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Yahtzee is one of our favorite board games! Here are the perfect Christmas printable Yahtzee rules, score cards and game tracker – just add 5 dice and you have hours of fun ahead. Have you planned fun activities for Christmas eve or Christmas day yet? Well Yahtzee is a great entertainer and super easy to make and play.
With this Yahtzee bundle, you can:
- Get your Yahtzee rules and Yahtzee score cards online
- Print everything in the PDF in a matter of minutes for hours of fun
- Get a free PDF with the rules of Yahtzee, to learn how to play Yahtzee
- Take the game anywhere to play as a fun board game – just add 5 dice
- Play it with your buddies, on your own, or let the kids and grandkids entertain themselves this Christmas with a great game
Grab your copy of the Yahtzee Christmas rules, score cards and winner tracker by clicking on the picture below:
Yahtzee is a fun game for people of all ages. It can be played alone or in a group with as many people as you want.
Aim of the game
The aim of the game is to get the highest score and win the game.
Who can play Yahtzee?
Yahtzee is for anyone 8 years old+.
What you need to play Yahtzee
You will need 5 dice and a score card for each person, so they can track their scores.
If you aren’t ready to take advantage of the sale on the Yahtzee bundle, you can still get a free PDF of the rules of Yahtzee by clicking on the picture below:
Who starts a game of Yahtzee?
Each person gets a chance to roll all 5 dice. They add up the numbers on the dice for their score.
The person with the highest score starts the game, which carries on in a clockwise direction.
How to play Yahtzee
The game has 13 rounds. In each round, you roll all the dice up to 3 times and put a score on your score card. You must have a score in each category (e.g. ACES, TWOS etc.) and you must write down a score for each round.
The game ends when all 13 categories have been filled in.
When it’s your turn to play
When it’s your turn, shake and roll all 5 dice. You can choose to keep the score of this throw if you like, or you can roll some or all the dice again to try for a better score. You can use this score or throw all or some of the dice again.
So, you can roll the dice up to 3 times for your turn. With each roll, you choose which dice to keep and which ones to throw again.
At the end of your turn, write down a score on your score card. You can stop rolling and write down a score at any time in your turn – you don’t have to roll the dice 2 or 3 times. For example, if you get a good set of dice on your first throw (you’re lucky!), then simply take the score and write it on your score card to end your turn.
Once you have a score in a category you cannot change it. Only the Yahtzee bonus box can be used more than once.
How to score
There are 2 sections on your score card: the upper section and the lower section.
Upper section scoring:
Choose a category for your score, such as ACES or TWOS. Now add up all numbers in that category and write the total score in the category.
For example, if you end up with 4 – 1 – 2 – 4 – 6 on your final dice and you choose the FOURS category, you add up all the 4’s to get 8. Now you write 8 in the FOURS category because you had two 4’s and 4+4=8.
If you are forced to choose a category that you didn’t throw any numbers for, you get 0. Let’s use the same example as above. If you have 4 – 1 – 2 – 4 – 6 totals on your dice but the only category still open to score is FIVES, then you will write 0 in FIVES because you had no fives to add up for a score.
Upper section bonus:
Try to get the bonus – it could mean winning or losing the game!
If your upper section total is 63 or more, then you will get an extra 35 points added to your score at the end of the game.
Lower section scoring:
In the lower section, you will try to get combinations of numbers. These are explained in the ‘How To Score’ section of your score card, with examples of each in the rules of Yahtzee PDF
Tracking players and games
Want to track many games? That’s easy with the Yahtzee Game & Winner Tracker!
Just write down all the players’ names in the left column of winner tracker. At the end of each game, write down each player’s final score under that game’s column (Game 1, Game 2, etc.)
Write down the winner’s name at the bottom, where it says Game Winner. The winner is the person who got the highest score for that game.
Once you’re done playing all your games, see who won the most games – they are the Overall Winner!
FAQ about Yahtzee
How do you play Yahtzee?
You need 5 dice and a score card to play Yahtzee. There are 13 rounds. Each player rolls all the dice up to 3 times and must put a score on their scorecard. Scoring is done in the upper and lower sections of the scorecard. The game finishes when all 13 rounds are done. The person with the highest score wins.
What is a Yahtzee in a Yahtzee game?
A Yahtzee is 5 of a kind. When you are left with the final 5 numbers of your dice in your turn, and they all show the same number, then you can call out Yahtzee! For example, your dice could show 2 -2 -2 -2 -2.
Why is it called Yahtzee?
Rumor has it that a Canadian couple invented Yahtzee to play on their yacht, so they called it ‘Yacht Game’. Yahtzee might be a play on its original name.
What is a Yahtzee full house?
A Yahtzee full house is three of a kind and two of a kind. So three numbers are the same and 2 numbers are the same, for example 1 – 1 – 1 – 4 – 4.
Can you get 2 Yahtzees in a game?
Yes, you can get 2 or more Yahtzees in a game. You can choose if you want to score your first Yahtzee as a Yahtzee on the score card. If you do that and you get a second Yahtzee, you get 100 bonus points for it.
How long does it take to play Yahtzee?
The average Yahtzee game takes 30 minutes to play, from start to finish. This, of course, depends on how many players there are. The game is done when all players have finished the 13 rounds.
Conclusion
Yahtzee is a fun board game with your buddies, by yourself, or with the kids. All you need to play are the Yahtzee score cards and 5 dice. You can easily take the game with you wherever you go, or stay home to play it for hours of fun.
Be sure to know the rules of the game (grab the free printable in the Tiara Tribe resource library) and how to play it. Have a practice round or two to see how it works, then roll and play away!
I hope you enjoy the game as much as we do!
