Generala Rules and Points: Servida, Escalera, Doble

2026-10-30

These Generala rules fit in one breath: you roll five dice up to three times a turn, keep the ones that help, and write the result in one of 11 boxes (six number boxes, then Escalera 20, Full 30, Póker 40, Generala 50 and Doble Generala 100) over 11 rounds, highest total wins. The twist is servida, Spanish for "served": a straight, full house or four-of-a-kind that appears on your very first roll pays 5 extra. This guide uses the Spanish box names that Playgridia's Generala sheet shows on screen, with the exact points and odds.

How a Generala turn works

Every turn opens with all five dice thrown. You may then keep any dice and re-roll the rest, twice at most, so three rolls in all. Holds are not locked in: a die you kept on roll two can be released before roll three. You can stop and score at any moment after the first roll, and you must write something every turn; if nothing fits, you cross a box off for 0. With 11 boxes, a match lasts exactly 11 rounds for each of the 2 to 6 players. When every box is full the highest total wins. Players tied at the top all win, and if everyone ties it is a draw.

Generala points: all 11 boxes

The six number boxes score only the dice showing that face. The five combination boxes pay fixed values. There is no bonus for the number boxes and no Chance box, so every box is worth exactly what is printed.

Three details trip people up. Póker pays a flat 40, not the sum of the dice, and five alike counts as Póker. Full does not accept five alike: that scores 0 there. Escalera takes only the three runs in the table, so a hand such as 4-5-6-1-2 is not an Escalera.

Servida: what it is and what it adds

Servida means the hand was on the table after your first roll and you wrote it without rolling again. The bonus is +5, and only on three boxes: Escalera 25, Full 35, Póker 45. The number boxes and the Generala box get nothing extra, so a served Generala is simply 50, the same as one made on the third roll. If you throw five alike on the first roll and write it in Póker instead, it pays 45, so the Generala box is the better home. Re-roll even a single die and the turn is no longer servida.

Doble Generala: the 100-point box

A second five-alike is worth 100, but only if the Generala box already holds 50. A Generala you crossed off for 0 does not unlock it, so in that case the Doble box can only be crossed off for the rest of the match. It can come on any roll, not only the first, and nothing forces you to use it: you may write those five dice in any open box where they score.

House rules that vary, and what Playgridia does

At some tables a Generala served on the first roll wins the game on the spot, and some tables play with different box values. Playgridia plays neither. A served Generala is worth 50, with no +5 and no instant win, and every match runs all 11 rounds before the highest total wins. If you are playing around a real table, agree on those points before the first roll. The values in the table above are the ones this sheet pays.

The odds of a servida

Servida hands are rare, which is what makes the bonus feel like a bonus. These are exact counts over all 7,776 possible throws of five dice:

Chasing a Generala over all three rolls, keeping the most common face every time, ends with five alike about 4.6% of the time, roughly 1 in 22. If you already hold four alike, one roll left gives you 16.7% (1 in 6) and two rolls left give 30.6%. The rest of the numbers are in our Yatzy odds and probability guide.

What a good Generala score looks like

With no number bonus and no Chance, there is no target such as 63 to protect: every box is worth what it says. Add the best value of every box separately and you get 360, a ceiling no real game comes near. In our bot matches on this sheet (800 two-player games per level), the easy bot averaged about 113, the medium bot about 158 and the hard bot about 160, so a solid game lands around 150 to 160. The hard bot is only a little ahead of the medium one, and even it wrote 50 in the Generala box in only about a third of its games.

For general dice strategy see the Yatzy strategy tips, keeping in mind that this sheet has no bonus to chase.

Playing Generala online

Create a table for Yatzy and pick the Generala sheet (11 boxes) in the room options. Only the table's creator chooses it, and it costs nothing. Each turn runs on one clock, 45 seconds by default, shared by the three rolls and the write. If it runs out, the game rolls once if you have not rolled and writes the best-scoring open box. The dice are sealed before the match and can be checked in your own browser afterwards. Against bots you also get a hint bulb; at a table with two or more humans there is none, and that match is rated.

Prefer paper? Download the printable Generala sheet (columns for up to six players) or see the printable score sheets for the other versions.

So what do you do with this? Learn the three servida values (25, 35, 45), keep the Generala box open long enough to earn the 100 behind it, and take a made hand rather than gamble it away. Play a few rounds against the bots on the Generala sheet at Playgridia Yatzy, and compare it with the other sheets in the Yatzy rules and Yacht rules guides.

Frequently Asked Questions