Yacht — Rules
Goal and turn structure
Score as many points as possible across 12 scoring categories. A game lasts 12 scoring turns for each player because every category may be used exactly once. Each turn begins with five six-sided dice and allows no more than three rolls.
Rolling and holding dice
Roll all five dice to start a turn. After the first and second rolls, you may hold any dice you want and reroll the others. Held dice may be changed before the next roll. You may stop early when you are satisfied with the result; a third roll is optional, not compulsory.
Number categories
Ones, Twos, Threes, Fours, Fives and Sixes score only dice showing the selected face. Add those matching dice and ignore the rest. For example, 5-5-5-2-1 scores 15 in Fives. Yacht has no Upper Section bonus, so these six boxes contribute only the points actually rolled.
Combination categories
- Full House: three dice of one value and two of another; score the sum of all five dice.
- Four of a Kind: at least four matching dice; score four times the matching face value. A fifth die never adds to this category.
- Little Straight: exactly 1-2-3-4-5; score 30 points.
- Big Straight: exactly 2-3-4-5-6; score 30 points.
- Choice: any five dice; score the sum of all five dice.
- Yacht: five matching dice; score 50 points.
Choosing a score
After your final roll, choose one category that has not yet been used. The current dice score only according to that category. If the roll does not qualify for the category you choose, record 0 there. Once a category is filled, including with zero, it cannot be used again in that game.
Ending the game
The game ends when all 12 categories are filled. Add every recorded category score. There are no extra Yacht bonuses, Joker rules or hidden section bonuses in this ruleset. In multiplayer play, the player with the highest total wins.
About Yacht
Yacht is a traditional five-dice game that predates Yahtzee®. The commercial game Yahtzee, introduced in 1956, developed from earlier five-dice games including Yacht. Cubiri uses the traditional Yacht rules and scoring described on this page.