Yacht dice game: rules and a game to play here
Yacht is the old five-dice game with twelve categories, three rolls a turn and a 50 for five alike. Play it below on your own for a high score, pass one phone around for two to four players, or take on up to three computer players. Under the game, the odds helper shows the exact chance of finishing each combination from the dice you hold.
Play Yacht
Keys: 1 to 5 hold or free a die, R rolls.
Score it as
Game log
Settings: players, rules, computer
Chance to finish
| Goal | Chance | Best hold |
|---|
Expected points for each category
| Category | Now | Playing for it | Hold |
|---|
Yacht in 30 seconds
- You need five dice, a pencil and a score card with twelve categories for each player.
- On your turn, roll all five dice. You may roll again twice more, setting aside any dice you want to keep each time.
- After your last roll (or sooner, if you like what you see), write a score in one empty category. If the dice do not fit it, you write 0.
- Each category is filled once, so the game lasts twelve rounds.
- Add up the card. Highest total wins. There are no bonuses.
Full rules
Setup
Any number can play. Give each player a column on the score card and agree who goes first; turns then go around the table. One set of five dice is enough for everyone.
A turn
Roll all five dice. Look at them and decide what you are aiming for. You may pick up any or all of the dice and roll those again, then do it once more, for three rolls at most. You may stop after the first or second roll. In our game, a die you held on the second roll can still be picked up for the third; Wikipedia's article does not say either way.
Your turn ends when you write a score in one category you have not used yet. You have to fill a box every turn, even when the dice fit nothing; then you choose a box to take a 0 in. In our game, a tap on a box that would score 0 asks for a second tap, so a slip does not cost you a category.
Ending the game
There are twelve categories, so after twelve rounds every card is full. Add each column. The highest total wins. Wikipedia's article gives no tie rule; our game shows a shared win.
What each category scores
| Category | How it scores | Example | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ones | Total of the 1s | 1 1 4 5 1 | 3 |
| Twos | Total of the 2s | 2 6 2 3 4 | 4 |
| Threes | Total of the 3s | 3 3 3 3 3 | 15 |
| Fours | Total of the 4s | 4 1 2 5 6 | 4 |
| Fives | Total of the 5s | 5 5 2 5 6 | 15 |
| Sixes | Total of the 6s | 6 6 6 6 1 | 24 |
| Full House | Three of one face and two of another: total of all five dice | 6 6 6 5 5 | 28 |
| Four of a Kind | At least four alike: total of those four dice | 3 3 3 3 6 | 12 |
| Little Straight | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: 30 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 30 |
| Big Straight | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6: 30 | 2 3 4 5 6 | 30 |
| Choice | Anything: total of all five dice | 1 3 4 6 6 | 20 |
| Yacht | Five alike: 50 | 4 4 4 4 4 | 50 |
Rolls that cause arguments
- Five alike in Full House: 0. Wikipedia's article is clear that a Yacht cannot be scored as a Full House.
- Five alike in Four of a Kind: allowed, and only four dice count. Five 6s there score 24.
- Four in a row: scores nothing in either straight. Both straights need all five dice, 1 to 5 or 2 to 6.
- A 1 to 5 run in Big Straight: 0. The two straights are different boxes; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 is only a Little Straight.
How Yacht differs from the boxed game sold as Yahtzee
Wikipedia's Yacht article lists the differences between the two games. In Yacht:
- There is no bonus for the number boxes and no bonus for a second five-alike.
- There is no Three of a Kind box, so the card has twelve boxes, not thirteen.
- Both straights are full five-dice runs worth 30 each. There is no four-in-a-row straight.
- Full House adds up the dice instead of paying a fixed score, and Four of a Kind counts four dice instead of all five.
- Chance is called Choice, and the five-alike box is the Yacht.
Where sources differ
Yacht has close relatives that use the same five dice and three rolls. Their scoring does not agree.
- Full House. Yacht (Wikipedia, 1938 rules) and Yatzy (Wikipedia's Yatzy article) both score it as the total of all five dice. Generala (Wikipedia's Generala article) pays a flat 30.
- Four of a Kind. Yacht and Yatzy count the four matching dice. Generala pays a flat 40.
- Straights. Yacht has two boxes at 30 each, but Wikipedia footnotes both with "score is depending on the rule variant", so some tables use other values. Yatzy pays 15 for 1 to 5 and 20 for 2 to 6. Generala has one Straight box at 20, and says some players let a straight wrap around, such as 3, 4, 5, 6, 1.
- Bonuses. Yacht has none. Yatzy adds 50 when the number boxes reach 63. Generala adds 5 or 10 for a Straight, Full House or Four of a Kind made on the first roll, and a Generala (five alike) on the first roll wins the game outright.
