How to Play Yahtzee Online: Full Rules, Scoring & Free Multiplayer
The complete rules of Yahtzee — how many dice, how many rolls per turn, what a full house scores and how the upper-section bonus works — plus a free way to play with friends online, no download and no sign-up.
Yahtzee is the classic five-dice game where you chase combinations across thirteen rounds and try to squeeze the highest score out of every roll. It's easy to learn in two minutes and genuinely hard to master — which is exactly why it's still a game-night favourite decades on.
This guide covers everything you actually search for: how many dice you need, how many rolls you get, what each combination scores, and the two rules people always argue about (the full house and the bonus).
What you need
- 5 dice
- A scorecard (or a screen that keeps score for you)
- 1 or more players — Yahtzee works solo or with a full table
How a turn works
On your turn you get up to three rolls.
- Roll all five dice.
- Keep the dice you like, re-roll the rest.
- Roll a third and final time if you want to.
After your third roll — or earlier, if you're happy — you must put your result into one category on your scorecard. Each category can only be used once, so part of the skill is deciding when to "spend" a good roll and when to take the zero.
The thirteen categories and how they score
Upper section
| Category | Scores |
|---|---|
| Ones | Sum of all 1s |
| Twos | Sum of all 2s |
| Threes | Sum of all 3s |
| Fours | Sum of all 4s |
| Fives | Sum of all 5s |
| Sixes | Sum of all 6s |
The upper-section bonus: if your six upper categories add up to 63 or more, you get a 35-point bonus. Sixty-three is what you'd get by rolling three of each number — so anything above average across the top half earns it.
Lower section
| Category | What it is | Scores |
|---|---|---|
| Three of a Kind | Three dice showing the same number | Sum of all five dice |
| Four of a Kind | Four dice showing the same number | Sum of all five dice |
| Full House | Three of one number plus two of another | 25 |
| Small Straight | Four in a row (e.g. 2-3-4-5) | 30 |
| Large Straight | Five in a row (e.g. 2-3-4-5-6) | 40 |
| Yahtzee | Five of a kind | 50 |
| Chance | Anything at all | Sum of all five dice |
The two rules everyone asks about
What is a full house in Yahtzee? A full house is three dice of one number and two of another — for example three 4s and two 6s. It always scores a flat 25 points, no matter which numbers make it up. Five of a kind counts as a Yahtzee, not a full house.
How many rolls do you get? Three per turn — the first roll plus two optional re-rolls. You can stop early and score whenever you like.
How many dice? Five. That's it for the whole game.
Rolling a second Yahtzee
If you roll a Yahtzee, score it as 50. Roll another one later and — assuming your Yahtzee box is already filled with a 50 — you earn a 100-point bonus each time. This is where big scores come from.
A simple strategy to score higher
- Lock in your bonus early. Chasing those 63 upper points is worth 35 free — don't leave Ones through Sixes to the last minute.
- Use Chance as a dump. A bad final roll can always go into Chance for its face value.
- Don't force a Yahtzee. Take the small straight or full house in front of you rather than gambling three rolls on five-of-a-kind.
Play Yahtzee free with friends — no download, no sign-up
Keeping score by hand is where the fun leaks out. On FateRound you can play Yahtzee online right in your browser — it handles every roll, the bonus and the scorecard automatically.
Start a room, share the code with friends anywhere in the world, and you're playing in seconds. No account, no app, no cost. Create a room now or browse the rest of the games.