Yahtzee Glossary
Every Yahtzee-style game leans on the same handful of words: roll, hold, category, bonus. Once you know them, the rules for any variant read like plain English. This glossary defines the terms you will meet across the whole dice-game family, from classic Yahtzee to the tricky corners of Maxi Yatzy, Generala and Balut.
If you are brand new, skim this page before the rules. You do not need to memorize anything - just get a feel for the vocabulary, then read the full Yahtzee rules or the FAQ and the words will already make sense. Each term below has its own link, so other pages can point straight to a definition.
💡 Tip: Learn the four core terms first - roll, hold, category, and bonus. Almost every rule you read is built from those four ideas.
Core dice terms
Die / dice
A die is one six-sided cube; dice is the plural. Most games in the family use five dice, while Maxi Yatzy raises it to six.
Face
One of the six sides of a die, showing one to six pips. "Collecting a face" means chasing one value - holding every five you roll, for example, to fill the Fives box.
Pip
A single dot on a die face. Many categories score "the sum of the pips" - add up every dot showing across the dice. A roll of 6-6-5-3-1 sums to 21 pips.
Roll
One throw of the dice. Nearly every game in the family gives you up to three rolls per turn: the opening roll of all dice, then two re-rolls of whichever dice you did not hold.
Toss
Another word for a throw of the dice. "A Yahtzee in one toss" means rolling all five of a kind on the very first roll of a turn - a 1 in 1,296 event.
Shake
To rattle the dice before throwing them, traditionally inside a cup. In digital play the shake is simulated by a fair random number generator, seeded so a shared game gives everyone the same rolls.
Dice cup
The cup used to shake and throw the dice, standard equipment in physical Yahtzee and Yatzy sets. It keeps the throw honest - no careful placement, no controlled rolls.
Hold / Keep
To set a die aside so it is not thrown on the next roll. Holds are the whole strategy of the game - and they are never locked: you may release a held die before any later roll in the same turn.
Re-roll
Throwing again the dice you did not hold. You get up to two re-rolls per turn after the opening roll. You may also stop early and score after the first or second roll if the dice are good.
Turn
One player's full sequence of up to three rolls ending in a score. A turn always ends with exactly one scorecard entry - even if that entry has to be a zero.
Round
One turn for every player at the table. A game of Yahtzee lasts 13 rounds - one per category - while Yatzy takes 15 and Balut runs to 28.
Scorecard terms
Scorecard
The sheet of categories you fill in as you play, one entry per turn. Also called the score sheet or card. Want a paper one? Grab a free printable score sheet.
Category
One scoring box on the card, such as Threes, Full House, or Chance. Each category may be filled exactly once, so a 13-category game is exactly 13 turns long.
Upper section
The Ones through Sixes half of the card. Each box scores the total pips of that one face - three fives in the Fives box scores 15. A strong upper section is what earns the bonus.
Lower section
The combination half of the card: pairs, three and four of a kind, straights, full houses, Chance, and the five-of-a-kind jackpot. Some games pay fixed prizes here, others the sum of the dice.
Bonus
Extra points for a strong upper section: 35 points at 63+ in Yahtzee, 50 at 63+ in Yatzy, 100 at 84+ in Maxi Yatzy, and a graduated 35/55/75 ladder in Kismet. The 63 threshold equals an average of three dice of each face.
Scratch / Zero
Entering a zero in a category you cannot (or choose not to) fill. Every game forces a scratch eventually; good players plan which box to sacrifice - usually Aces or the longest-odds jackpot.
Chance
The anything-goes category: score the sum of all your dice, no combination required. A valuable safety valve for a turn that fizzles. Yacht calls the same box Choice.
Combination
A pattern of dice a lower-section category asks for - a pair, a straight, a full house. "Making the combination" means your dice match the pattern; otherwise the box scores zero.
Open scoring
The standard rule that lets you fill categories in any order you choose, deciding each turn where the dice fit best. The opposite is forced scoring, a house variant where the card must be filled top to bottom.
Grand total
Your final score: upper section plus bonus plus lower section, and in Yahtzee any extra Yahtzee bonuses on top. The leaderboards rank games by highest grand total.
Daily seed
A fixed number that generates the same dice rolls for every player on a given day. It is how the Daily Challenge hands everyone an identical game, so the scores are truly comparable.
Combination terms
Aces
The Ones category - Yahtzee's traditional name for it. It scores one point per die showing a 1, which makes it the cheapest box on the card to sacrifice when you need a scratch.
One Pair
A Nordic Yatzy category scoring two dice of the same face - and only the pair counts, so a pair of sixes scores 12. With more than one pair showing, you always score the highest.
Two Pairs
Another Yatzy staple: two different pairs, scoring the sum of all four dice. 6-6-5-5 scores 22, the maximum. Four of a kind does not count as two pairs in strict Nordic rules.
Three of a Kind
Three dice showing the same face. In Yahtzee it scores the sum of all five dice; in Yatzy it scores only the three matching dice. Small difference, big strategic consequences.
