
A role-playing game rarely has winners or losers. That makes role-playing games fundamentally different from board games, card games, sports and most other types of games. Role-playing games are typically more collaborative and social than competitive.[1].A typical role-playing game unifies its participants into a single team, known as a "party", that plays as a group. Like serials or novel sequences, these episodic games are often played in weekly sessions over a period of months or even years, although some gamers prefer playing one session games.
Role-playing games are a form of interactive and collaborative storytelling. Like novels or films, role-playing games appeal because they engage the imagination. Interactivity is the crucial difference between role-playing games and traditional fiction. Whereas a viewer of a television show is a passive observer, a player at a roleplaying game makes choices that propel the action. Such role-playing games extend an older tradition of storytelling games where a small party of friends collaborate to create a story.
While simple forms of roleplaying exist in traditional children's games such as "cops and robbers", "cowboys and Indians" and "playing house", role-playing games add a level of sophistication and persistence to this basic idea. Instead, participants in a roleplaying game will generate specific characters and an ongoing plot. A consistent system of rules and a more or less realistic campaign setting in games aids suspension of disbelief. The level of realism in games ranges from just enough internal consistency to set up a believable story or credibl challenge to full-blown simulations of real-world processes.
Video games incorporating settings and game mechanics found in roleplaying games are referred to as computer role-playing games, or CRPGs. Due to the popularity of CRPGs, the terms "role-playing game" and "RPG" have both to some degree been co-opted by the video gaming industry; as a result, traditional non-digital pastimes of this sort are increasingly being referred to as "pen and paper" or "tabletop" role-playing games, though neither pen and paper nor a table are strictly necessary.
Most role-playing games are conducted like radio drama: only the spoken component is acted, and players step out of character to describe action and discuss game mechanics. The genre of role-playing games in which players do perform their characters' physical actions is known as live-action roleplaying games (LARP).
In traditional roleplaying games, participants usually sit around a table and conduct the game as a small social gathering. One participant, the "gamemaster", describes the setting and the actions of the inhabitants, while the others describe their characters' actions and responses. The game system typically requires players to roll dice to determine the outcome of some of their actions, most typically in combat or other stressful situations. Games that emphasize plot and character interaction over game mechanics and combat sometimes prefer the name storytelling game.
Live-action
A Live action roleplaying game (LARP), is played more like improvisational theatre. Instead of describing their characters' actions, participants act out their characters' actions, often in costume. Further, the players' environment is used to represent the imaginary environment of the game world.
LARPs de-emphasize die rolls and rulebook references. Theatre-style live action roleplaying games often use rock-paper-scissors or direct comparison of attributes to resolve conflicts, while "boffer" games use padded weaponry to simulate real combat. LARPs vary in size from a handful of players to several thousands, and in duration from a couple of hours to whole weeks.
Electronic media
The challenge of producing a video game with which players can interact through roleplaying, rather than simply a framework within they can interact with each other, is yet to be answered. Computer imitations of role-playing games instead incorporate role-playing game elements into a man-to-man wargame. It has so far proved impossible to recreate the depth, flexibility, teamwork, and characterisation of traditional gaming.
Nonetheless, computers and other electronic media are not unknown in role-playing. Computer-assisted role-playing games blend elements of traditional roleplaying with computer gaming. Computers are used for recordkeeping and sometimes to resolve combat, while the participants generally make decisions concerning character interaction. This may include tools used to facilitate traditional pen & paper games to be played over the internet. Such tools may be nothing more than an IRC program, but there is also specialised software which includes built-in functions for dice, character sheets, mapping, and such (e.g., OpenRPG).
Some role-playing games use the internet as their medium. Online text-based role-playin games, in which players interact through a text-based medium rather than face-to-face, are popular on the internet. Some games are played in a turn-based fashion, whether play-by-mail games using email, or play-by-post games on internet forums. Others are played in a more real-time way, similar to offline games, over TELNET or IRC; these are known as MUDs. Finally, some people use internet chat clients or dedicated virtual tabletop software to play what would otherwise be a traditional RPG.
