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How to Play Yahtzee Online with Friends

5 min read · Free to play on Boardly · 1–4 players

What You Need

  • ✅ 1–4 players (play solo against AI or with friends)
  • ✅ A browser — desktop, tablet, or mobile
  • ✅ No account required (guest play available)
  • ✅ Free — no ads, no download

The Basic Rules

Each turn, you roll five dice. You may re-roll any or all of them up to two more times (three rolls total). After your rolls, you must assign your result to one of 15 scoring categories. Once a category is filled, it cannot be changed. The game ends when all 15 categories are filled by every player.

The player with the highest total score wins. A bonus of 35 points is awarded if your upper section score totals 63 or more.

All 15 Scoring Categories

Upper Section

Aces (1s)

Sum of all dice showing 1

1+1+3+4+6 = 2 pts
Twos (2s)

Sum of all dice showing 2

2+2+2+4+6 = 6 pts
Threes (3s)

Sum of all dice showing 3

3+3+3+4+6 = 9 pts
Fours (4s)

Sum of all dice showing 4

4+4+4+4+6 = 16 pts
Fives (5s)

Sum of all dice showing 5

5+5+5+5+6 = 20 pts
Sixes (6s)

Sum of all dice showing 6

6+6+6+6+6 = 30 pts

Lower Section

One Pair

Sum of the highest pair

5+5+1+2+3 = 10 pts
Two Pairs

Sum of both pairs

5+5+3+3+1 = 16 pts
Three of a Kind

Sum of all 5 dice

3+3+3+5+6 = 20 pts
Four of a Kind

Sum of all 5 dice

4+4+4+4+2 = 18 pts
Full House

Three of one + two of another

25 pts fixed
Small Straight

4 sequential dice

30 pts fixed
Large Straight

5 sequential dice

40 pts fixed
Yahtzee!

All five dice the same

50 pts (100 bonus extra)
Chance

Any combo — sum of all 5 dice

Useful as a dump

Strategy Tips

  • 💡 Chase the upper section bonus

    Aim for at least 3 of each number in the upper section — that gets you to 63 points and the 35-point bonus.

  • 💡 Keep Yahtzee attempts alive

    If you have 3 or 4 of the same number on your first roll, it's usually worth going for Yahtzee rather than settling for three-of-a-kind.

  • 💡 Use Chance as a last resort

    Chance scores the sum of all dice — save it for turns where nothing else fits. A good Chance score is usually 20+.

  • 💡 Fill low-value categories early

    If you roll a bad set, put zeros in Aces or Twos early — they're worth little anyway.

  • 💡 Prioritize Large Straight over Small

    Large Straight scores 40 vs 30 for Small. If you have 4 sequential dice after roll 1, go for the large.

Ready to put this into practice?

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