Yahtzee
While shopping earlier this week, I was so tickled to see a Yahtzee game on the shelf with the same packaging and graphics that were used 60 years ago. How cool! Our tattered, faded, taped together edition with the same look still sits on the shelf in my closet, where it waits patiently for its next players.
Yahtzee was my favorite game as a kid, followed very closely by Aggravation. For those not familiar, Yahtzee is a dice game designed by Edwin Lowe. The objective of the game is to score points by rolling five dice up to three times in a turn to make various scoring combinations (e.g., full house, large straight, 4-of-a-kind). The scoring categories have varying point values, some of which are fixed values and others which depend on the value of the dice. After many spins (aka rolls) of the dice, you complete your scorecard and the winner is the player who scores the most points.
Yahtzee is 5-of-a-kind and the biggest point total (50). When you roll this magic combination, you let everyone know by yelling “Yahtzee!” Oftentimes, a Yahtzee will pretty much guarantee a win but not necessarily as not “making the top” (35 bonus points) or not attaining a large straight (40 points) can doom you! If you make three rolls without matching any of the categories on the score sheet, you must add up the dice for the “Chance” box or if the Chance box is already filled then you are forced to put a big, fat zero somewhere. Zeroes are never good.
Growing up, my mom and I played Yahtzee almost every night. It is one of my fondest memories of her, and I still giggle at the faces she would make when the dice did not cooperate. I also played hundreds of Yahtzee matches with my cousin. We both swear that it explains our above-average math skills!
The game, now owned by Hasbro, still apparently sells over 50 million units per year.
Did you know?
🎲 Yatzy, a similar game, is played in Scandinavia. Balut is the Danish derivative of Yahtzee.
🎲 The word “Yahtzee" is a slang term that means "I won!", "Yippee!” or "Yesssss!"
🎲 Charles M. Schulz, creator of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts comic strip, had his art used in a number of board games, including Yahtzee.
Photo (group shot) by KLEM Studios.