Freeform
Freeform roleplaying games are played with minimal or no formal rules and a greater focus on character or plot development, with the organisers as referees. Most freeform games are also live-action games, though they exist in both traditional and computer-assisted forms. Freeform games are most often seen at gaming conventions, though they are also sometimes run by gaming clubs or a dedicated team of independent GMs.
Game systems
The set of rules of a role-playing game is known as its game system; the rules themselves are known as game mechanics. Although there are game systems which are shared by many games, for example the d20 system, many games have their own, custom rules system.
Almost all roleplaying games require the participation of a gamemaster (GM), who creates a setting for the game session, portrays most of its inhabitants and acts as the moderator and rules arbitrator for the players. The rest of the participants create and play inhabitants of the game setting, known as player characters (PCs). The player characters collectively are known as a "party".
During a typical game session, the gamemaster will introduce a story goal for the players to achieve through the actions of their characters. Frequently, this involves interacting with non-player characters, other denizens of the game world, which are played by the gamemaster. Many game sessions contain moments of puzzle solving, negotiation, chases, and combat. The goal may be made clear to the players at the outset, or may become clear to them during the course of a game.
Games rules determine the success or failure of a character's actions. Many game systems use weighted statistics and dice rolls or other random elements. In most systems, the gamemaster uses the rules to determine a target number. The player rolls dice, trying to get a result either more than or less than the target number, depending on the game system. Not all games determine successes randomly, however; an early and popular game without random elements is Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game by Erick Wujcik (1990).
Most systems are tied to the setting of the game they feature in. However, some universal role-playing game systems can be adapted to any genre. The first game to feature such a system, GURPS, is accompanied by a number of sourcebooks which allow games to be created in different genres. The d20 system, based on the older role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, is used in many modern games such as Spycraft and the Star Wars Roleplaying Game.
In practice, even universal systems are often biased toward a specific style or genre and adaptable to others. For example, although the d20 system has sourcebooks for modern and futuristic settings, most published d20 system material stays within Dungeons & Dragons' combat-focused fantasy milieu.
Statistics
Characters in roleplaying games are usually represented by a number of statistics. Statistics are an abstract measure of how successful a character is likely to be at a class of tasks. Many game systems make distinctions between two key types of statistic: attributes and skills. These names are not at all consistently across different games, however.
Attributes are statistics all characters possess: strength, agility, and intelligence are common examples. These are ranked, often on a numeric scale, so that a player can gauge the character's capabilities. For example, a character's strength rating could be used to determine the likelihood that the character can lift a certain weight.
Skills are abilities that only some characters possess, such as negotiation, horseback riding, and marksmanship. Game systems often define skills that are genre-appropriate. For example, Asian adventures commonly emphasize martial arts. Fantasy settings include magic. Science-fiction settings may contain psionics. However, some skills are found in several genres: a medieval rogue and a Wild West outlaw may both be very proficient at throwing knives.
Character creation
Before play begins, players develop a concept of the role they would like to play in the game. They then use the game system's character creation rules to form a representation of their characters, in terms of game mechanics. The character's statistics are recorded on a special-purpose form called a character sheet. Some systems, such as that of Feng Shui, require characters to choose from a set of prebuilt template characters with only a small amount of customisation allowed. Others, like the d20 System, use character classes to define most character concepts, but allow some freedom with the statistics within those classes. Still others, such as GURPS, allow the player to create their own character concepts by freely assigning statistics.
Game statistics are not a substitute for a character concept. For example, one Wild West gunfighter may become a quick drawing revolver marksman, whereas another with similar game statistics could be a mounted rifle expert.
Template-based systems have the advantage of easy and quick character creation. It also gives means the gamemaster spends less time approving each character for play. The sacrifice is in flexibility and concept. Templates are essentially pre-built characters that are balanced against each other and pre-approved by the game companies.
Class-based systems give slightly more freedom but still require a player to choose from a set number of roles for their character. The character's powers are generally set by the character class, but the specific statistics are assigned by the player.
Character point-based systems allow complete freedom of concept. The downside is that character creation is, in many cases, much more complex and the GMs have to spend a lot more time examining and approving each character concept.
A few games allow freeform character creation. Characteristics are simply assigned as a player sees fit, and the final result is submitted to the GM or group for approval. Freeform character creation can be implemented in any game system, but is only rarely the prescribed or assumed method.
