Yardzee Game Rules

Roll a die to see who starts, highest goes first. Play continues clockwise. Each player chooses a peg colour and a player number. The object of the game is to roll dice to get the highest score after all rounds and the scorecard is filled.

Fill in one empty box in the column under your player number each turn. Roll up to 3 times each turn to create the best possible score. The first roll must be made with all five dice. If the player chooses to roll a second and, if desired, a third time, they may pick up any or all the dice and roll again.

It is the skillful use of these two optional rolls of the dice that can turn an unlucky first or second roll into a high-scoring turn. A score must be entered after the last roll in the appropriate box or a zero entered in a box of the player’s choice. A zero or a scratch is recorded by placing a different coloured peg then your own colour in a box.

Scoring

On each completed turn, the player must score in one of the 13 boxes. The boxes may be filled in any order, according to the player’s best judgement and the luck of the dice.

The score card has an upper section and a lower section. The upper section contains six boxes labelled 1 to 6. When a player chooses to score in the Upper Section, they count and add only the dice with the same number and record the total of these dice in the appropriate box and peg hole. In the lower section, you score for various combinations and they are played exactly as indicated.

3 of a kind – may be filled in only if the dice show at least 3 of the same number. 

4 of a kind – may be filled in only if the dice show at least 4 of the same number.

Full House – You need to roll both a “3 of a kind” and a pair. 

Small Straight – This is any sequence of four numbers.

Large Straight – This is a sequence of five numbers. 

Chance – This offers a player the opportunity to score on any one turn where they do not choose to score in any of the other open boxes or score a zero. Mark score by adding numbers on all dice and round to the nearest 5.

Yardzee – This is any “five of a kind”. If you roll a Yardzee and you already filled in the Yardzee box, you get a 100-point bonus.

Bonus – You get a bonus of 35 points if the total number of points you scored in the upper section is 63 or higher.

Once the card is filled, add up each player’s score from all of their boxes and record the digits