What You Should Know About Yahtzee Dice Thrown In A Game?
Yatzy is a dice game that has been played for generations. Though the rules of play are simple, planning your moves can be complicated.
So, how many dies should be thrown at once? The most popular version is played with five six-sided dies. There are, however, several variations using more or fewer dice depending on the version.
Keep reading to learn more about this fun game!
Five Die Variation
The first answer is that players should begin by throwing the five die all at once. This makes sense because it is often difficult to know how many throws are needed until you practice.
The traditional game of Yahtzee is played with five six-sided dies. The objective of the game is to score points by rolling five dice to make certain combinations.
A player must roll all five dice before throwing them again unless he chooses to hold some or all of the dice so that they will not be rerolled.
The Rules Of Yahtzee
The game of Yahtzee starts by building a 5×5 grid using five six-sided dice (roller). Each column must contain one die each, but each row may contain any number ranging from 1 to 5 dice.
After all, players have completed building their grids, the roller begins throwing his or her remaining two dice to generate scores. A player’s turn ends when he or she decides to end it or when the roller throws a number that cannot be matched with any numbers currently in the players’ grids.
Object of Yahtzee
The object of the game is to match as many scoring combinations as possible out of the 25 possibilities. Scores are tallied at the end of every round after all dice have been thrown by each player.
There are three types of scoring combinations: ones, twos, and threes. The more sixes are thrown in a single roll, the greater the multiplier applied to any variety, including that die.
For example, if two sixes are rolled, then twice as many points for ones or twos will be counted on your score sheet as normal. On this same turn, if you were to roll either 2×2=4 ones or four ones, then you would score either four or eight points respectively – a total of twelve points if you opt to pick the higher-scoring option.
If you cannot match any numbers from your current row with those from previous turns, then your turn ends, and play proceeds to the next person. Play continues until one player scores at least 63 points.
The roller is not allowed to score more than this amount upon satisfying one condition: players must have a score equal to or greater than 31 points for there to be a winner.
This rule prevents a situation where a roller could win by default by rolling all sixes on his final roll and scoring nothing for it – an unfair outcome by all standards!
Minimum & Maximum Possible Yahtzee Scores
The minimum possible score is zero, which occurs when you match none of the 25 combinations. The maximum possible score is, as you might expect, a roll of sixes – even 36 points.
To calculate our average, we must first determine how many ways there are to obtain each possible score. This can be done by multiplying the number of each scoring combination times its respective multiplier value for a total of 150 points divided by the number of ways you can achieve that particular score within your grid.
The result will tell us roughly how many throws it takes on average to fill a 5×5 grid with any combination from 1-5 dice.
Three Die Variation
If you do not want to go with the traditional way, there are many different variations such as three, two, and even twelve die variations of the game. In the three die variation, you throw each of the three die separately on your first try before you count up your score.
Depending on what you roll on each of these three roles, you can then decide if it would be more beneficial to continue rolling or not. If there is a chance that you could get a very high number by throwing all five die at once, it is probably best to stop after you have rolled these three die.
Two Die Variation
In a two-die variation of Yahtzee, if a score is obtained that is greater than or equal to 31, then the player who rolled the dice wins. There is no winning condition set for less than 31 points.
In this variation, you roll just two die at a time, and there would be more opportunities to get higher scores, so it would take fewer throws on average to fill your 5×5 grid with any combination from 1-5 dice.
Twelve Die Variation
This variation is played on a 12×12 grid instead of the usual 5×5. This allows for more combinations that can be thrown, which gives you the possibility of scoring higher on your five throws.
The twelve die variant includes all possible combinations, whereas the six die only features sixes and ones, plus some specific combinations worth 31 points or less.
Sixes are rolled more often than ones, so the six die variant is less likely to get very high scores than the twelve die variation. If you want to score more points, it would probably be best to play this game with twelve dice instead of six.
Where Did Yahtzee Come From?
In South Africa, where it is mainly known as “Drie Dolkom”, meaning “Three Knives”, the game of Yahtzee is a popular pub game that has been around for many years. However, in parts of Asia and Europe, the dice variation is much more widely played than its card cousin.
The three-dice version of the game originated in Germany but became known as Farkle in North America. Yahtzee first began spreading from South Africa and other neighboring countries across other parts of Africa and Asia before reaching Europe and eventually becoming popular throughout Canada and other countries on that continent.
Although there are no official records to show precisely when or how this happened, we can make some pretty safe assumptions based on the name of this game.
The term “Yahtzee” is thought to originate from the Arabic word “yad”, which means hand or fist. It reflects the practice in some parts of that region where players will throw dice into a closed fist before revealing their total score.
In Germany, however, it is believed that the term comes from a combination of words “Yacht”, which means yacht, and “Zahl”, which means number – supposedly because you need to get all five numbers on one roll for your score to be doubled.
There are several variations of Yahtzee played around the world, but they usually stem from how many dice you roll at once and whether or each die can be rerolled or not. Some of the most popular variations are played with six, ten, fifteen, or twenty-sided dice, but yatzy can also be played with four, five, eight, or even twelve-sided dice.
Either way, it’s a fun game that can be enjoyed by all ages and is excellent for passing the time at parties and bars. Just make sure to keep track of your score and don’t lose too much money!
Interesting Facts About Yahtzee
- There is even a movie called Yahtzee. The film was released in 2005 and stars Randy Quaid, Marla Sokoloff, Michael Lerner, and Dinah Manoff.
- Yahtzee was the national game in South Africa until 1997 when its popularity began to wane due to competition from other games.
- In Finland, Yahtzee is known as “kolikkopeli”, which means “coin game”. It would take at least eight players to enjoy a round of the popular game.
- The highest possible score for one turn is a Yahtzee, giving the player 25 points. This would require rolling five of a kind which means all five dice must show the same number. To put this into perspective, the odds of getting this type of roll are 1 in 20140, making it nearly impossible to achieve.
- There are two game variations known as Block Yahtzee and Rainbow Yahtzee that changing the way the scoring works with different color designs on each die.
- The oldest written reference to Yahtzee can be found in Livre des Amusements, a book by Jeu de Mail published in 1254 by King Louis IX of France, who was known as “the saint”.
- There is even an official World Yahtzee Championship featuring competitors from around the world. It has been held every year since 1987 and is hosted by the World Yacht Federation (WYF). Each competitor must play three games with five dice throws per game. The current champion is Joe Sebok from the United States.
- In the six-dice variation of Yahtzee, it is impossible to score zero points. Only scoring one point would be possible, but it’s extremely unlikely and has never been recorded as happening.
- There are no official records for the highest scores achieved in either variation of the game, so we don’t know who holds the record for having the most consecutive throws without scoring anything or getting any Yahtzee combinations.
