The Yahtzee Manifesto

A surfing goat is making waves across California. When Dana McGregor taught his pet goat, Goatee, to surf she instantly became a hit with fellow surfers and tourists alike. McGregor has since incorporated Goatee and her bearded brethren into a wide array of beach adventures including the Beautifully Abled Surf Camp , which teaches the sport to special-needs children. With so many people around the world still isolated at home due to the pandemic, there is an opportunity to expand other favorite pastimes to our four-legged friends in socially-distanced ways. Not surprisingly, Yahtzee with pets is at the top of our list. Goatee, the surfing goat. LA Times As a game based on dice, the world’s original random number generator, chance is baked into Yahtzee gameplay. As a result, the game involves a good deal of dumb luck, something that comes naturally to house pets. But success also requires higher mental functioning, such as an ability to strategize and adjust tactics b...

Yahtzee is a beloved game known for its predictable orderliness. Whether you're a casual player or a competitive enthusiast, Yahtzee's structured format keeps you engaged. However, the structured nature of the game can also attract dishonest individuals who attempt to break the rules. Despite its wholesome reputation, Yahtzee is not immune to cheaters. Tournament organizers, league regulators, and even players at the dining room table game should remain vigilant against cheating. In order to safeguard against deception, it's crucial to be aware of the various methods used to cheat at Yahtzee and identify potential blind spots. By staying informed and maintaining integrity, both casual and professional dice-rollers can ensure the purity of the game. Explore this article to learn about Yahtzee cheating methods and how to protect yourself. Don't Be Like Mike It is a challenge to protect the sanctity of the Yahtzee rules when even some of the world’s greatest comp...

PROVEN : A tactical system of Yahtzee strategy designed to increase scores and well-being. Yahtzee is a game of odds and chance – try to use a strategy that combines both. Continue honing your strategic thinking to increase your odds of winning at Yahtzee, whether you're playing online or on the tabletop. To get started, The Yahtzee Manifesto promotes a PROVEN Yahtzee strategy that gets results every time. Discover the PROVEN Yahtzee strategy – a system of top Yahtzee tips designed to elevate your game. Grounded in advanced probability theory, these easily memorable tips embody the wisdom of E.S. Lowe, the game's creator. Implement these tactics and you may witness a remarkable surge in your Yahtzee scores, igniting a newfound confidence in your gameplay. P rioritize the Upper Section Bonus The Upper Section’s 35-point bonus is the second most important objective in a game of Yahtzee, behind only the namesake. On top of the bonus points, you will rack up plenty of ...

The feelings of joy that arise from playing Yahtzee with friends and family are undeniable. Nothing beats the sound of five dice rattling around in a plastic cup or dishing out high-fives after someone rolls a Yahtzee. But the fun doesn’t need to stop once the game ends. Yahtzee fans can derive hours of happiness in reliving prior games and momentous outcomes by reminiscing over old Yahtzee scorecards . Many people simply discard their completed cards. Other players only save scorecards if they’ve rolled a really high score. But the World Yahtzee Institute recommends keeping them all for future generations to study and enjoy. We often hear from Yahtzee fanatics who have been dismayed to discover that their toddler has defaced their old scorecards with crayon scribblings or whose dog chewed them to bits. These kinds of accidents typically occur when completed scorecards are simply kept in the Yahtzee box with the rest of the equipment. While this is perhaps the most logical spot to sta...

  Dear Yahtzee Manifesto, I recently came across an Instagram post from Geraldine Kemper, a Dutch TV personality, who claimed she had spent the whole weekend playing Yahtzee in the bathtub. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Jaap Lips - Leeuwarden, the Netherlands Dear Jaap, I personally think that sounds like a great way to spend the weekend and playing Yahtzee around the water is certainly not without precedent. The modern iteration of the game was developed on a yacht at sea so the addition of water to a game of Yahztee has a long history. Sanctioned tournaments have been held on a multitude of other watercraft over the years, including paddleboats, canoes, cruiseliners, and inflatable pool floats. However, bathtime Yahtzee does pose some unique challenges, such as the need for a level playing surface upon which to roll the dice. It appears that Ms. Kemper has found an ideal solution by fitting a portable table right over the sides of the tub. Because the ...

Yahtzee is oftentimes a game of tough decisions with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, each whispering sweet temptations directly into your cerebral cortex. In this post we will examine one of the most well-known dilemmas in Yahtzee strategy, the Joker's Gambit. Consider the following situation and decide for yourself. Only two turns are left in your game, with the Yahtzee and Fives boxes still open. The 35-point Upper Section bonus appears to be out of reach as you would need to roll five Fives* to surpass the 63-point threshold. Things aren't looking too great but being a serious Yahtzeeist you never give up hope. On your penultimate turn you roll a couple of Fives, then a couple more - and, yes, it's a Yahtzee in Fives! Welcome to the Joker's Gambit. Instinctively, your pencil is drawn to the Lower Section of your Yahtzee scorecard to mark 50 big ones in the empty Yahtzee box. But after a moment's reflection you realize that scorin...

