A Very DICEY Game (Yahtzee)

Member Name: brianlfc

Product:	Yahtzee
Date:	04/06/01 (264 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to play

Disadvantages: None

Yahtzee, so simple, yet so addictive, it is a very simple game, but once you start playing, you can’t stop, it can be played via your computer, with the game itself or you can just get five dice and make your own scorecard up, I must admit, I prefer to play on the computer, rather than the game itself, as it saves you having to do the scoring.

So what is Yahtzee?

Yahtzee, is a game of skill and chance, that can be played alone or in a group, it is basically a game of dice, with a draw poker mixed in, in which the aim of the game is to score the highest possible score over 13 rounds (13 sets of 3 throws of the dice), you are given a score-card, which consists of different categories to score in, these are as follows:

Singles (six of them): This is basically just a case of adding your dice numbers up, to a certain number i.e. if you are after 2’s, you try and get up to five two’s within your go. Your score for this consists of the amount of the chosen number added up i.e. if you threw three 4’s, your score for that round would be 12.

Three of a kind: You are required to get three of a certain dice number in the same go, just like three of a kind in poker. For this you score 20 points.

Four of a kind: As, three of a kind, but obviously with four dice numbers. For this you score 30 points.

Straight: Yes, just like in poker, to get a straight, you need to get all four (a small straight i.e. 1,2,3,4) or five dice numbers in a run (a large straight i.e.1, 2,3,4,5).

Full House: Once again, just like poker, this time you are required to get 3 of a certain dice number, and 2 of another dice number i.e. three 5’s and two 6’s.

Yahtzee: This is where you get all five dice to be the same number i.e. five 5’s, five 6’s, etc.

Chance: This is your get out clause, if after throwing your dice the permitted three times or you have already got the numbers that
have been rolled, then the idea is to add up the total of all five dice.

Playing the game: You start off with your five dice in your hand, roll them, then it is up to you which way you go next, lets say you rolled two 4’s, a 5, a 6 and a 3, it is up to you what you want to go for, you could either keep hold of the fours (hoping you roll at least another one) or you could keep hold of the 3,4,5 and 6 (because you would already have a small straight and there’s a chance you could get the large straight), I personally would go for the straight.

Whatever choice you make, you keep them dice aside, and throw the remaining dice to see if you can improve your hand, after that throw, you now re-assess your hand, in other-words, have you improved your hand, if not, you throw the dice again, for the last time.

Once you have thrown the dice for the third time, you tot up the score for you chosen category i.e. if you chose the straight, you get 25 points for a small straight or 30 points if you happened to roll the other required dice to make up a large straight, to which you receive 30 points.

Lets say you rolled the required dice to get the large straight, then you mark off on the scorecard, the 30 points, now for the interesting part, you now cannot score the large straight, so don’t bother going for it again.

This process is repeated for the 13 rounds of dices throws, with your scores being added up at the end of the game, if by chance you cannot score i.e. you throw three 4’s, and you already have the total’s for the 4’s and the three of a kind, then you have to choose a category that you wish to sacrifice (as you wont score for this go) pick this one, and place a big fat zero next to it.

That’s about it, it’s really a very simple but addictive game, that easily understood once you get playing, and is good fun to play in groups or on your own. There are other versions of t
he game available on CD-Rom like Word Yahtzee, where the same rules apply, but you play with letters instead of numbers.

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