Yahtzee Hands Down Card Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• How to Win
• Get Ready
• Play
  • On Your Turn
• Scoring
• Winning
• The Cards
  • Combo Cards
  • Chance Cards
  • Round Card
  • Dice Cards
• Tips
• Longer or Shorter Game

Contents

12 Combo cards, 12 Chance cards, 84 dice cards, 1 starter card, 1 combo sheet and 1 reminder card.

How to Win

Score the most points by collecting dice combinations: 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, full house and Yahtzee!, small straight, large straight. The player with the most points when all the Combo cards are gone is the winner.

Get Ready

1. Take six Combo cards (YELLOW card backs), one of each combo type, and lay them out faceup on the table.
2. Shuffle the Chance cards (BLUE card backs). Without looking, put six of them back in the box, then put the rest facedown in a pile.
3. Shuffle the dice cards (RED card backs), deal five to each player facedown and put the rest facedown in a pile where everyone can reach them. This is the draw pile.
4. Players, look at your hand of cards, but don't let anyone else see them. Sort your cards into groups to match one of the Combos on the table.
5. Pick a player to start and give them the starter card (BLACK card back).

Play

The person with the starter card goes first.

On Your Turn

1. Look at your cards. Do you have the dice cards you need to claim one of the Combo cards on the table?
2. If you do, play a Combo by calling Hands Down! Put your whole 5-card hand facedown on the table. Don't let on which Combo card you went for! Your turn is over for this round.
3. If you don't, secretly decide which Combo card you'll try to collect dice for, then discard up to 5 cards (faceup) and replace them with new ones from the draw pile, just like re-rolling in Yahtzee.
   • Discard unwanted cards before you pick up new ones.
   • Never take cards from the discard pile.
   • Your turn is over.

Keep playing until two people have played a Combo. The round ends as soon as this happens. See Scoring before you start playing another round.

• In a 2-player game, as soon as someone plays a Combo, the other player has two turns to try and complete one too. If they don't manage, the player who played a Combo automatically wins the round.

Scoring

1. Flip over both Combo hands. The player with the highest-scoring combination wins.
   • If both hands are equal (e.g. both are 3 of a kind), the player whose cards have the highest value wins the round, e.g. three 5s beat three 2s.
   • If the hands are the same, the player who played their Combo first wins the round.
   • If you made a mistake and you don't actually have a Combo, it's a foul! If you fouled, another player replaces 3 of the cards from your hand with new ones (without looking). All keep playing until a second player has played an actual Combo.
2. Winner, take the matching Combo card and keep it faceup in front of you.
3. Runner up, take a Chance card. Keep it facedown in front of you. No peeking.
4. Both put your used hand of cards on the discard pile and take 5 new cards each. All other players keep the cards they have.
   • In a 2-player game, the player with the highest-scoring Combo hand takes the Combo card and the runner up takes a Chance card. Both players discard their hand and draw 5 new cards.
   • If the other player didn't manage to complete a Combo, they keep the hand they have and do not take a Chance card.
5. Move the starter card one player to the left. This player now starts the next round.

Keep playing until all the Combo cards have been used up.

Winning

When all the Combo cards have been won, add up the points on any Combo and Chance cards you have in front of you. The player with the most points wins the game.

The Cards

If you haven't played before, take a moment to get used to the cards, then flip over to learn how to play.

Combo Cards

There are 6 different card combinations to collect dice for.

• 3 of a kind: same number and same color.
• 4 of a kind: same number and same color.
• Yahtzee: 5 of a kind, same number and same color.
• Small Straight: 4 numbers in a row, in the same color.
• Large Straight: 5 numbers in a row, in the same color.
• Full House: 2 of a kind PLUS 3 of a kind. A kind is the same number and same color. (You might end up with all cards that are the same color/number as each other, but they don't need to be!)

You can use more than one Any Color or Any Number card to make a combo.

Chance Cards

Take a chance when you've played a Combo but the other player had a better hand. If you're lucky, you could score more points than the winner!

Round Card

The starter card. The player with this card starts the round. Move the card one player to the left after each round.

Dice Cards

• Plain Dice: Most dice cards have one number and one color.
• Double Dice: Some cards show two faces of the die. You can use this card as a blue 1 or a blue 6.
• Any Color: Some cards show all three colors. You can use this to be a yellow, blue or red 3.
• Any Number: Use this card as any number of its color.

Tips

• If the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile and start a new one.
• You can call 'Hands Down!' at any time, not just on your turn.
• For example: you already have 3 of a kind but you're waiting to get 4 of a kind to score more points. Another player plays a Combo. Play your Combo now even if it's not your turn. Even if you don't win the round, you'll score points for the Chance card!
• It's all in the strategy! Aim for lower-scoring Combos (e.g. 3 of a kind) or hold out for a high-scoring Combo and risk another player beating you to it.
• If you miss out this time, keep your hand. Check that the Combo card you're aiming for is still on the table. If it's gone, you'll have to change strategies.
• Take your chance and play to lose! You could score more points on a Chance card than you do for a winning Combo.
• Aim low. There are more 1s, 2s and 3s in the deck than 4s, 5s and 6s. Low dice are easier to collect, but if you have the same Combo as another player, higher dice win.
• As soon as the player before you has drawn their cards, you can start your turn by discarding cards. There's no need to be polite and wait!

Longer or Shorter Game

Choose how many Combo cards to play with to control how long you play for. For a longer game, lay out more cards. For a shorter game, when one player has played a Combo, play 3 more turns only. If no-one else plays a Combo, the first player wins the Combo card.

Make sure you have the same number of Chance and Combo cards in every game. Shuffle and draw both piles at random.