Yahtzee is a dice game made by Milton Bradley (now owned by Hasbro), which was first marketed by game entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. The game is a development of earlier dice games such as Yacht and Generala. A public domain version of Yahtzee, which is popular especially in Scandinavia, is Yatzy. Yahtzee is also similar to the English game of Poker Dice and the Cheerio dice game.
The object of the game is to score the most points by rolling five dice to make certain combinations. The dice can be rolled up to three times in a turn to try to make one of the thirteen possible scoring combinations. A game consists of thirteen rounds during which the player chooses which scoring combination is to be used in that round. Once a combination has been used in the game, it cannot be used again.
The scoring combinations have varying point values, some of which are fixed values and others of which have the cumulative value of the dice. A Yahtzee is five-of-a-kind and holds the game's highest point value of 50 (not counting multiple "Yahtzees" in the same game).
Yahtzee was marketed by the E.S. Lowe company from 1956 till 1973. In 1973, the Milton Bradley Company purchased the E.S. Lowe Company and assumed the rights to produce and sell Yahtzee. During Lowe's ownership over 40 million Yahtzee games were sold in America and around the globe. The game has maintained its popularity. According to current owner Hasbro, 50 million Yahtzee games are sold each year.
Read more about Yahtzee: History, Rules Overview, Deluxe and Collector Editions, Other Versions, Related Games, Similar Games, Cultural References