Yacht Dice is a dice game with 5 dice and a scorecard of 13 boxes. Each turn you roll the dice up to three times, keep the ones you like, and score the result in one empty box. After 13 rounds every box is full, and the player with the highest total wins. This guide covers the full rules used on this site, how every box scores, the upper bonus, extra Yachts and the joker rule, plus the odds of rolling each combination.
Watch: how to play Yacht Dice
How to Play Yacht Dice: Rules and Scoring Explained
Chapters
Overview
| Players | 1 to 6 on this site (any number on paper) |
| Time | About 15 to 25 minutes for two to four players |
| Equipment | Five six-sided dice, a scorecard and a pencil. Here the dice and scorecard are built in |
| Skills | Adding up to 30, weighing chances, planning ahead |
| Goal | The highest total after 13 rounds |
The game is all about choices under luck. The dice decide what you can make, but you decide which dice to keep, when to stop rolling and which box each roll is worth spending.
Setting up
Every player gets a scorecard column with 13 empty boxes, split into two sections:
- Upper section: Ones, Twos, Threes, Fours, Fives and Sixes, plus a bonus line.
- Lower section: Three of a Kind, Four of a Kind, Full House, Small Straight, Large Straight, Yacht and Chance.
Decide who starts. Play then passes to the next player in order. On this site the setup asks for the number of players and their names, and lets you make any seat a computer player. A rematch passes the first turn on to the next player.
Objective
Score as many points as possible by filling each of your 13 boxes exactly once. There is no way to block another player. Each scorecard is separate, so the race is to make better use of your own dice than everyone else.
How a turn works
- First roll. Roll all five dice.
- Keep and re-roll. Set aside, or hold, any dice you want to keep, and roll the rest. You may do this twice, for a maximum of three rolls in the turn.
- Score. Choose one empty box and write the score your five dice make there. This ends your turn, even if you had rolls left.
On this site you tap a die to hold it, and held dice are marked Held. The scorecard shows what the dice would score in every open box. Click a box to score it, which ends your turn. On a touch screen, tap a box once to pick it, then tap it again or press Score; until you do, you can still hold, roll or pick another box. If you scored the wrong box, Undo gives you the same dice back to choose again, until the next person rolls.
The scorecard explained
| Box | What you need | Score | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ones to Sixes | Dice showing that number | Total of those dice | 4, 4, 4, 2, 1 in Fours = 12 |
| Three of a Kind | At least three dice the same | Total of all five dice | 5, 5, 5, 2, 6 = 23 |
| Four of a Kind | At least four dice the same | Total of all five dice | 2, 2, 2, 2, 6 = 14 |
| Full House | Three of one number and two of another | 25 | 3, 3, 3, 6, 6 |
| Small Straight | Four numbers in a row | 30 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 |
| Large Straight | Five numbers in a row | 40 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
| Yacht | All five dice the same | 50 | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
| Chance | Any dice | Total of all five dice | 6, 5, 4, 3, 1 = 19 |
The upper section rewards collecting one number. The lower section rewards patterns. A roll that does not match a box scores 0 there, and you are always allowed to take that 0.
Special rules
Holding and re-rolling
You choose again before every roll. A die you held after the first roll can be released before the third, and a die from the second roll can be held. You never have to re-roll anything: stopping early is always allowed. On this site, holding all five dice simply means you are ready to score.
Three and Four of a Kind count every die
These two boxes score the total of all five dice, not just the matching ones. Four of a kind also qualifies for Three of a Kind, and a Yacht qualifies for both. High numbers matter here: three 6s with a 5 and a 4 score 27, while three 1s with a 2 and a 3 score only 8.
Full House needs two different numbers
Exactly three of one number plus two of another number. Two pairs, four of a kind plus one, or five of a kind do not count, except for an extra Yacht under the joker rule below.
Straights ignore duplicates and order
Any four numbers in a row make a Small Straight: 1-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5 or 3-4-5-6. The fifth die can be anything, including a repeat, so 2, 3, 4, 5, 5 counts. A Large Straight needs all five dice in a row: 1-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6. The order the dice landed in does not matter.
Scratching a box
If your dice do not fit anywhere you want them, you must still fill a box. Writing 0 in a box is often called scratching it. You can scratch any empty box, including Yacht.
