your turn, you MUST complete one of the score boxes. If your miserable turn does not qualify for anything other than Chance (see below) and Chance is already completed, you must enter a zero somewhere. Sad.

The aim of Yahtzee, apart from irritating your opponents, pets and neighbours with your Bruce Lee cries, is to complete a scoresheet. This divides neatly into two sections.


Section A

The idea of section A is to roll three 1s, three 2s, three 3s etc up to and including three 6s. Imagine you have the requisite three 6s. You score eighteen points (three times 6) in the appropriate box. You can choose to fail one or more of these tasks (e.g. two 2s) and can compensate for that by overachieving (e.g. four 6s). At the end of the day, if you score more than sixty three in Section A (that's three of each number 1-6), you get a whopping bonus of thirty five points.

The total, of (hopefully) sixty three points or more, plus the bonus (if you got it) is your Section A points total.

Section B

This oh-so-cunningly named Section B is a lot more fun that the rather fraught Section A.

Here you need:

Chance: Any combination of dice. Add the face figures.
Three of a kind: Three or more dice the same. Add all the faces.
Four of a kind: Go figure.
Yahtzee: Also known as five of a kind. First Yahtzee is worth fifty points. All subsequent are worth one hundred in addition to any other points you may get, for example by putting it in the Four of a kind box (A Yahtzee is by definition Four of a Kind)
Full House: &
#76;ike Poker, three of one and two of another number. Twenty five points for that.
Short run: Four numbers consecutive. Twenty five points for that.
Long run: All Five. Forty points.

The total of that is your Section B total.

Add to your Section A total, for your grand total. Highest Score wins.

You can also play over a number
of games with cumulative sc
ores - probably a good idea as it can often be clear early on who is going to win.

HOW TO PLAY WELL

Yahtzee is actually quite a tactical game.

Check out this advice.

First, some advice that I hope won't patronise you. Generally speaking, Yahtzee is a game of probabilities. A vague ability to work out which options are more or less likely will help you no end. Simply put, just always remember that each time you throw, each die has a one in six chance of coming up with any number.

People rarely believe it, but after shaking twelve 6s, you are as likely to throw another 6 as any other specified number. This can be important to bear in mind in this game (roulette too).

Section A advice

Get that bonus! Thirty five points is a lot. Go for it.

Any early opportunity to score four 4s, 5s or 6s should go in Section A, not in the tempting Four of a Kind slot. The maximum for Four of a Kind is thirty points (five 6s). Four 4s in Section A are worth sixteen points and can be worth a further thirty five, as they compensate you for missing all the 1s or two 2s or one 3. Nifty, eh?

Try to leave the 1s box blank as long as possible. A fourth 3 or higher in Section A allows you to zero this box without penalty - very useful later on.

Section B advice


It's tempting to fill in Section A with bad throws, rather than use Chance or zero something. Generally speaking, it's better not to. Use Chance first, then Four of a Kind. Then Yahtzee, which doesn't happen all that often.

When "going for long runs", the most useful start point is 2,3,4,5. This allows 1 or 6 to complete, doubling your chances. 1,2,3,4 is twice as unlikely to be completed.

Full House is a good one to complete early and can be done in conjunction with Section A. Get three of a kind needed for Section A early in a turn (ideally first throw!) an
d go for a complementary pair.

r>However, the dice, of course, have a mind of their own and you'll be aggravated to all hell by their inability to do what you want! Which makes it all the more satisfying when they do.

Before you know it, you'll be hooked.

***With many thanks to Cookie36 for the suggestion - your reward for reading this far!***
If you go to:
http://www.eeaston.com/YahtzREE/
you can play Yahtzee online - 1 player only, and not half as much fun as with real dice clacketing around, but at least you don't need to add up!


Capital letters courtesy of: http://www.chuckleweb.co.uk/fixit.php

Summary: