Yatzy Game Review

Yatzy Game Background

Yatzy is a dice-rolling game where you must earn more points than your opponent by casting dice on the table. Save up your dice to build-up high value combinations of dice.

This game was developed by MarketJS.

How to Play Yatzy

To select, left click with your mouse or tap on the touchscreen with your fingers. On the welcome screen, select Play at the center of the screen to begin. Choose a player character from the available profiles. If you’re playing for the first time, the game helpfully

Select the roll button to roll the dice on the space provided on the left side of the game screen to roll them. Select the individual dice after you roll to keep them. Select the section of the scoreboard highlighted to enter your score.

Basic Gameplay Advice

Basic Rules

The game is played with 5 six-sided dice. Roll the dice 3 times to find the highest scoring combinations. You can opt to keep some of the dice and re-roll the rest. Upon rolling a third time, you must place a score on the space or leave it at zero.

The scoreboard on the right side of the screen holds every possible dice roll combination you have and the score you can earn from each roll. These include the value of the dice you’ve already saved.

The game ends when you and your opponent have filled up all your boxes on the scoreboard. The player with the most points wins.

Scoring Rubric

Every dice roll reveals a possible combination that has an equivalent in the scoreboard. As much as possible, choose the combination of dice that yields the highest number of points. Scoreboard combination entries can only be used once, so be careful with what you lock in.

The scoreboard consists of sections. The top section comprise combinations that are multiples of individual numbers. The score you earn is the sum of the number as they appear. For instance, if you receive 3 dice with the number 6, you get 6 points. Besides the sum of these points, you also receive a bonus of 35 points from this section if you earn 63 or more points from these alone.

The bottom section is composed of several specific combinations:

• 3-of-a-Kind: This is any three identical numbers. Its score score being the sum of these plus the value of the remaining dice.
• 4-of-a-Kind: This is any four identical numbers. The score you receive is the sum of these numbers plus the value of the remaining dice.
• Full House: This two sets of identical numbers. One set consists of 3 dice and the other 2. This yields 25 points.
• Small Straight: This is any set of four numbers in sequential order (e.g. 3, 4, 5, 6). This is worth 30 points.
• Large Straight: This is any set of five numbers in sequential order. This is worth 40 points.
• Chance: This is the easiest combination to get; its score is the value of every dice in the roll.
• Yatzy: The hardest combination to get, this comprises a full set of identical numbers. It is worth 50 points. Like all the others, there are no extra points or jokers if you roll this combination again. This is one key difference between this game and its more famous counterpart.

Advanced Playing Tips & Strategy

Whenever possible, go for the combination with the highest possible values. However, if you must place a low value into a slot, choose the slots where you wouldn’t be able to score high anyway. These would include the 1 or 2 slots at the top of the board. When aiming for the multiples, try to get 3 or more of the same number.

Early on, see if you can fill up the bottom of the sheet as much as possible. Fill in the 3- and 4-of-a-kind combos first, as they will always yield a value far greater than the number multiples by themselves. The one exception would be the Chance combination. Save this one for the late game.

The Yatzy is the hardest combination to get. Start saving up for it the moment you earn 3 or more of a kind in your first roll.

Educational Aspects

This game encourages players to think strategically during chance encounters. Players must focus on choosing the gains that will grant them an advantage in the long term.

Player Age Recommendations

This game is suited for older school-aged players and above. We recommend it for gamers who enjoy competitive dice games.