The upper bonus
If your six upper boxes add up to 63 or more, you get a 35-point bonus. Sixty-three is exactly three of each number (3 + 6 + 9 + 12 + 15 + 18), so every upper box can be judged against that target. Four 6s put you 6 points ahead, which can make up for only two 4s elsewhere.
Extra Yachts: the 100-point bonus
If you roll a Yacht when your Yacht box already holds 50, you get a 100-point bonus, and you also score the roll in another box using the joker rule. Each extra Yacht earns another 100. If you scratched your Yacht box earlier, extra Yachts earn no bonus, but the joker rule still decides where they go.
The joker rule
Whenever you roll a Yacht and your Yacht box is already filled, with 50 or with 0, the roll must be placed like this:
- Matching upper box first. Five 4s go in Fours if that box is empty, scoring 20.
- Otherwise any empty lower box. Here the Yacht works as a joker: Full House scores 25, Small Straight 30 and Large Straight 40, while Three of a Kind, Four of a Kind and Chance score the total of the dice.
- Otherwise any empty upper box, where it scores 0.
This is the forced version of the joker rule, and it is the one this site uses. The scorecard only lets you pick the boxes the rule allows, and the bonus is added for you.
Winning, ties and the final score
When every player has filled all 13 boxes, add up each scorecard: the upper section, the 35-point bonus if you reached 63, the lower section and any 100-point extra Yacht bonuses. The highest total wins. If two or more players tie for the highest total, they share the win. In a solo game your total is your result, and the site remembers your best score on your device.
How likely is each combination?
These are exact chances for five fair dice. The second and third columns assume you keep the dice that help and re-roll the rest, aiming for that one combination only.
| Combination | First roll | By the second roll | By the third roll |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three of a Kind or better | 21.3% | 54.1% | 74.3% |
| Four of a Kind or better | 2.0% | 13.2% | 29.1% |
| Full House | 3.9% | 19.1% | 36.3% |
| Small Straight | 15.4% | 41.2% | 61.5% |
| Large Straight | 3.1% | 13.0% | 26.1% |
| Yacht | 0.08% | 1.3% | 4.6% |
A Yacht on the very first roll comes up only once in 1,296 rolls on average. Two more facts are worth remembering. If you spend a whole turn chasing one number, you finish with about 2.1 dice showing it on average, a little short of the three you need for the bonus pace. And a turn played purely for Chance scores about 23 points on average.
Variants and house rules
The five-dice scorecard game has been played with many small differences. Here are common ones, and what this site does:
- Extra Yacht bonus on or off. Some families skip the 100-point bonus. The setup has an Extra Yacht bonus switch, on by default. When it is off, an extra Yacht earns no bonus and there is no joker rule, so five of a kind scores like any other roll.
- Free choice joker. A friendlier house rule lets an extra Yacht go in any open box at joker value. This site uses the forced joker described above.
- Older 12-box scorecards. Some older and regional rule sets have no Three of a Kind box and no upper bonus, score a Full House as the total of the dice, and use fixed straights. This site uses the common modern 13-box scorecard.
- Several columns. Some players fill two or three scorecard columns at once to make a longer game. Here each player has one column.
Common mistakes and rule disputes
- Counting only the matching dice in Three or Four of a Kind. Both boxes score all five dice.
- Scoring five of a kind as a Full House. It only counts as a Full House under the joker rule.
- Taking a fourth roll. Three rolls is the limit, including the first one.
- Filling two boxes in one turn. Each turn fills exactly one box, even after a Yacht bonus.
- Rolling again after choosing a box. Choosing the box ends the rolling. On paper, once the score is written it stays.
- Forgetting the bonus line. Check the upper total before adding everything up. On this site totals and bonuses are calculated for you.
Glossary
- Box (category): one of the 13 spaces on the scorecard.
- Hold (keep): set a die aside so it is not re-rolled.
- Par: three of a number in an upper box, the pace that reaches 63.
- Scratch: score 0 in a box on purpose.
- Straight: numbers in a row. Small is four, large is five.
- Yacht: all five dice showing the same number.
- Joker: an extra Yacht scored in a lower box at full value.
- Upper bonus: the 35 points for 63 or more in Ones to Sixes.
Play it now
You know the rules, so play Yacht Dice solo, with friends on one device or against the computer. To turn the rules into better scores, read the Yacht Dice strategy tutorial next.