- Number of boxes. Yacht has 12. Yatzy has 15, with One Pair, Two Pairs and Three of a Kind added. Generala has 10, plus an optional Double Generala.
Our game uses the 1938 Yacht rules exactly as Wikipedia lists them, with both straights at 30. Our Generala setting is described below.
Variants and house rules
Generala setting (variant)
Pick "Generala" in the settings to play the Latin American relative. Ten boxes: Ones to Sixes, Straight (1 to 5 or 2 to 6) for 20, Full House for 30, Four of a Kind for 40, Generala for 50. Choices we made where Wikipedia's Generala article gives a range or an option:
- The first-roll bonus is 5 (the article says 5 or 10).
- Generala is 50 (the article says 50 or 60). No Double Generala and no wrap-around straights.
- A Generala on the first roll wins at once when two or more are playing. In solo play it just scores 50.
- Five alike can go in Four of a Kind or a number box, as the article says. We do not let it count as a Full House, matching Yacht.
House rules some tables use (not in our game)
- Play three games in a row and add the totals, so one lucky Yacht does not decide the night.
- Agree before you start whether five alike may count as a Full House. The 1938 rules say no.
Tips
- Do not chase the Yacht from the start. With three rolls and the best holds, a fresh turn ends in five alike only 4.6% of the time. The Yacht box often ends up as the place for a 0 late in the game, and that costs little: playing only for it from a fresh turn is worth about 2.3 points.
- Make Full House a high one. It adds the dice, so 6, 6, 6, 5, 5 is 28 while 1, 1, 1, 2, 2 is 7. With two pairs and a spare die, keep both pairs: the chance of the Full House is 55.6% with two rolls left and 33.3% with one.
- A run of 2, 3, 4, 5 serves both straights. Hold it and a 1 gives the Little Straight, a 6 the Big Straight. With 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 already in hand and two rolls left, rolling only the 1 for a Big Straight works 30.6% of the time.
- Four of a Kind favors high faces. Four 1s score just 4. Four 6s score 24, more than the 18 you get for three 6s in Sixes. From a fresh turn the chance of four alike with good holds is 29.1%.
- Keep Choice for a bad turn. Playing only for a high total from a fresh turn averages 23.3. A 25 or more in Choice early is fine; a 15 is a waste.
Play online or at home
Online: the game at the top of this page, solo, passed around one phone, or against one to three computer players.
At home: five ordinary dice, a cup if you have one, and the printable sheet below. Use the odds helper on a phone beside you if you want to check a hold. No dice in the house? Our dice roller rolls five at a time.
Printable Yacht score sheet
Yacht score sheet Tally & Table
| Category | Scores | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | |||||||
| Ones | Total of the 1s | ||||||
| Twos | Total of the 2s | ||||||
| Threes | Total of the 3s | ||||||
| Fours | Total of the 4s | ||||||
| Fives | Total of the 5s | ||||||
| Sixes | Total of the 6s | ||||||
| Full House | Three of one face and two of another: total of all five dice | ||||||
| Four of a Kind | At least four alike: total of those four dice | ||||||
| Little Straight | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: 30 | ||||||
| Big Straight | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6: 30 | ||||||
| Choice | Anything: total of all five dice | ||||||
| Yacht | Five alike: 50 | ||||||
| Total | |||||||
Up to three rolls a turn. One category per turn, each used once. Dice that do not fit score 0. Five alike is not a Full House. No bonuses.
Yacht questions
How do you play Yacht?
Each player takes twelve turns. On a turn you roll five dice up to three times, keeping any dice you like between rolls, then write a score in one of twelve categories on your card. Each category is used once. After twelve rounds every box is full, and the highest total wins.
Does a Yacht count as a Full House?
Not in the 1938 rules. Wikipedia's Yacht article says five alike cannot be scored as a Full House, but it can go in Four of a Kind, where only four of the dice count. It can also go in its own number box or in Choice.
How does Four of a Kind score in Yacht?
You add the four matching dice and leave the fifth out. Four 5s and a 2 score 20, not 22. Five alike in this box also scores only four of them.
Is there a bonus in Yacht?
No. The original game has no bonus for the number boxes and no extra points for a second Yacht. Your score is the plain total of your twelve boxes.
What is the highest possible Yacht score?
297: five of each face in Ones to Sixes (105), 28 for a Full House of three 6s and two 5s, 24 for four 6s, 30 for each straight, 30 for five 6s in Choice and 50 for the Yacht.
What are the odds of rolling a Yacht?
Six in 7,776 on a single roll of five dice (about 1 in 1,296). With three rolls and the best holds, our exact count puts it at 4.6% from a fresh turn.