How to Play Yahtzee Online with Friends
5 min read · Free to play on Boardly
Yahtzee is one of the most popular dice games in the world — and on Boardly, you can play it online with friends in real-time, completely free. This guide covers everything you need to know: the rules, all 13 scoring categories, and tips to improve your strategy.
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 13 scoring categories. Once a category is filled, it cannot be changed. The game ends when all 13 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 (Aces through Sixes) totals 63 or more.
All 13 Scoring Categories
Upper Section
Sum of all dice showing 1
Sum of all dice showing 2
Sum of all dice showing 3
Sum of all dice showing 4
Sum of all dice showing 5
Sum of all dice showing 6
Lower Section
At least 3 identical dice — score is sum of all 5 dice
At least 4 identical dice — score is sum of all 5 dice
Three of one number + two of another
Four sequential dice (e.g. 1-2-3-4 or 3-4-5-6)
Five sequential dice (1-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6)
All five dice the same
Any combination — score is sum of all 5 dice
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, which is huge.
- 💡 Keep Yahtzee attempts alive
If you have 3 or 4 of the same number on your first roll, it's usually worth going for the 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 and have already filled high-value categories, 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.