Word Yahtzee Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Number of Players
• Object
• Contents
• How to Play the Game
• Acceptable Words and Use of the Timer
• Values and Scoring
  • Upper Section Scoring
  • Lower Section Scoring
• Scoring Zero
• Adding Up Bonus Points and Declaring a Winner

Number of Players

Word Yahtzee may be played by any number of players. The game may also be played by you alone where you try for the highest possible score.

Object

To earn a higher score than your opponents by building high-value words and other combinations.

Contents

• 7 letter dice with number values
• 1 timer
• 1 dice cup
• 1 Word Yahtzee Score Pad

How to Play the Game

1. Each player is given a Score Sheet and keeps his or her own tally with a pen or pencil (not supplied).
2. Choose a player to go first. Others play in turn, clockwise.
3. In each turn, a player may roll a maximum of 3 times. Remember, only the face-up side of the thrown dice are the letters you may use to form words or other combinations. So be careful when arranging the dice that you do not flip them over to expose other letters.
   • A. On your first roll, put all 7 letter dice into the cup, shake them up and roll them onto a flat surface. Then do one of the following:
     • I. If NONE of the letters can be arranged into high scoring words or other combinations, you may put ALL the dice back into the cup and toss again for your next roll.
     • OR
     • II. If some of the letters have scoring potential, keep them aside... you may put the remaining letters back into the cup and toss again for your next roll. For example, you may wish to keep an "A" and an "E" out and roll the 5 remaining dice.
     • OR
     • III. If you can form a word, words or other combinations, write its value (See "Values and Scoring", page 4, for how to compute values) into one of the 12 open Scoring Boxes. You do not roll again in this turn. Give the dice and cup to your opponent.
   • B. On your second roll, you will be rolling all or some of the dice, as in options I and II above. But if you can form a word, words or other combinations, as in option III above, from this second toss of the dice, write its value (See "Values and Scoring", page 4, for how to compute values) into one of the 12 open Scoring Boxes. In this case, you do not roll again in this turn. Give the dice and cup to your opponent.
   • C. On your third roll, you will be rolling all or some of the dice, as in options I and II above (any dice set aside on your second toss may now be included in your third roll if you wish.). The third toss, however, is final. ... the letters that appear must be arranged to form a word, words or another combination. If you are unable to do so, then you must place a zero ("O") in one of your 12 open Scoring Boxes (See "Scoring Zero", page 7). Zero scores can lower your overall total considerably, so try not to accumulate too many of them.

Acceptable Words and Use of the Timer

1. Only words found in a standard dictionary are allowed. Proper nouns, abbreviations, slang or foreign words are not acceptable. A word may consist of one letter... for example, "I" and "a". The letter "Y" is considered both a vowel and a consonant.
2. Notice one side of one die is marked with a diamond shape that looks like this: ◇. This can be used as a substitute for any letter (like a wild card) but it has no Letter Value.
3. USE OF THE TIMER: the timer is supplied to make the game move faster. Turn the timer over at the beginning of each player's turn for a fast and furious game... a player must form a word, words or other combinations very quickly or decide which dice to keep aside between rolls at top speed. If the timer runs out, the player must declare his or her word, words or other combinations at once and place its value in one of the 12 open Scoring Boxes. If this is not possible, that player must place a zero in one of the open Scoring Boxes. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PLAY WITH THE TIMER AT ALL, if you desire a more leisurely game in which higher scores are possible.

Values and Scoring

Each player must fill in 12 Scoring Boxes to complete a game. See your Score Sheet. Notice the Upper Section divided into 5 Scoring Boxes for a 2-Letter Word, 3-Letter Word, 4-Letter Word, 5-Letter Word and 6-Letter Word; notice the Lower Section is divided into 7 Scoring Boxes for One Word, Two Words, Three Words, All Consonants, All Vowels, Yahtzee Words and Chance. Scoring of all these boxes and possible bonuses is explained below.

SEE A SAMPLE GAME ON THE INSIDE BOX COVER FOR GRAPHIC EXAMPLES OF DICE THROWS AND PROPER SCORING.

