Yahtzee! is one of the most popular roll-and-write games in the world, but it has a reputation for having very little strategy. I recently decided to revisit this game that I frequently played as a child, and I was delighted to discover that there is actually quite a bit more strategy than I would have guessed. In fact, by following the guidelines I detail below I have been able to rack up a win rate of over 60% over the span of hundreds of competitive games. Not bad for a luck-heavy dice-rolling game!
Follow established guidelines on early turns
Yahtzee! is a very well-studied game of probability and chance. Over the years, a lot of work has been done using statistics and computers to determine what optimal play looks like. Obviously, we aren’t computers, but we can learn a lot from this analysis and apply it to our own games as best we can.
In the chart below, I have broken down and simplified what your decision making should look like early in the game. This chart becomes less useful as the game progresses because you’ll need to adapt to the circumstances but for the first 4 or 5 moves it serves to guide your decisions very well. Take a look at the chart, and I’ll give some examples on how to use it below.
The chart might seem like a lot, but I promise it’ll become second nature in no time. If you use it for a few games you’ll internalize most of it and you won’t need to reference it again. It really helps to understand the logic and flow behind the chart so that you don’t need to check it after every roll.
In general, you use the chart like this:
- After every roll, find the best ‘hand’ on your dice in the left column. A Yahtzee is best, and they get progressively worse all the way down to ‘no pair or straight’.
- Move to the right from your best hand to the roll number you’re on. So, if you just made your first roll you’ll look in the ‘Roll 1’ column, and so on.
- Follow the advice in that box. If there are multiple options, start at the top and work your way down until you find one that applies to you. Higher options are better, but may not apply to your specific roll (so you keep moving down the list).
- Repeat this process after every roll. Your ‘best hand’ will likely change after every roll, so make sure to change the row you’re referencing to match.
Chart Example 1:
Roll 1: (1-1-4-4-6) I have two pair, so I look at the ‘Two Pair’ row and the ‘Roll 1’ column. It tells me I should hold the high pair, so I hold my two 4’s and roll the remaining three dice.
Roll 2: (1-2-4-4-5) Not great! I have just the pair of 4’s, so I look at the ‘Pair’ row and the ‘Roll 2’ column. The first option in that box is to hold the pair if it’s 4’s or more, so I hold my two 4’s and roll the remaining three dice.
Roll 3: (4-4-4-5-6) I have three-of-a-kind, so I look at the ‘3 of a Kind’ row and the ‘Row 3’ column. It tells me that if the total of my dice is 25 or more I should log my score in the ‘3 of a Kind’ box, and if it’s less then I should log it in the upper section. Since the total of my dice is 23, I log this in the ‘4’ box in the upper section of my score sheet for 12 points.
Chart Example 2:
Roll 1: (2-2-3-4-5) I have a small straight and a pair of 2’s. Since the small straight is better than the pair of twos, I look at the ‘Small Straight’ row and the ‘Roll 1’ column. From the options listed there, I see that I should hold the small straight, so I roll my additional ‘2’.
Roll 2: (2-3-4-4-5) I once again have a small straight and a pair, but this time I reference the ‘Roll 2’ column. Now, even thought my pair is higher than it was on Roll 1, the chart says I should continue to hold the small straight. I keep the straight and roll my additional ‘4’.
Roll 3: (1-2-3-4-5) Success! I have a large straight and log it in the lower section (as directed by the box for the ‘Roll 3’ column and ‘Large Straight’ row).
Prioritize the 35-Point Upper Section Bonus
Perhaps the most important strategy tip to remember in Yahtzee! is to prioritize scoring the 35-point bonus for the Upper Section. Many inexperienced players miss opportunities to score big in the upper section because they place undue emphasis on filling in their 3 or 4 of a Kind or Full House boxes. The Upper Section Bonus is one of the most reliable big scoring mechanisms and frequently determines the game’s winner.
Use high 4-of-a-kinds in the Upper Section
The most frequent mistake I see is with 4-of-a-Kind rolls. Players mistakenly think that they are unlikely to get 4-of-a-Kind again, so they take almost any opportunity they can to score in that box. However, you should almost ALWAYS log a 4-of-a-Kind roll in the Upper Section unless that number has already been filled in! This is especially true for 5’s and 6’s, because it almost guarantees that you will score the 35-Point bonus.