Four of a Kind
Four matching dice. Again, Yahtzee pays the sum of all five dice while Yatzy counts only the four that match. Generala instead pays a flat 40 and calls it Poker.
Five of a Kind
All five dice showing the same face - the family's jackpot, named differently everywhere: Yahtzee, Yatzy, Yacht, Generala, Kismet, Balut. Odds of rolling it in one throw: 1 in 1,296.
Full House
Three of one face plus two of another, like 4-4-4-2-2. Yahtzee pays a flat 25; Yatzy pays the sum of all five dice; Kismet adds a premium version where all dice also match in colour.
Straight
Dice in consecutive order, such as 2-3-4-5. Every game defines its own straights - fixed prizes in Yahtzee, pip sums in Yatzy, a single 20-point Escalera in Generala.
Small Straight
In Yahtzee: any four consecutive faces (like 3-4-5-6), worth 30 points. In Yatzy: exactly 1-2-3-4-5, worth its pip sum of 15. Same name, very different box - check which game you are in.
Large Straight
In Yahtzee: five consecutive faces (1-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6), worth 40 points. In Yatzy: exactly 2-3-4-5-6, worth its pip sum of 20.
Yahtzee
Both the game and its jackpot: five of a kind, worth 50 points. The name dates to 1956, when E.S. Lowe marketed the game after buying it from a Canadian couple who played it aboard their yacht. Read the full rules on the rules hub.
Yahtzee bonus
100 extra points for every Yahtzee after your first, provided the Yahtzee box holds a 50 rather than a zero. Multiple bonuses are how scores climb toward the theoretical 1,575 maximum.
Joker rule
What happens to an extra Yahtzee once the Yahtzee box is filled: you must score the matching upper box if it is open; if not, the roll acts as a joker and may fill any lower category at full value - a free Full House 25, Small Straight 30, or Large Straight 40.
Variant-specific terms
Yacht
The 1938 original the whole family descends from, and its five-of-a-kind category (50 points). Twelve categories, no bonuses, and both straights worth a flat 30. Play Yacht to feel where Yahtzee came from.
Yatzy
The Nordic branch of the family, hugely popular in Scandinavia: 15 categories including One Pair and Two Pairs, pip-scored straights and full houses, and a 50-point upper bonus. Play Yatzy here.
Maxi Yatzy
Yatzy's six-dice big brother: 20 categories, a 100-point bonus at 84+, and Maxi Yatzy (six of a kind) worth 100. The deepest scorecard on the site - try Maxi Yatzy.
Three Pairs
A Maxi Yatzy category only possible with six dice: three different pairs, scoring the sum of all six. 6-6-5-5-4-4 scores 30, the maximum.
Villa
Maxi Yatzy's double full house: two different three-of-a-kinds, like 5-5-5-2-2-2, scoring the sum of all six dice. Sometimes called a "house" or "full house XL" in casual play.
Tower
Another six-dice Maxi Yatzy shape: four of a kind plus a pair, like 6-6-6-6-3-3, scoring the sum of all six dice. Rarer than a Villa, and worth planning for late in the game.
Full Straight
The Maxi Yatzy run of all six faces, 1-2-3-4-5-6, scoring its pip sum of 21. The only straight in the family that uses every face of the die.
Generala
The South American version of the game and its 50-point five-of-a-kind. A lean 11-category card with fixed prizes and the servida first-roll bonus. Play Generala here.
Poker (Generala)
Generala's name for four of a kind, worth a flat 40 points. The card runs Escalera 20, Full 30, Poker 40, Generala 50 - a tidy ladder of fixed prizes.
Escalera
Spanish for staircase - Generala's straight, worth 20 points. Both 1-2-3-4-5 and 2-3-4-5-6 count, and many house rules also accept the "wrap" 3-4-5-6-1.
Servida
Spanish for served: a combination made on the first roll of a turn, worth a 5-point bonus in Generala. A Generala servida - five of a kind in one throw - is the game's legendary moment.
Double Generala
A second five of a kind in the same game, scoring 100 points - the single largest category entry in the whole family. Filling it fairly is a story you get to tell for a while.
Kismet
The 1964 colour-dice variant: 1s and 6s are black, 2s and 5s red, 3s and 4s green. Colour unlocks extra categories and a graduated 35/55/75 upper bonus. Play Kismet here.
Flush (Kismet)
All five dice showing the same colour, worth 35 points in Kismet. Because each colour spans two faces, a flush is roughly as hard to build as a straight - and just as satisfying.
Balut
The Danish-Filipino marathon: 7 categories, each scored four times, for 28 rounds. Named after a Filipino delicacy and traditionally played for points across a table of players. Play Balut here.
Triple Yahtzee column
One of the three scoring columns in Triple Yahtzee, multiplying entries by one, two, or three. Placing weak rolls in the times-one column and jackpots in the times-three column is the entire art of the game.
That is the core vocabulary of Yahtzee and its cousins. Keep this glossary open in a tab the first few times you try a new game, and the terms will stick fast. Ready to put them to use? Jump into a classic game of Yahtzee, or browse the full lineup on the more games page.