Yatzy Strategy: Best Tips From Measured Bot Games

2026-10-30

Yatzy strategy comes down to four habits: keep pace for the 63-point upper bonus, know what each box is worth, chase five alike only from three or four of a kind, and write your zeros in the cheapest box. Perfect play on the classic 13-box sheet averages about 255. Every other number here is measured on our own engine.

What a good Yatzy score looks like

On the classic sheet (13 boxes, +35 bonus at 63, +100 for extra Yatzys; full rules here), T. Verhoeff's optimal solitaire player averages about 254.6, with a standard deviation of nearly 60. Our three bots show how far each habit gets you:

800 two-player Classic games per row, both seats at the same level; averages move by about 6 points from run to run. The Hard bot is only a little ahead of the Medium bot, and the gap sits in the bonus: 27 more bonuses per 100 games, 27 × 35 ≈ 9.5 points a game. The Yatzy box barely separates the levels (about 3 expected points at 50 a Yatzy). Bonus discipline beats Yatzy hunting.

The 63 bonus: keep pace at three of each face

Three of every face makes 3 × (1+2+3+4+5+6) = 63, exactly the line, so "on pace" means three dice in each upper box. Every die short costs that face's value (two Sixes are 6 short); every die over earns it back (four Sixes are 6 ahead). Use the slack: four Sixes pays for a Twos box left at zero, and a zero in Ones is only 3 short, which one extra Four, Five or Six wipes out.

The Hard bot counts dice against three per face too, yet it averages only about 60 across the upper section and earns the bonus in 42.6% of games. Plan for 63, but do not wreck a hand for it: a made Large Straight is 40 points on the spot, while the bonus is 35 points the best bot gets less than half the time. Keep the count on a printable sheet.

What each box is really worth

A zero costs you roughly what that box averages, and the Hard bot picks a box by points scored minus a built-in estimate of what the box is worth, plus credit for upper-section pace. The averages, Classic sheet, Hard bot, the same 800 games as the table above, rounded:

Even the Hard bot ends with a zero in Yatzy in 64% of games and in Four of a Kind in 45%, then Large Straight (25%), Full House (12%) and Ones (11%). It gives up Four of a Kind more often than the Medium bot does (45% against 30%): a zero in a box that averages 12 is a decision, not a failure.

Which zero to write

• Ones first. It averages 2 points, and the 3 points of pace it costs come back with one extra Four, Five or Six.
• Four of a Kind and Yatzy next, with Yatzy as late as you can. They are the zeros even the best bot writes most, and while Yatzy stays open every turn is another look at five alike.
• Not Full House or a straight early: a zero costs 22 to 30 points.
• Chance is the safety box. Any dice fit and it can never be zero (five dice sum to at least 5). The Hard bot ends with about 24 in it.

When to chase five alike, and when to bank

From a standing start, three rolls aimed at five alike succeed 4.60% of the time, about 1 in 22 (the odds post has every combination). Holding dice changes that fast:

Four alike: roll the fifth die. The four stay in your hand, so Four of a Kind remains available. Three alike: chase if nothing better is made. 9.3% of 50 is 4.65 expected points, but the three keep feeding Three of a Kind. Never break up a made hand. Even from four alike, 30.6% × 50 ≈ 15 points is less than a made Full House (25) or straight (30 or 40).

Straights

For a Large Straight, from the inside run 2-3-4-5 you need a 1 or a 6: two faces out of six, 1 in 3 per roll. With two rolls left that is 1 − (2/3)² = 5/9, about 56%. From an end run (1-2-3-4 or 3-4-5-6) only one face fits, so 1 − (5/6)² ≈ 30.6%, the same odds as the fifth Yatzy die.

Extra Yatzy and the forced joker

On the classic sheet the +100 for each extra five alike is paid only if the Yatzy box already holds 50; a scratched 0 pays nothing extra. The joker is forced: the dice go to their own upper box if it is open, else to any open lower box at full value (Full House 25, Small Straight 30, Large Straight 40, the dice sum for Three or Four of a Kind and Chance), and only if every lower box is closed to an open upper box for 0.

So scratching Yatzy also closes the +100 road, one more reason to scratch it late. And once the Yatzy box and the matching upper box are both filled, any five alike fills an open Large Straight or Full House at full value: a Yatzy of Twos can be a 40-point Large Straight.

Scandinavian, Yacht and Generala: what changes

With no bonus to defend, Generala drops the pace rule entirely. On Yacht and Generala our Hard bot scores more when it gives less weight to saving boxes for later, so bank a made hand. See the Generala rules and the Yacht rules.

Practise with the hint

The hint bulb shows the Medium bot's advice: exact expected value over one more roll. It points at the dice to keep, which glow gold, or at the box to write, which pulses. It appears only on your turn after the first roll, and only at tables without a second human, so rated games have none. Tap it again after every roll. It is not perfect play: the Hard bot looks at every roll left in the turn and is a little ahead.

So: keep pace for 63, write Ones first, leave Yatzy open until late, chase only from three or four alike, and bank any made hand. Try it against the bots at Yatzy online.

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