Campaign settings
Each game is set in a fictional world in which adventures and campaigns can take place. Usually a campaign setting is designed for a specific game (such as the Forgotten Realms setting for Dungeons & Dragons) or a specific genre of game (such as Medieval fantasy, or outer space/science fiction adventure). There are numerous campaign settings available both in print and online. In addition to published campaign settings available for purchase, many game masters create their own.
Campaign settings exist for almost all genres of fiction; however, because the world's most popular roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons, is part of the fantasy genre, fantasy is also the most played roleplaying genre. RPGs of the fantasy genre are sometimes collectivelly called "Fantasy roleplaying games" ("FRP").
The use of the term "world" in describing a campaign setting is loose, at best. Campaign worlds such as the World of Greyhawk detail entire cosmologies and timelines of thousands of years, while the setting of a game such as Deadlands might only describe one nation within a brief segment of alternate history.
There are three primary types of campaign setting. The first exists in genre- and setting-specific role-playing games such as Warhammer or World of Darkness which exist specifically within one setting. The second type of setting is for games that have multiple settings such as modern Dungeons & Dragons or those that were developed specifically to be independent of setting such as GURPS. The final type of setting is developed without being tied to a particular game system. Typically this last sort are developed first as stand-alone works of fiction, which are later adapted to one or more role playing systems such as the Star Wars universe or Middle-earth.
The range of genres represented by published settings is vast, and includes nearly all genres of fiction. While role-playing's roots began in fantasy, science fiction has been used in settings such as Traveller, horror formed the baseline of the World of Darkness and Call of Cthulhu and Spycraft was based in modern-day spy thriller-oriented settings.
A small number of campaign settings fuse multiple genres into a single game. In GURPS Infinite Worlds, for example, the characters play "Infinity Patrol" agents who travel to alternate worlds.
Publishers
The largest publisher of tabletop role-playing games is Wizards of the Coast, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hasbro and publisher of Dungeons & Dragons, the D20 Star Wars RPG, and a number of smaller D20 titles. Most analysts give White Wolf the second largest industry marketshare, with the company itself claiming an average marketshare of 22% since 1991 Most roleplaying game publishers are privately held companies and do not release sales figures, making precise estimates difficult. There has been no publically available, systematic examination of point of sale data, limiting further estimates to a rough consensus between industry analysts whose conclusions are often controversial.
Market research conducted at Wizards of the Coast in 1999-2000 indicated that more than 1.5 million people played D&D on a monthly basis, and about 2 million people played all tabletop RPGs combined on a monthly basis. The success of the 3rd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons likely resulted in an increase in those totals. These figures for play are substantially larger than the figures for sales. In 2006, non-Dungeons & Dragons tabletop RPGs in the upper echelons of sales typically generated between five and ten thousand unit sales. Most commercially published RPGs are small press products, having less than a thousand units sold. The technology of print on demand is strongly used in RPGs, since it reduces run costs for the typical small print runs.
Read more!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Role-playing game
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Let's play chess!
How do you play itChess is played on a square board that is divided into sixty-four squares (8-by-8) of alternating color, which is very similar to that used in draughts (checkers). The chess boards used at chess tournaments have squares of approximately 50 to 65 mm (2.0 - 2.5 inches). The chess boards used at chess tournaments are usually green and buff, which is considered "easier on the eyes" than black and white, and because it is easier to distinguish occupied and empty squares when the board colors are different from the piece colors 1-2-3-4-5.No matter what the true color of the board (which come in a wide variety of colors), the (thirty-two) lighter colored squares are called "white", and the (thirty-two) darker colored squares are called "black". Upon the board move sixteen "white" and sixteen "black" pieces. The chess pieces used at chess tournaments are usually "new Staunton style" shapes, and (unlike the board) often are black and white.Sets used for play are commonly made of wood or plastic, although ornamental sets exist made of stone, glass, or metall, which are often used to decorate homes. Ivory was fairly commonly used at one time. Likewise, the chessboards themselves can be made of wood, cardboard, leather, stone, glass, or any other material that the design can be placed on. Chess tables (either of wood or stone) are sometimes made with a chess board designed into the surface. Sometimes human chess boards are drawn on the floor or ground. Many travel boards fold into a box that the pieces fit into and some of them use magnets to hold the pieces in place.