Manage your risk based on your opponents’ play
There is no direct player interaction in Yahtzee!, but that doesn’t mean you should entirely ignore your opponents. You should always keep an eye on how your opponents are doing to help you decide how to proceed. For example, if your opponent has a significant lead and things look otherwise hopeless, you should try to leave your Yahtzee box available in case you get super lucky and can score 1 or 2 Yahtzees to take the lead late in the game. Similarly, if your opponent is struggling then you should take the sure thing when you can. Play conservatively and just make sure you don’t tank the rest of the round.
CHECK IT OUT: If you need more score sheets for Yahtzee you can find them for cheap on Amazon, along with many fun versions of the classic game.
Score 20+ Points for Chance and 3 & 4 of a Kind
If you thoroughly read through the chart earlier in this post you’ll see there are some general guidelines when considering when/how to score in your Chance and 3- or 4-of-a-Kind boxes. It comes down to trying to save these boxes for relatively high dice totals. Specifically, you can think about it like this for each box:
- Chance: Try to save this box for a total of 20 or more points
- 3-of-a-Kind: Try to save this box for 25 or more points
- 4-of-a-Kind: Only score this box if the number in the upper section is already filled, but aim for higher numbers when possible
Hold some boxes in reserve for 0-point scores
Scoring zeros is inevitable in Yahtzee. It won’t happen in every game, but it does happen a lot and it frequently happens more than once per game. The chart earlier in the article will help guide you toward understanding when and where to place zeros on your scorecard, but here are some general guidelines:
- If your dice total is less than 20, score 0 in the 1’s box
- If your dice total is more than 20, score your total in the ‘Chance’ box
- If your 1’s box is already filled, consider scoring 0 in your 2’s box – especially if you have scored 4-of-a-Kind in one of your higher numbers
- Score 0 in your Yahtzee box late in the game, but usually only if your opponent has also done so
Don’t keep sets of low numbers early in the game
Early in the game, you should be looking to take some risks and score big. Your options are wide open because you have a lot of open boxes, so you should take that opportunity to try for more challenging boxes like Yahtzee and Large Straight. You almost never want to waste a turn chasing 1’s or 2’s because they have very little big scoring potential. You might luck into a Yahtzee or Full House, but you can do that with larger numbers with less downside. More importantly, if you fill in those low number boxes early in the game you don’t have them to fall back in if/when you need to score a ‘0’ somewhere.
Try for Yahtzees, especially early in the game
I just touched on this, but it bears some more detailed explanation. If you tried for a Yahtzee on every single turn, the mathematical probability of successfully scoring a Yahtzee is 4.74%. That means that if the only thing you cared about in a round is scoring a Yahtzee, you’d have a 61.6% chance of succeeding. That is shockingly high!
If you manage to successfully score a Yahtzee early in the game, then that opens up the possibility of scoring additional Yahtzees for 100 points each and puts you at a massive advantage. It’s worth it to continue rolling the dice when, for example, you have a Full House on your first roll. Sure those 25 points would be nice to bank, but the upside potential of scoring a Yahtzee is too great to ignore. Try for Yahtzees early and often and you’ll likely be surprised at how often it pays off!
Go for Straights when you have an outside draw
Straights are the only two boxes in the game that reward non-identical numbers, making them a little tricky to deal with. In general, you should only go for straights when you have an outside draw. It’s pretty common to just roll a Small Straight on your first roll of a turn in any given game, so getting a Small Straight isn’t usually very challenging. However, a Large Straight is fairly difficult to manage.
My best piece of advice for managing a Large Straight (as indicated on the chart above) is to ALWAYS go for it when you have 2-3-4-5-X where X is anything other than a 1 or 6. You have a 1/3 chance of rolling a 1 or 6 to complete the Large Straight. If you have two rolls, you have a 2/3 chance at it. Those 40 points are very valuable and are often the difference in the game.
Practice and analyze your games with a computer
If you really want to get some good practice and smash your competition, you can play a few games on this website and check your decisions against the computer. You can either play through an entire game and analyze it afterward, or check your decisions right after every roll. The computer engine will tell you what the optimal play was, and give you a score at the end of the game so you can see how well you did vs ‘optimal play’.
Playing a few games like this will help you understand how the computer algorithm thinks and engrain good decision making patterns. It doesn’t guarantee that you’ll always win (there is still a great deal of luck involved) but it does ensure that you’re giving yourself the best odds.
Thanks for reading! Did I miss something, or do you have your own tips to add? Drop a comment below – I’d love to hear from you!
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