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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

The Tech Deck

How about Yahtzee?

Image from: http://www.mathplane.com/
Image from: http://www.mathplane.com/

Good morning everyone, today on “What to play tonight?” I look at the classic game of Yahtzee. Yahtzee has been around since the 40’s and is likely to live on for quite some time still. The game is so old; you can actually find the rules online, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahtzee.

I find this game interesting, as really all you need is pen, paper and 5d6 (5 six-sided dice). From there you have a game and the pen and paper are just to help keep a running total. Most people reading this blog already have all the required pieces to play. While playing an RPG like DnD it’s not unheard of to see players busting out mini games of Yahtzee. True traditionally, Yahtzee is played with a dice cup, but that’s not required.

If you haven’t heard of it, players take turns rolling 5d6, looking for patterns such as a straight of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 5 of a kind (aka a YAHTZEE). They each get 3 rolls of the 5d6 per turn, and you can roll as many or as few dice as the player desires after the first roll. After the 3rd roll the player must fill in an empty spot on his score sheet. The player with the most points at the end wins!

It’s fun and has a touch of strategy and really it goes very quick and is very simple. Patterns, people! All you are looking for is patterns. Did you roll a straight, did you get doubles, etc… Yahtzee, is perfect for getting kids used to rolling dice, simple addition and gaming in general.

Since it is pretty much “free” and is an awesomely simple game. I can’t help but RECOMMEND you play it.

 

Quote of the week:

“Murphy’s law is alive and well.” – Coworker trying to resolve a computer issue.



Andrew Smith is one of The Spokesman-Review's IT gurus and resident dungeon master.