  Archaeological evidence suggests that an early form of Yahtzee has been played on the Tibetan steppes and throughout the wider Himalayan region for thousands of years. The most well-preserved artifact from these early days is a set of five yak bone dice nestled inside a leather pouch. Historians believe that the game gradually transitioned from a popular pastime that the general population enjoyed into one that was used primarily by a small group of elites during sacred rituals or religious rites. As a consequence, Yahtzee’s popularity as an everyday activity declined. Yahtzee’s modern day resurrection is due to a wealthy Canadian couple who rediscovered the games ancient origins while on a tour of Tibet in the early twentieth century. They were immediately won over by the game’s complex simplicity and began playing it regularly as they cruised around the world on their private yacht. Unfortunately the game’s original name has been lost to history so the couple refe...

Hi Rollers, Rick here. I’m riding a Yahtzee high right now that has me giddy with enthusiasm. I just got back from participating in “Yahtzee the 16th”, an annual Yahtzee tournament held this year in the bustling town of Wilmington, Delaware. Since all proceeds go to a worthy charity, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to attend. When I entered the conference space the gaiety was palpable. There was definitely something special in the air. Very special indeed, as people from as far away as Nevada fly in for this yearly celebration of all things awesome, which obviously has Yahtzee at its heart. Tony, the man behind the scenes, has put a drinking spin on this timeless classic. And if you are a lover of Yahtzee and imbibing the great gift of beer, then you might want to check out the site to get the skinny on how he has masterfully interwoven the two. A scotch and water man myself, it took me awhile to adjust to the free flowing pale ale (sadly it was perhaps a bit too “free flowing”, as...

Big news in the board game community as Monopoly officially changes its lineup of playing tokens with a kitty cat replacing the iron. The removal of the iron token, long considered a symbol of female subordination, has been hailed as a step in the right direction. This is not the first, and will certainly not be the last, time that that a board game has shuffled its playing piece selection. Clue, for example, has updated its repertoire of weapon pieces over the years. Generally, such moves are gimmicky marketing ploys to drive game sales. With interest temporarily fixated on a new playing piece, public attention is pulled away from the fact that these games are simply base representations of greed and murder. But in this day and age, when board games are controlled by international conglomerates, profit is the sole driving force in the decision-making process. Rest assured, fellow Yahtzeeists, Yahtzee will never mix up its playing pieces. While its current corporate overlords would und...

Today, millions of American Yahtzee fans will celebrate the harvest holiday of Thanksgiving with one-too-many helpings of turkey and a lot of hot dice action. It’s a time of coming together with family and friends to show appreciation for the blessings in our lives. It can also, however, result in a rehashing of past familial arguments or other types of uncomfortable conflict. What could go wrong when your overstuffed, perhaps tipsy, extended family members sit down to a competitive Yahtzee game? But before we get to the drama-fueled dessert, let’s dig into the main dish and take a look at some fun dice games that you can enjoy this Thanksgiving. Turkey Dice Games A good ol’ Yahtzee party is a terrific way to celebrate Thanksgiving. The idea of the Yahtzee party originated with the E.S. Lowe Company in the 1950s as a way to popularize their new dice game . It was an instant success. The formula was simple - people invited their friends over for dinner and Yahtzee , resu...

Dear Yahtzee Manifesto, I was playing Yahtzee last week with my son and the ended up as a tie – 234 to 234! There is nothing in the instruction book that covers this type of situation. What the proper way to determine the winner? Thank you for your time. Jim Jakowski Kanata, Ontario Dear Jim,  There is no “proper” way to determine the winner in the case of a draw. It all depends on the circumstances of the game in question and, most importantly, the “house rules” that the players have agreed upon prior to the start of play. Of course there is no answer to be found in the corporate instruction booklet – you need to look beyond the walls that are blocking your view of the truth. In most cases if the game ends in a draw, no winner is declared and you settle for the tie. Remember, Yahtzee is not only about conquering your opponents in an eruption of points. If that is your only conception of the game, then there is much more you have yet to discover. If, however, the sister-kissing gam...

