Yacht Dice Game
Five dice, three rolls, thirteen categories โ chase the upper bonus.
About this game
Roll five dice up to three times, holding what you like between rolls, then spend the result on one of thirteen categories โ each used exactly once. The sheet shows what every open category would score RIGHT NOW, and your best total lives on this device.
Scoring strategy, honestly computed
Yacht is the public-domain ancestor (1930s) of the trademarked game everyone knows, and its strategy is genuinely mathematical. The upper bonus runs the show: 63+ points up top (an average of three dice of each face) earns +35, so early turns should bank good upper scores rather than chase straights. The painful skill is strategic zeroing โ dumping a busted turn into Ones or Yacht rather than wasting Chance, which is your late-game shock absorber. Expected-value trivia: perfect play averages around 254, 250+ is a strong human game, and the yacht itself (all five alike) arrives about once in 22 games of honest rolling โ the randomness guide explains why it feels rarer. Plain dice and solitaire flank this one on the solo shelf.
Frequently asked questions
How do the three rolls work?
Roll all five, hold any (tap them), re-roll the rest โ up to twice more. Then a category must be filled, even if the best available score is zero.
What's the upper bonus?
Score 63+ across Ones-through-Sixes and earn +35 โ the threshold equals three dice of each face. Chasing it early is the single biggest strategic lever.
When should I take a zero?
When a turn busts, dump the zero where it costs least โ Ones (max 5) or Yacht (if you're realistic). Preserving Chance for a late bad turn is the veteran move.
What's a good score?
200 is respectable, 250+ is strong (perfect play averages ~254), and anything with a 50-point yacht in it feels better than it scored. Best totals persist on this device.