How to play Yacht

Call it before you throw it.

1–8 players · 10-15 min

Five dice, twelve categories

Yacht is a dice game about deciding which dice to keep and which category to chase. You throw five dice up to three times, keeping any you like between throws, then score the result in one of twelve categories. After twelve rounds, the highest total wins.

Everybody throws at the same time, so eight players finish in the same ten to fifteen minutes as one. You can play it alone, too.

JoinUs adds one rule. Before your first throw, you can call the category you are going for. Hit it and it pays double. Miss, and you score whatever the dice gave you in that category, in front of everyone.

Twelve ways to score

Each turn you throw five dice up to three times, then score them in one of twelve categories on your card. Each category is filled once, so a game is twelve rounds. Everyone throws at the same time.

Ones to Sixes: Add up the dice showing that number.
Full House: All five dice added together, with three of one number and two of another. Five of a kind doesn’t count.
Four of a Kind: Add up the four matching dice.
Little Straight: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 30 points.
Big Straight: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 30 points.
Choice: Add up all five dice, whatever they are.
Yacht: Five of the same number. 50 points.

A category the dice do not fit scores zero, so writing a Full House without a full house puts a zero in Full House.

A turn

Throw all five dice, keep any you like, and throw the rest. You can do that twice more, or stop early. Then choose an open category and score the dice in it. Taking a zero in a category you were unlikely to fill is sometimes the best choice.

Before your first throw, you can call the category you are going for, and everyone sees the call. If the dice fit it, the score is doubled. If they do not, you still have to score that category with whatever the dice show. You cannot call your last open category.

A call on Choice always scores something. A call on Yacht is worth 100 points if it lands and nothing if it misses.

You have to throw at least once before you can score. A call doubles whatever the called category scores, and zero doubled is still zero.

The host can switch on a 45-second round timer. When it runs out, anyone who has not scored has their dice put in the best category they have open, or in the one they called.

Who wins

After twelve rounds, the highest total wins. Players tied for first each throw one die, and the highest throw wins. Ties for other places are shared.

Your total is every category added up, doubled calls included.

Three fours and a decision

Round five. Fours, Full House, Four of a Kind and Choice are all still open on your card, and you have not called anything.

First throw: 4, 4, 4, 2, 6. Three of a kind on the first throw is a good start, because it keeps three categories alive at once. You keep the three 4s and throw the other two.

Second throw: 2 and 5, so the dice read 4, 4, 4, 2, 5. It is tempting to keep the 2 and throw only the 5, hoping for another 2 and a Full House. That works one time in three: a 2 or a 4 on one die. Throwing both dice works more often. At least one 4 turns up 11 times in 36, a pair of anything else 5 times in 36, so 16 throws in 36 give you something good. You throw both.

Third throw: 4 and 1. Final dice: 4, 4, 4, 4, 1. That is 16 in Fours, 16 in Four of a Kind, or 17 in Choice.

Score it in Fours. A turn that ends in Fours often scores 8 or 12, so 16 is a strong result for that category. Four of a Kind can wait for a set of 6s or 5s, worth 24 or 20.

Had you called Fours before the first throw, the 16 would have been 32. Had you called Full House, the 1 on the last die would have left you with zero, doubled.

Getting more out of the card

Ones can never score more than 5. That makes it the cheapest place on the card for a bad turn, and the best one to keep for the turn that goes wrong.

Straights reward patience. From 2, 3, 4, 5 after the first throw, you need a 1 or a 6 on one die, and with two throws left you will get one about five times in nine. Either finishes a straight, and both straights pay 30.

Yacht pays 50, the biggest single score on the card, and five of a kind is rare. Chase it early, when a miss can go somewhere cheap. In the last few rounds it is often the right place for a zero.

Call the categories that still score when you miss. A called Sixes with only two 6s is 12, doubled to 24. A called Full House that misses is zero. Choice always scores something, so a called Choice is the steadiest double on the card.

Play Yacht