Upper Section Scoring

1. 2-LETTER, 3-LETTER, 4-LETTER, 5-LETTER AND 6-LETTER WORDS: if you choose to score in the Upper Section, add up points for each letter in the word that you formed (just count up the numeral values that appear on the dice, total them up and you'll get the Letter Word Value). Place this value in one of the 5 Scoring Boxes. Of course, the length of the word determines what box you may put the Letter Word Value in. For example, if you formed the 4-letter word M-I-C-E, add up 3 points for the letter "M", 2 points for the letter "I", 4 points for the letter "C", and 1 point for the letter "E". The total Letter Word Value is 10... place a 10 in the 4-Letter Word Box in the Upper Section. IMPORTANT, you could also have placed this 10 Letter Word Value in the Lower Section instead of the Upper Section... if the One Word Box or the Chance Box were open, the 10 Letter Word Value could have been placed there.
2. You can score only one Letter Word Value per box in the Upper Section. For example, if you fill in the 5-Letter Word Scoring Box with a value, and you then form another word with 5 letters, you must look for another box to place this score in, or rearrange the letters to make a shorter or longer word or score a zero. The strategic placement of your Letter Word Values can win the game for you... so think ahead and plan every move. REMEMBER, ONLY ONE VALUE TO A SCORING BOX!
3. STRATEGY HINT: try to make the longest words first on your early rolls. The 5-letter and 6-letter words are more difficult to make than shorter words, so try to form them early on in the game. The 2-letter, 3-letter and 4-letter words are rather simple to make... try to use high numeral letters in forming these words to make high Letter Word Values.

Lower Section Scoring

1. In the ONE WORD, TWO WORDS AND THREE WORDS BOXES, you may score words of any length... the amount of letters does not matter. The values awarded these words are computed in the same way as the Letter Word Values of the Upper Section... just add up the numerals on the letter dice in the word or words you formed and place this Letter Word Value in the appropriate box. Any letter dice not used in the formation of the word or words is not counted in the Letter Word Value. The One Word Box is rather easy to fill in because forming one word of any length from 7 letters is not difficult. Forming two words or three words out of 7 letters, however, is a little tricky. To do this successfully, you might have to use one letter words as "I" and "a". See inside box cover for graphic examples of this two and three word formation. IMPORTANT, in the two and three word formation, each letter is used only once and in only one word... and you cannot combine words crossword style.
2. After rolling the dice, if 7 consonants appear, then you may score a value of 25 in the ALL CONSONANTS SCORING BOX; if you roll all vowels (all 7 dice), then you may score a value of 25 in the ALL VOWELS SCORING BOX. The letter "Y" is considered either a vowel or a consonant. Notice these all consonant or all vowel combinations are always awarded a set value of 25... NO NUMERICAL VALUES OF LETTERS ARE TOTALED TO ARRIVE AT THIS VALUE.
3. CHANCE: you may score any number of words in the Chance Space and they may be of any length. Any unused letters, however, are not scored. No set value is awarded in the Chance Scoring Box. ... merely count up the numeral values of the letter dice used to form the word or words, total the Letter Word Value and place it in the Chance Scoring Box. STRATEGY HINT: use the Chance Scoring Box as a safety zone... for instance, if you form a certain word, words or other combination of letters and you cannot fit its value into an open Scoring Box, then you may place its Letter Word Value in Chance. Remember, you may only put one value per game in the Chance Scoring Box, so use it wisely. Here's an example of Chance scoring: you roll A-I-H-I-M-O-N which is actually 4 words... "A"... "I"... "HIM"... and "ON". Add up all numeral values for the 7 letters and your Letter Word Value is 14. Score 14 in the Chance Scoring Box on your Score Sheet.

Scoring Zero

As the game progresses and you start placing values in your Scoring Boxes, you will discover that it is often impossible to place the values of a word, words or other combinations in certain boxes. If this happens, you will be forced into scoring zeros in the remaining open boxes. For example, if you throw B-V-C-R-S-P-O late in the game and then decide to reroll the "O" to try for all consonants... the following could happen... you roll a "U", so you try again and roll a "U" again. That was your final toss, now you must score. If your only open boxes are All Consonants Box, All Vowels Box and the Yahtzee Box, the letters you tossed cannot be scored in any of them. Therefore, score a zero in one of the three boxes... and remember, once a zero is scored in a box, no other value may be placed there! STRATEGIC HINT: if you are forced into scoring a zero somewhere, it might be more advantageous to place it in the Yahtzee Words Box or the All Vowels Box, since both are rather difficult to achieve.

Adding Up Bonus Points and Declaring a Winner

After every player has entered a value (even if it's a zero) into his or her 12 Scoring Boxes, the game is over and the scores must be tallied up. Add up all the values in the Upper Section and enter the result in the Total Score Box. If this value is over 45 points, you are awarded a bonus of 35 points. ... the result should be entered in the Total of the Upper Section Box. Now add up the values in the Lower Section. Remember to include any Yahtzee Bonuses (100 points to a check). Enter this value in the Total of the Lower Section Box. Add the Total of the Upper Section to the Total of the Lower Section and the combined result is your Grand Total. Whoever has the highest Grand Total wins the game... you could also play a championship match of 6 games... whoever has the highest grand total after 6 games is the winner (there is scoring space for the 6 games on the back of each Score Sheet).