How to play Yacht

Yacht is the classic dice game of choices. Each turn you roll five dice up to three times, keeping the ones you like between rolls, and then write the result into one of thirteen boxes on your scoresheet - three of a kind, a full house, a straight, the sixes and so on. Every box can be used only once, and after thirteen turns the sheet is full and the highest total wins.

Luck decides what the dice show, but skill decides what you do with them: which dice to keep, when to stop rolling, and above all which box to give up when the roll goes wrong. Over a whole game, good decisions are worth dozens of points.

How to play on skill.games

When you open the game, the settings popup appears. Pick a difficulty - Easy, Normal, Hard or Crazy - and how many players: Solo, or you against one, two or three computer players. Press PLAY. Your choices are remembered for next time.

• Rolling: press ROLL. The three dots on the button show how many rolls you have left this turn.
• Keeping dice: after the first roll, tap a die to hold it. A held die is lifted, outlined in orange and marked HELD; tap it again to release it. Press ROLL and only the dice you didn't hold are rolled again.
• Scoring: when you're happy, or after your third roll, tap a box's row on the scoresheet. Every open box in your column shows in blue what this roll would score there, so you can compare before you choose. The box you tap is highlighted; tap it again, or press SCORE, to write the points in. You can score after any roll - you don't have to use all three.
• Keyboard: on a computer, Space or R rolls, the keys 1 to 5 hold or release a die, and Enter scores the box you picked.

The computer players roll in the same tray with dice of their own colour - red, blue and green - and their moves appear on the scoresheet as they make them. Tap the screen during their turn to speed it up.

The menu button in the top-left corner pauses the game, starts a new game or switches the sound on or off. The game is saved after every roll, so if you close the page you can press CONTINUE and carry on from the same dice.

Rules

Turns. Players take turns, you first. In your turn you roll all five dice, then may roll again up to two more times, each time keeping any dice you choose. You must then score the final dice in one empty box. The game lasts thirteen rounds, one for each box.

The upper section has six boxes, Ones to Sixes. Each scores the total of the dice showing that number: three fours in Fours score 12.

The bonus. If your six upper boxes add up to 63 or more, you earn a bonus of 35 points. 63 is exactly three of each number (3 + 6 + 9 + 12 + 15 + 18), so getting three of a kind in every upper box earns it. The bonus row shows your progress, for example 41/63.

The lower section:

• 3 of a kind: at least three dice the same - scores the total of all five dice.
• 4 of a kind: at least four dice the same - scores the total of all five dice.
• Full house: three of one number and two of another - 25 points.
• Small straight: four numbers in a row (1-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5 or 3-4-5-6) - 30 points.
• Large straight: five numbers in a row (1-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6) - 40 points.
• Yacht: all five dice the same - 50 points.
• Chance: anything - scores the total of the five dice.

Zeros. If the dice don't fit the box you choose, it scores 0. Sometimes that is the right choice: when a roll is bad, writing a zero in a hard box you were unlikely to fill can be better than spoiling a good one.

Our house rules. This is the classic Yacht scoresheet. Five of a kind does not count as a full house, and there are no extra bonuses for a second Yacht and no "joker" rules - a second Yacht simply scores as whatever box you put it in, such as 4 of a kind or Chance.

Winning. After thirteen rounds the totals are compared: the highest total wins, and equal top totals are a draw. In Solo you play alone and win by reaching the target score for your level.

Strategy tips

• Aim for the bonus. The 35-point bonus is worth more than a large straight. Think of each upper box as "three of that number": four sixes put you six points ahead of the plan, two sixes leave you six behind.
• Use the upper boxes for big sets. Four fives in Fives (20) keeps the bonus on track; the same roll in 4 of a kind scores more now but spends a box that could have taken a better roll.
• Keep high numbers for 3 and 4 of a kind. Both score all five dice, so three sixes there are worth far more than three twos.
• Chase the Yacht early. With many turns left you get many chances at five of a kind, and three or four of a kind on the way still fill other boxes. Near the end, a Yacht is a long shot.
• Straights need the middle. Keep 3 and 4 (and 2 or 5) when you go for a straight: they appear in every straight. A small straight is easy to finish; holding four in a row with one roll left gives a good chance at the large one.
• Save Chance for a rescue. Chance takes anything, so it is the best place for a bad roll late in the game - but a high total in Chance early is fine too.
• Know your dump box. When nothing fits, a zero in Ones costs at most a few points, while a zero in Yacht or a straight late in the game is often the least bad choice.
• Read the blue numbers. The preview shows what each box would score right now, but think about what the box could be worth later.

Difficulty levels

The level sets how well the computer players roll and choose - and in Solo, the target you must reach.

• Easy: the computer keeps its most common number and writes the roll wherever it pays most at once. It averages about 170 points. Solo target: 180.
• Normal: the computer thinks through its rerolls to get the most points from each turn, but pays little attention to the bonus or to boxes it may need later. About 220 points. Solo target: 210.
• Hard: it weighs each box against what the box is usually worth and plays for the bonus. About 235 points. Solo target: 235.
• Crazy: it plays very close to perfect solitaire Yacht, weighing every reroll and every box against the value of the rest of its sheet. About 245 points - within a point of the best possible average. Solo target: 260, which even perfect play reaches only about two games in five.

Results and statistics

The results screen shows your total against the best computer player, your place, every player's score, whether you earned the upper bonus and your best score. In Solo it shows your score, the target, your best score at that level, the bonus and how many Yachts you rolled. Your wins, losses, win rate and streaks are kept separately for each level and for each number of players.