Yahtzee has been around since before most of us can remember, and is a highly interactive and fun game! It was invented by Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. It gets a lot of it's rules and scoring from other classic dice and card games. Being as timeless as this game truly is, you can see where it would get its initial appeal. It isn't necessarily a long game which makes it perfect for any family game night. It is a great way to teach children math as well.

You can really get into this game as a hobby or just as a way to break the ice. It is a combination of all different games, so it ends up being really interesting and a lot of fun. If you consider yourself somewhat of a game expert, you'll find this game a joy to own, play and may even find yourself a new challenge. If you're a bit more of the cautious type when it comes to games, you don't have to get competitive about it, and is actually sometimes more fun when it's only looked at as a time killer so to speak. All in all, you should highly enjoy this game of strategy and chance!

The Yahtzee game board isn't really even a board at all. It's more of a tray with five slots, one for each die. The tray is used for rolling the dice during game play. Another piece of equipment for the game is a simple plastic cup, also used for rolling the dice in game play. The last thing you will need during game play is your scoring sheet. This is divided into spaces, the ones on the furthermost left hand side with words and all others are blank boxes used for writing point values. The spaces are divided yet again into two main sections horizontally.

The top section is for individual numbers, meaning you must acquire as many ones, twos, threes, fours, fives and sixes as possible. The scoring for these is simply the added sum of however many dice show that number. For example, if you have three twos, your score for the two box is six. The lower box is your higher scoring box section, generally speaking. This is saved for your remaining seven boxes: 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, full house, small straight, large straight, chance and Yahtzee. These will be a little better understood during game play.

The remainder of your scoring card is a bit more complicated as four of the seven boxes have set scores and the remaining three are the added sum of all of your dice. The full house, which is three of one number and two of another, is worth twenty-five points. The small straight, four out of five dice must be in numerical order, is worth thirty. The large straight, all five dice must be in numerical order, is worth forty. Yahtzee, obviously the name of he game, is when you have all five dice showing the same number and is worth fifty. The 3 and 4 of a kind boxes, you must have 3 or 4 of a kind and the score is the sum of all five dice. The chance box is for when you are absolutely stuck. You may use this box as a last resort and the score is, again, the sum of all of your dice.

You have a maximum of three rolls of the dice to score. If you reach your goal before three rolls, you do not have to use the remaining rolls. You may put aside as many dice per roll as you like until you score what you wish. You can also interchange which dice you keep if you so desire as well.

The key to winning is simply getting the highest score of all the players. This is calculated through your scores on your score card added together. You can also get certain bonuses through scoring a certain amount of points in each main section. One of such bonuses is getting more than one Yahtzee, but there is a limit on the number of Yahtzees you can have. That limit is three. Also, one way some people play is that you can earn bonus rolls. However, do not count on this, as it is not exactly consistent with the original rules. The players take their turns counter-clckwise in most cases, although this is not required, whichever direction you rotate, the scoring will end with the person at the end of the rotation, as this eliminates confusion.

Once you have the scoring process and game play process down, this game will be quite enjoyable to you as it has been for generations, and hopefully for even more to come. Having fun and even coming up with variations for the game is always entertaining and gets everyone's energy and excitement up. Under these circumstances, it's not likely to get boring! Remember to have fun, learn and play well!