Yacht Dice Variations and House Rules

Five-dice scoring games have been passed around kitchen tables, church halls and summer cabins for a long time, and they have picked up plenty of local rules along the way. This page explains the three house rules you can change in the Settings of our online Yacht Dice game, and then a few others you may meet elsewhere, so nobody is surprised at someone else's table.

Rules You Can Change in Our Game

The 35-point bonus for Ones to Sixes

With this rule on (the usual way to play), a player whose six number boxes add up to 63 or more earns 35 extra points. Sixty-three is three of each number, so the bonus rewards steady play in the top half of the sheet.

Switch it off and the top half becomes much less important. Players then tend to dump poor rolls in the number boxes and save their effort for the combinations, and scores drop by around ten to fifteen points on average. Some older versions of the game had no bonus at all, so this is a good choice if that is how you learned.

Extra five of a kind: the 100 bonus and the joker rule

This rule only matters when someone rolls five of a kind after their Yacht box is already filled.

• If the Yacht box holds 50, the extra five of a kind earns a 100-point bonus. If it holds a zero, there is no bonus.
• The dice must go in the matching number box if it is empty (five 3s in Threes).
• If that box is full, they may go in any empty combination box for full points: 25 in Full House, 30 or 40 in the straights, or the total in Three of a Kind, Four of a Kind or Chance. This is the "joker" part: the five of a kind stands in for whatever you need.
• If every combination box is full as well, the dice go in an empty number box for zero.

With the rule off, an extra five of a kind is just an ordinary roll: no bonus, and it only counts where it naturally fits (a number box, Three or Four of a Kind, or Chance). It does not count as a full house or a straight. Turning the rule off makes the game steadier, since one lucky player can no longer jump ahead by 100 points.

Challenge: one roll fewer

With this challenge switched on, each turn has two rolls instead of three. You still keep dice between them. It makes every decision count: straights and five of a kind become much rarer, and Chance and the number boxes carry more weight. Expect to score sixty or seventy points less than usual. It is a good way to sharpen your judgment once the ordinary game feels easy, and a fair handicap when an experienced player meets a beginner.

All three settings apply from your next game. Solo statistics are kept together whatever the rules, so if you want a fair "best score", stick with one set of rules.

Rules You May Meet Elsewhere

Older scoring

The early yacht games used a slightly different sheet. Typical differences: no Three of a Kind box, a "Choice" box in place of Chance, both straights worth 30, Four of a Kind scoring only the four matching dice, and no bonus for the top half. Some sheets also gave a Full House the total of the dice instead of a flat 25. The game feels much the same, but totals are lower.

Playing the boxes in order

A challenging home variation: every player must fill the boxes in order, from Ones down to Chance, one per turn. There is no choosing where to score, only what to keep. It is a good game for children learning their numbers, and a humbling one for experts.

Several columns at once

Some families play two or three columns side by side, filling any box in any column each turn, with the second column counting double and the third triple. A game takes three times as long and rewards long-term planning.

Small differences in the details

• Does a large straight count as a small one? Nearly everyone says yes, and our game agrees.
• Must you take a combination if you roll it? No, at almost every table you may score anywhere you like, or write a zero.
• Calling the box first. A few strict players announce what they are going for before the second roll. That rule is purely for fun; it changes nothing about the score.
• Matches. Some groups play a set number of games and add up the totals, which evens out the luck of a single Yacht.

Which Rules Should You Use?

If you are learning, leave everything as it is: the bonus and the joker rule on, three rolls a turn. That is the game most people know today and what our strategy guide assumes. If you are teaching a grandchild, try the boxes-in-order game with real dice first, then switch to the full game. And when you want a stiffer test, turn on one roll fewer and see how close you can get to your old best.