Yacht Dice

Quick Rules

Yacht Dice is the classic five-dice game of luck and good judgment. Over thirteen turns you fill the thirteen boxes of your score sheet, one box per turn, and try to end with the highest total.

  • Your turn. Roll all five dice. Keep any you like and roll the rest again, up to three rolls in all.
  • Score. After any roll, choose one empty box on your score sheet and write the dice in it. Each box is used once.
  • Ones to Sixes. Add up only the dice showing that number: three 4s in the Fours box score 12.
  • The 35 bonus. If Ones to Sixes add up to 63 or more, you get 35 extra points.
  • Three or Four of a Kind. Three (or four) dice the same: score the total of all five dice.
  • Full House (three of one number and two of another) scores 25. Small Straight (four in a row) scores 30, Large Straight (five in a row) 40.
  • Yacht. All five dice the same scores 50. Chance takes any dice and scores their total.
  • Zeros. If your dice fit nowhere, you must still fill a box, with a zero.

Read the full Yacht Dice rules with worked examples

How to Play on This Page

Tap Roll to throw the five dice. To keep a die, tap it: it moves up into the Kept row and gets a Kept label. Tap it again to put it back. The Roll button always says how many rolls you have left.

You never have to add anything up. The score sheet shows what your dice would score in every empty box. Tap the box you want, then tap the Score button to write it in. A line above the sheet keeps count of Ones to Sixes for the 35-point bonus.

Play alone and try to beat your best score, play against a computer player, or choose two to four players on this device to pass a tablet around the table. Not sure what to keep? Tap Hint. Wondering what the computer was thinking? Tap Why? beside its move.

Tips for a Higher Score

  • Aim for three of each number in Ones to Sixes. That makes exactly 63 and earns the 35 bonus.
  • Keep matching dice early. Three of a kind after the first roll can turn into four, a full house or a Yacht.
  • Save Chance for a bad turn late in the game, rather than spending it on a middling roll early.
  • Use Ones for a zero. If a turn goes nowhere, a zero in Ones costs you very little.
  • Go for straights from the middle. Keeping 3, 4 and 5 leaves more ways to finish a straight than keeping 1, 2 and 3.

More Yacht Dice strategy

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Yacht Dice free to play here?

Yes. Play as many games as you like for free, with no account, no download and no ads over the game.

Is this the five-dice game I played at home?

Very likely. Five-dice scoring games have been played under several names for about a hundred years. If you remember thirteen boxes, Ones to Sixes at the top and a full house, straights and five of a kind below, you already know how to play. A few boxes may have had different names at your table.

Does the computer cheat or get better dice?

No. Every roll, yours and the computer's, is worked out from the deal number, the player, the round and the roll number. The computer gets the same kind of random dice as you and cannot choose or see them before they are rolled. Its skill is only in which dice it keeps and which box it uses, and you can tap Why? beside any of its moves to read its reason. Dice History lists every roll of the game, and Replay This Deal rolls the same dice again for the same choices.

What is the joker rule?

It only matters when you roll five of a kind a second time. If you already scored 50 in the Yacht box, you get 100 bonus points. Then the dice must go in the matching number box (Fives for five 5s) if it is still empty. If that box is full, you may use any empty combination box for full points, so a full house still scores 25 and a large straight 40. If those are all full too, you put a zero in an empty number box. The game tells you which boxes are allowed.

How does the 35-point bonus work?

Add up your six number boxes, Ones to Sixes. If they come to 63 or more, you get 35 extra points. Sixty-three is what you get with three of each number, so aim for at least three in each of those boxes. A line above the score sheet counts it for you.

Can my family play together on one device?

Yes, on a tablet or computer. Tap New Game and choose two to four players on this device. You can type in everyone's names, and the name of whoever's turn it is shows in big letters. Pass the device along after each turn.

Can I take back a move?

In a solo game and with players on this device, Undo takes back the dice you kept and the box you scored in, as long as nobody has rolled since. It never takes back a roll, because dice that have been rolled stay rolled. Against the computer, you pick a box and then confirm it with the Score button, so mistakes are easy to avoid.

Does the game save my progress?

Yes. Your game is saved in your browser after every move, so you can close the page and continue later on the same device. Your best score, average and number of games are kept too: tap Statistics.

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