The board is placed so that a light-colored square is in the near-right corner; a dark one in the near-left.
1 king
1 queen
2 rooks
2 bishops
2 knights
8 pawns
At the beginning of the game, the pieces are arranged as shown in the diagram to the right.
The second row from the player contains the 8 pawns
The row nearest the player contains the remaining pieces
Outside corners are the rooks
Inside of the rooks are the knights
Inside of the knights are the bishops
Queen on her own color: white queen on the white square and black queen on the black square
King takes the vacant spot next to the queen.
Popular phrases used to remember the set-up, often heard in beginner's clubs, are "queen on color" and "white on right". The latter refers to setting up the board so that the square closest to each player's right is white.
To describe moves and locations on the board, either algebraic chess notation or the almost obsolete descriptive chess notation is used.
The players choose colors by mutual agreement or by random means such as coin flipping. Commonly, one player conceals a white pawn in one hand and a black pawn in the other. The other player selects a hand and plays that color.
The player controlling the white pieces moves first. While this gives white an advantage, it is not known that white can force a win if black plays perfectly. After the initial move by white, players alternate moves. Play continues until a draw is called, a player resigns or a king is trapped by means of a checkmate (see below).
Movement
Each piece moves in a different way. Generally, a piece cannot pass through squares occupied by other pieces, but it can move to a square occupied by an opposing piece, which is then "captured" (removed from the board). Only one piece can occupy a given square.
The rook moves orthogonally to the players (forward, backward, left or right) any number of squares. The bishop moves diagonally any number of squares and always stays on one of the two chequered colours.
The queen moves orthogonally or diagonally, any number of squares.
The king moves orthogonally or diagonally only one square at a time.
The knight moves in an "L"-shape (two spaces in one direction and one space orthogonally to it). It is the only piece that can jump over other pieces.
The pawn moves one space straight forward (away from the player). On its first move it can optionally move two spaces forward. If there is an enemy piece diagonally (either left or right) one space in front of the pawn, the pawn may move diagonally to capture that piece. A pawn cannot capture or jump over a piece directly in front of it.
Besides these moves, the king and either rook can do a special combination move called castling: if the king and rook have not moved yet, and all spaces between them are empty, then the king can move two squares toward the rook, and in the same turn the rook can move to the space the king has just skipped over. It is not permitted to castle when the king is threatened or would have to move through a threatened square. In serious play, care must be taken to make clear that castling is intended, e.g. by verbal announcement or by moving the king first (since the king cannot move two squares except in castling).
A pawn reaching the final rank becomes a queen in a process known as "queening" or "promotion" (or, if the player prefers, a rook, bishop or knight; this is called "underpromotion").
Unlike games such as shogi or checkers, once a chess piece is captured it is never returned to the board during the game, and individual pieces are not "promoted" to a different piece, except for pawn promotion.
If a pawn moves two squares forward on its first move, it can be captured on the square it has skipped over, as if it had moved only one square, but only during the turn immediately after its two-square move and only by an opposing pawn on its fifth rank. This is called capturing en passant.
A player may not make any move which places or leaves his king in check (see below).
In serious play, if a player having the move touches one of his pieces then he must move it if it can be legally moved. If a player touches a hostile piece then he must capture it if the piece can be captured. So long as the hand has not left the piece to be moved, the latter can be placed on any accessible square. If a player wishes to touch a piece with the sole intention of adjusting its position on a square, he must first apprise his opponent of his intention by saying J'adoube or I adjust. Only the player whose turn it is to move may adjust a piece.
A player who makes an illegal move with a piece must retract that move and make another one, if possible, with the same piece. If the mistake is only noticed later on, the game should be restarted from the position in which the error occurred. However, if blitz chess is being played (where both players have a limited time, e.g. five minutes) and the player who has made a mistake has pressed his/her clock, the other player may call the illegal move and win the game.
Check and checkmate
When a player makes a move that threatens the opposing king with capture, the king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check then the player must make a move that eliminates the threat of capture, which does not necessarily mean the king must be moved. The possible moves to remove the threat of capture are:
Move the king to a square where it is not threatened.
