How to play Yacht

Yacht is the old ancestor of both Yahtzee and Yatzy. You need five dice and a simple score sheet with twelve rows, which you draw yourself: ones to sixes at the top, then the six combination rows. One to six players works well.

On your turn you roll all five dice. Set aside any you want to keep and reroll the rest, up to two more times. After at most three rolls you enter the result in an open row on your sheet.

Each row can only be used once, so the game lasts exactly twelve rounds. If nothing fits, you must cross out a row and score zero there.

Yacht has no bonus and no joker rules, just twelve rows:

• Ones to sixes: the sum of the dice showing that number
• Little straight: 1-2-3-4-5, worth 30 points
• Big straight: 2-3-4-5-6, worth 30 points
• Full house: three of a kind plus a pair, the sum of all five dice
• Four of a kind: the sum of the four matching dice
• Choice: the sum of all five dice, any combination
• Yacht: five of a kind, worth 50 points

Note that both straights need all five dice in sequence, and that the full house counts pips rather than a fixed value.

Once everyone has filled their twelve rows, each player adds up their sheet. With no bonus to worry about, the total is all that matters, and the highest score wins.

Yacht has appeared under many names, including Cheerio, Yot and Yam, often with small differences in the score table. Some versions give the full house a fixed value, others add a row for two pairs.

The game is also the starting point for the whole family: Yahtzee added the upper bonus, three of a kind and shorter straights, while Nordic Yatzy built it out with pair rows.

Yacht is the simpler game. The sheet has twelve rows instead of thirteen, there is no upper section bonus, and both straights need five dice in a row. The full house scores the sum of the dice rather than a flat 25. In short, Yahtzee is Yacht with a few extras bolted on, so if you know one, the other takes a minute to learn.

Yes. Like the rest of the family, Yacht works well as a solo game where you try to beat your own record. With no bonus to chase it stays calm and easy to follow, which also makes it a good fit for kids who have just learned to add.