How to play Yacht
The goal
Fill all thirteen boxes on your scorecard, one per turn, and finish with the highest total you can. Against Scienceboos or friends, the highest total wins.
A turn
- Press Throw to throw all five dice.
- Tap any dice you want to keep. Kept dice lift and wear a brass tag; tap one again to let it go.
- Throw again to rethrow only the dice you didn’t keep. You get up to three throws a turn, and you can stop after any of them.
- Tap a box on your scorecard to pick it. The box and the Score button show what it would score with the dice on the table.
- Press Score, or tap the picked box again, to write it in. Every turn ends with exactly one box filled.
If the dice don’t fit any box you’d like, you must still fill one: it scores 0 (a scratch). Each box is filled only once.
The boxes
| Box | Scores |
|---|---|
| Ones, Twos … Sixes | The total of the dice showing that number |
| Upper bonus | 35 more when Ones to Sixes add up to 63 or more |
| Three of a kind | All five dice added up, if at least three match |
| Four of a kind | All five dice added up, if at least four match |
| Full house | 25, for three of one number and two of another |
| Small straight | 30, for four numbers in a row (1-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5 or 3-4-5-6) |
| Large straight | 40, for five numbers in a row |
| Yacht | 50, for all five dice the same |
| Chance | All five dice added up, whatever they show |
63 is three of each number in the upper section, so getting three or more of each keeps the bonus in reach.
Bonus Yachts
On by default; switch it in New game.
- A Yacht thrown once your Yacht box is already filled is a bonus Yacht. If your Yacht box holds 50, it adds 100 more.
- A bonus Yacht is also a wild card. It must go in its own upper box (five 4s in Fours) if that box is empty. If not, it may go in any empty lower box, where Full house and both straights score their full value. If every lower box is filled too, it goes in an empty upper box as 0.
- If your Yacht box was scratched to 0, a later Yacht adds nothing extra, but the wild-card rule still applies.
Other ways to play
Choose these in New game.
- Solo: thirteen turns, and your best ten one-column scores go in your statistics.
- Vs Scienceboos: you and one to three Scienceboos take turns at the same table. Easy keeps the obvious dice and takes the biggest score in front of it; Medium weighs every way to keep dice, one throw ahead; Hard plans the whole turn and plays for the bonus. Each Scienceboo has its own style too: some chase Yachts, some love straights, some play for the bonus. Tap a seat to see that player’s scorecard.
- Pass and play: two to four people share this device, each with a named scorecard. The line on the deck says whose turn it is.
- Daily roll: one game a day with the same dice luck for everyone. Each turn starts with the same first throw, and keeping the same dice brings the same throws, so your score is a fair comparison. One try a day, then share your score.
- Three columns: every box three times over, in columns scored ×1, ×2 and ×3. Each column has its own upper bonus, and its total (bonus included) is multiplied. A game is 39 turns. Bonus Yachts count once every Yacht box is filled.
- Top to bottom: fill the boxes in order, Ones first and Chance last. In three columns, fill the next box down in any column.
Controls
Undo takes back your last score until the next throw (not against Scienceboos). With the Hint button on in Settings, Hint suggests which dice to keep or which box to score, and says why.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| R | Throw |
| 1 to 5 | Keep or release a die |
| Arrow keys | Move between boxes on the scorecard |
| Enter or Space | Pick the focused box; again to score it |
| S | Score the picked box |
| U | Undo the last score |
| H | Hint (when the Hint button is on) |
Tips
- The upper bonus is worth more than it looks: aim for three or more of each number, and treat four 6s as a gift to Sixes.
- Keep a pair and go for more of the same early on; keep four in a row when a straight box is still open.
- Use Chance for a high throw that fits nothing else, rather than early in the game.
- When nothing fits, scratch a box you’re unlikely to fill well anyway: Ones, or the Yacht box late in the game.
Questions
Are the dice fair? Yes. Every die is decided at random as you throw it, and nothing changes it afterwards. In the Daily roll, everyone gets the same random dice for the same choices.
What counts as a game played? A game counts when its last box is filled. A Vs or daily game you leave after your first score counts too. Solo, Daily and Pass and play games count as won when finished; Vs games when your total is highest. Pass and play scores stay out of your records.
Do I need an account? No. Your game saves on this device automatically. An optional account adds cloud saves across devices.