Capture the threatening piece.
Place a piece between the king and the opponent's threatening piece.
Note that the king may be in check by two pieces ("double check"). In that case, only a king move will get out of check (which could be the capture of one of the attacking pieces.) A player may never leave his king in check at the end of his move.
In informal games, it is customary to announce check when making a move that puts the opponent's king in check. However, in formal competitions this is not only unnecessary but is against the rules.
If a player's king is placed in check and there is no legal move that player can make to escape check, then the king is said to be checkmated, the game ends, and that player loses. The diagram to the right shows a typical checkmate position. The white king is threatened by the black queen; every square to which the king could move is also threatened; and he cannot capture the queen, because he would then be threatened by the rook.
Either player may resign if he feels his position is hopeless. This is common in master play.
Draws
The game ends in a draw in any of these conditions:
The game is automatically a draw if the player to move is not in check but has no legal move. This situation is called a stalemate. An example of such a position is shown in the diagram to the right.
There is no possibility for either player to checkmate the opponent. For example one player has a king and a knight and another only a king.
Both players agree to a draw (Draw by agreement).
Either player may claim a draw by indicating that one of the following conditions exists:
fifty moves have been played by each player without a piece being captured or a pawn moved.
The same board position has been repeated three times, with the same player to move and all pieces having the same rights to move, including the right to castle or capture en passant.
At one time, if a player was able to check the opposing king continually (perpetual check) and he indicated his intention to do so, the game was drawn. This rule is no longer in effect; however, players will usually agree to a draw in such a situation, since either the threefold repetition rule or the fifty move rule will eventually go into effect.
Timing
Tournament games are played under time constraints using a Game clock. Each player must make all his moves in a specified time, or be in danger of forfeit.
If there is a checkmate on the board, the player delivering checkmate wins, no matter what is subsequently noticed about the time.
If player A calls attention to the fact that player B is out of time, but it is then noted that player A is also out of time, the game is drawn.
If player A calls attention to the fact that player B is out of time, player A is not out of time, and player A has sufficient material to checkmate (either a pawn, a knight and a bishop, two bishops, a rook, or a queen), then player A wins automatically.
If player A calls attention to the fact that player B is out of time, and player A does not have sufficient material to checkmate, the game is drawn.
Various tournament rules have been devised to prevent players from playing on with no practical chances of winning on the board, intending merely to win when their opponent runs out of time. For example, a king and rook versus a king, bishop, and pawn cannot be won by either player virtually all of the time, even though both sides theoretically have enough material to checkmate. The player with more time might play quickly in hopes of inducing a blunder or running out the opponent's clock. If a player believes his opponent is attempting to win a drawn position on time, he may appeal to a tournament official, who may impose a result or a penalty in accordance with whatever rules are in effect for that tournament.
In formal competition, each player is obliged to record each move as it is played in order to settle disputes about illegal positions and overstepping time control. Algebraic chess notation is presently used for this, though some players still use descriptive chess notation
Read more!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
The best card game -UNO
The custom deck consists of cards of 4 suits (colors): red, green, blue, and yellow.
The ranks in each suit are 0-9. There are 2 "honor" cards in each suit, labeled "skip", "draw two", and "reverse". There are special black cards, "wild" and "wild draw four". There are two copies of each regular and honor card, except for the 0s, which only have one per suit. There are four "wild" and "wild draw four" cards each, producing a total of 108 cards.
To start the game, seven cards are dealt to each player, and the top card of the stock is exposed to start the discard pile. If the exposed card has a special ability, it is treated as if the dealer played that card, and the special effect occurs (i.e., skip, draw two, reverse, or wild). If the exposed card is a wild draw four, however, it is returned to the deck and the next card is exposed.
At each turn, a player may play a card from their hand that matches the suit or rank of the top exposed card, or play a wild or wild draw four. If a player has no legal card to play, that player draws the top card of the stock, and may either play it or place it in their hand. A player may choose to draw the top card of the stock even if they have a legal play (known as reneging), but after having drawn the top card of the stock only that card may be played that turn (a player may intentionally do this when desperate to keep another player from going out). After playing a single card or drawing, the next player clockwise takes a turn, unless a reverse is in effect. If the stock is emptied, the discard pile is shuffled and turned over to replenish the stock.
