Yamsfive dice, thirteen combinations

Goal of the game

Fill the thirteen combinations of the score sheet, each one exactly once, scoring as many points as possible.

Each turn you roll the five dice, then you may reroll all or some of them twice. After the third roll you must write a result in a free box — even if that means a zero.

The upper section

• Ones, Twos, Threes, Fours, Fives, Sixes: you only add the dice showing that value. Four 5s score 20 points in the Fives box.
• The bonus: if these six boxes add up to 63 points, you get 35 extra points. It is the main stake of the game.
• 63 is the average of three dice per value: three Ones, three Twos, three Threes and so on. Every fourth die is a lead, every box with only two dice a deficit.
• Track that gap all the time: at −4 or worse the bonus gets hard, and it is often better to switch to the lower section.

The lower section

• Three of a kind — three identical dice. You score the sum of all five dice.
• Four of a kind — four identical dice. You also score the sum of all five dice.
• Full house — three of a kind plus a pair. A flat 25 points.
• Small straight — four consecutive dice. A flat 30 points.
• Large straight — five consecutive dice. A flat 40 points.
• Yams — all five dice identical. 50 points.
• Chance — no condition, you score the sum of the five dice. It is the backup box.

Which dice to keep

• With a pair of 5s or 6s on the first roll, keep it: it serves the upper section and sets up three of a kind, four of a kind and full house.
• With three consecutive dice, the small straight comes roughly one time in two over two rolls. It is worth more than three of a kind in low values.
• Never keep a pair of Ones for the Ones box: two Ones is 2 points, and a −1 deficit on the bonus.
• With two pairs, keep the higher one and reroll three dice: chasing the full house from two pairs is statistically worse than it looks.
• Three of a kind on the first roll: reroll the other two dice. You are after four of a kind, and the full house often comes as a consolation.

Which box to sacrifice

• You must write a score every turn: at some point you will have to put a zero somewhere. Choosing that box is the real decision of the game.
• Sacrifice the Large straight or the Yams first: they are the rarest combinations, and a zero there costs less than a lost bonus.
• Never sacrifice Chance early. It is your safety net for failed turns at the end of the game.
• Only sacrifice Ones as a last resort if you are going for the bonus: it costs just a few points but breaks the balance at 63.
• Conversely, if the bonus is already out of reach, the Ones box becomes the best place for a zero.

The mistakes that cost the most

• Forgetting the bonus. Thirty-five points is more than a 50-point Yams once you account for its probability. It is played from the very first turn.
• Rerolling a complete three of a kind hoping for better, when it could already be scored.
• Filling Chance too early with a mediocre score.
• Chasing the large straight at any cost and wasting three turns that would have secured the bonus.

Controls

Keyboard and mouse

• Click a die to hold or release it, then the Reroll button.
• Playable boxes show the score they would give: click to confirm.
• The bonus counter always shows how far ahead of or behind 63 points you are.

Touch screen

• Tap the dice you want to keep — they move to the side.
• Tap Reroll, at most twice per turn.
• Swipe up to unfold the score sheet.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Yams and Yahtzee?

None in substance: Yams is the French name of the dice game sold elsewhere as Yahtzee. The thirteen combinations and the scoring are the same.

How do you get the 35-point bonus?

By scoring at least 63 points across the six upper boxes (Ones to Sixes). That works out to three dice of each value on average.

Can you reroll all five dice?

Yes. On each reroll you freely choose which dice go again, all five included. You get two rerolls per turn.

What do you do when no combination comes up?

You still have to write a score, possibly zero. Use Chance if it is free and the sum is decent; otherwise sacrifice the least likely combination you have left.

Does a second Yams score points?

Under the basic rules used here, the Yams box is filled only once, for 50 points. Some variants give a bonus for later Yams; that is not the default.

More classics, free as well

• Air hockey — same screen, two paddles, a real physics puck
• Backgammon — twenty-four points, two dice, the oldest race in the world
• Battleship — two grids, five ships, hit and sunk