My Dear Readers,  As many of you may know, the World Yahtzee Institute is well-known for its longstanding practice of granting each of its employees a 30 day sabbatical every calendar year. The WYI encourages that the time be used in retreat from the modern world, allowing a state of seclusion to stimulate your Yahtzee unconscious. In June, I began my 2012 sabbatical in the lowlands of Ecuador. Years ago I made a promise to a shaman that I would celebrate my birthday with him and his tribe, and this was the year. My hosts took every effort to make sure that my birthday was wonderful. It turns out my spirit animal is an armadillo. But a few days after the festivities I began to develop sores on my arms and legs. I didn’t think much of it at first, but they soon became excruciating. I was forced to leave the tribal village and my friends. Their healing waters were good, but I needed access to more modern forms of medicine. The diagnosis by a doctor in Quito – Hansen’s disease, better...

One of the world’s most enduring mysteries has taken a major step closer to being resolved. Amelia Earhart disappeared 75 years ago in an attempt to fly around the globe at its equator, never to be heard from again. Now, researchers believe they’ve discovered artifacts that belonged to the famous aviator on a far-flung island in the Pacific Ocean, suggesting that Airhart was able to land her plane on the deserted isle. Serendipitously, a team of scientists from the World Yahtzee Institute had been conducting a study on the Yahtzee habits of Pacific Islanders when the artifacts were unearthed on Nikumaroro Island. The team was more than willing to lend a hand at the dig site. Their assistance helped lead to the major discovery of the expedition – a jar that presumably contained a freckle-remover cream favored by Earhart.  But Steve Janson, the WYI team’s lead researcher, believes that the jar has been misidentified. “Clearly this was no jar of freckle cream. As an expert in the are...

** Reporting live from Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival ** Day 3 at Coachella is officially a wrap, and the star of the show has been dead for 15 years! Tupac Shakur appeared onstage as an Obi-Wan-esque glowing hologram from beyond the grave. The unanticipated set made waves as the holographic rapper performed alongside Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg to a rapt audience. The spectacle caused such a commotion that the World Yahtzee Institute was forced to postpone its popular workshop, “The Hidden Harmonics of Yahtzee”. Apologies to our readers who were expecting a write-up of the workshop results in tonight’s blog post. It seems like Tupac has released a new album each year since his death – it was just a matter of time until he got on stage again. We’re just sorry that the timing has wreaked havoc on our full schedule of programming at Coachella this year. The workshop will be held at the same location next Friday, April 20th at 9:00.

It’s the second week of April – Spring is in the air, birds are chirping, and electronic metal arms are raising their clenched fists into the air. That’s right, this is National Robotics Week! Yahtzee has long been intimately intertwined with cutting-edge technology. From Henry Ford’s custom-made “Yahtzee Stimulator” of the 1920′s to today’s electronic handhelds and computer versions, Yahtzeeists of all stripes love to incorporate technological wonders into the simple old-fashionedness of the game. But a new marvel has outdone them all. A fully-functional Yahtzee-playing robot is making its debut this weekend at the Robotics Challenge 2012 in Las Vegas. The cleverly named “Yahtzee-Bot” is a humanoid robot from the waist up with super-dexterous hands that are equipped with double opposable thumbs. The extra thumbs allow the machine to generate extremely high levels of dice action, resulting in magnificently precise rolls. The robot has been undergoing intense testing for the past five m...

The World Yahtzee Institute has received stacks of letters in the past few months with inquiries into the findings from the Nepalese archaeological dig. The dig, located in the Himalayan foothills, had produced what appeared to be a very early Yahtzee set – perhaps the oldest Yahtzee gaming equipment yet unearthed. It has been exceptionally difficult to keep a lid on the turn of events that occurred upon my team’s arrival to the site, given the high profile of such a find. The last thing I’d ever want to do is to withhold information from my fellow Yahtzeeists but the powers-that-be imposed a gag-rule until all of the facts surrounding the matter had been brought to light. I’ve been given permission to speak openly about the matter as of this afternoon. My team and I arrived in Nepal last October and began our investigation. Our initial tests of the artifacts – which consisted of two fully intact dice, a shard of a broken die, and a yak bone shaker cup – seemed to indicate the authenti...

Hi Rollers, Rick here. These cold dark nights and short brisk days got me thinkin’ ’bout the health of my fellow Yahtzee comrades. You see, we’re in the midst of the dark doldrums of winter and it can be hard on a fella’s or lady’s outlook on life. Of course the prescription for this ailment is sitting right in your chest of drawers or wherever you may keep your sacred Yahtzee game. If you find yourself feeling a little blue, allow a little red cup to lift your spirits. The best way to do this is with a good ol’ Yahtzee cleanse. Of course, cleanses have been used to maintain well-being and bring balance back to one’s life for as long as there has been Yahtzee itself. Perhaps even longer. Cleanses generally have a spiritual bent and a Yahtzee cleanse is no different. A Yahtz’ cleanse is the perfect way to bring harmony and balance back into your life and into your rolls, aligning mind, body, spirit, and the perfect Yahtzee game. Some traditions take the cleanse a step further and requir...