The hand ends when a player plays all their cards. When a player plays down to only one card, that player is required to say "uno". If another player catches someone not calling "uno" (after the second to last card touches the discard pile but before the next player starts their turn), then that player must draw two cards.
After a player plays all of their cards, the other players count the number of points pertaining to the values of the cards in their hands. Number cards are face value (with zero cards worth ten), coloured special cards worth twenty, and wilds worth fifty. When the number for one of the players reaches or exceeds a certain value (500 is customary), the player with the fewest points wins.
Draw two
The next player must draw two cards and lose their turn. Many people play with a cumulative draw rule (see below) although this is not an official rule.
Skip
The next player must skip their turn.
Reverse
The order of play is reversed from clockwise to counterclockwise, or from counterclockwise to clockwise. If there are only two players, reverse acts as a skip.
Wild
The person playing it names a color, and the next legal play must be that color, unless another wild is played.
Wild draw fourActs like a wild, but the next player must draw four cards and skip their turn. This card may only be played if the player holding it doesn't have any card matching the current color.
Penalties
If any player fails to say "uno", then another player may force him or her to draw two penalty cards ("Challenge Uno"). If nobody notices the failure to say uno before the next player takes another turn, there is no penalty. The penalty for calling a false "uno" is that Travis has to draw three cards.
If a player gives card-play suggestions, he or she must draw two cards.
If a player plays an illegal card, he or she must draw two cards.
If a player plays a wild draw four card when he has a playable card in his hand, he can be challenged by the player having to draw the four cards. If he or she played the card correctly, the challenging player must draw six cards instead of four. If the player playing the card cheated, he or she has to draw four penalty cards.
If a player plays a Reverse or Skip card in a two player game, and has no playable card to go after it, he or she must draw two penalty cards from the deck.
Read more!
Man don't be angry
Read more!
Monday, March 26, 2007
Yahtzee
OBJECT OF THE GAME:
The object of YAHTZEE is to obtain the highest score. The player with the greatest grand total wins and earns the difference between his score and that of his opponents.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
YAHTZEE may be played by any number of people. It can be played solitaire or competitively in a group.
EQUIPMENT OF THE GAME:
Your YAHTZEE game consists of the following equipment: 1 DICE CUP
1 SET OF
5 YAHTZEE DICE
1 YAHTZEE SCORE PAD
2 PENCILS YAHTZEE BONUS
NOW LET’S PLAY
Each player keeps his own score on a YAHTZEE score card to be marked with player’s name. To determine who goes first, each player places all five dice in the dice cup and rolls the dice; the player with the highest total starts the game. The player then continues clockwise. Each player on his turn places all five dice in the cup, shakes the cup and rolls out the dice. Each turn consists of a maximum of three rolls - the first roll to be made with all five dice. If the player elects to roll a second and third time, he may pick up and use any number of dice, providing a score is taken on the last roll. It is the skillful use of these two optional rolls of the dice that can turn an unlucky first or second roll into a high-scoring turn.
SCORE CARD Now let’s look at the YAHTZEE score card. You’ll note that there are 13 scoring boxes - aces, twos, threes, etc., through Large Straight, YAHTZEE and Chance. On each turn, the player must score in one of the 13 boxes. If on the first roll of the dice, a player has
he might choose to go for "Twos" in the Upper Section of the score card or "3 of a kind" (in this case, 2’s) in the Lower Section of the score card. The player would then leave the ,dice marked "2" on the table, pick up the 1, 3 and 6 dice and attempt to toss another 2 on his second roll.If on the second roll of the dice, he has
he might stop there and enter 6 in the "Twos" box in the Upper Section of the score card or 17 (total of all five dice) in the "3 of a kind" box in the Lower Section. Or he might elect to roll again in the hope of getting one or even two more 2’s.If the player chooses to roll again, he picks up the 5 and 6 dice only and tosses for his third and last roll. If, on his third roll, he has
he could enter his score as 6 in the "Twos" box in the Upper Section of the score card or 11 (total of all five dice) in the "3 of a kind" box in the Lower Section. The choice of when to take a score - after the first, second or third roll on turn - and where to score (in the Upper Section or Lower Section of the score card) will be determined by the goal the player has set for himself. The choice of where to score can be made at any time after the first, second or third roll.On completion of each turn, the player marks the score in the appropriate box on his score card. If there is not appropriate box open to mark his score, the player must enter a zero in any box of his choice. For example, if after the third roll a player has
after the "Fours' box in the Upper Section and "3 of a kind' and "Chance" boxes in the Lower Section have been previously filled, the player must enter a zero in any open box. Only one blank box may be filled at the end of each turn. The boxes may be filled in any order, according to the player’s best judgment.The game is completed after each player has had 13 turns and has filled every box in the column with a score or an optional zero. The scores are then totalled and entered on the reverse side of score pad.
HOW TO SCOREIt’s simple! The YAHTZEE score card is divided into 2 sections: the Upper and Lowe
UPPER SECTIONIn the Upper Section there are boxes to score "Aces," "Twos," "Threes," "Fours," "Fives" and "Sixes." If a player elects to score in the Upper Section, he counts and adds only the dice with the same number and enters the total of these dice in appropriate box. If a player, on his turn, rolls
and elects to take his score in the Upper Section, he would enter 9 in the "Threes" box.NOTE: a player may enter the total of any number of same value dice in the appropriate box in the Upper Section. For example, if a player, on his turn, rolls
he may elect to score 2 in the "Aces" box. On the other hand, if a player, on his turn, rolls
he may, if he wishes, score 12 in the "Threes" box.
BONUSTo earn a bonus of 35 points, a player must score 63 points or more in the Upper Section; (For quick calculation, 63 may be reached by scoring 3 "Aces," "Twos," and so on through "Sixes" as shown on score cards). A bonus can be obtained by having a total of 63 points or more scored in any manner in the Upper Section.
LOWER SECTIONT
he Lower Section of the score card is played exactly as indicated. The "3 of a kind" box may be filled in only if the dice show at least 3 of of the same number. For example:
would be scored 18 (total of all dice) in the "3 of a kind" box."4 of a kind" scores the total of all dice provided they include 4 dice of the same number. This turn,
would be scored 14 (total of all dice) in the "4 of a kind" box. (May also be scored in "3 of a kind" if "4 of a kind" box has already been filled.)"Full House" may be chosen when the dice show any combination of three of one kind and two of another. For example, the following may be scored as 25 points in the "Full House" box
(May also be scored in "3 of a kind box" or "3 box" in upper section if "Full House" box has already been filled.)"Small Straight" is any sequence of four numbers, such as

NOTE: The fifth die can be any number. Any "Small Straight" is valued at 30 points."Large Straight" is any sequence of five numbers, such as

These turns are valued at 40 points in the "Large Straight" box. (May also be scored in "Small Straight" box if "Large Straight" box has already been filled.)YAHTZEE is any five of a kind. Score 50 points in the "YAHTZEE" box.The Chance box offers a player the opportunity to score on any turn which doesn’t fill any other requirement. Mark score by totalling number of points on all dice.
YAHTZEE USED AS A JOKERIf a player should roll a YAHTZEE, and the YAHTZEE box has been previously filled (and the appropriate box in the Upper Section has been used) then and only then may a player use this turn as a Joker. He marks his score in any of the boxes in the Lower Section, as follows. If the dice were
he mayscore 20 points in any one of the following boxes: "3 of a kind," "4 of a kind" or "Chance." Or he may score 25 points in the "FuIl House" box, 30 points in the "Small Straight" box or 4O points in the "Large Straight" box. If all the boxes in the Lower Section are filled, he must enter a zero in a box of his choice in the Upper Section.
HOW TO USE YAHTZEE BONUS CHIPS: A player receives one YAHTZEE Bonus Chip when he tosses a second YAHTZEE during a game if, and only if, the first YAHTZEE was scored in the YAHTZEE box. The second YAHTZEE is scored in the appropriate box in the Upper Section or as a Joker, as explained in the preceding paragraph.The YAHTZEE Bonus Chips are each worth 100 points. At the end of each game, players score the number of points each has in YAHTZEE Bonus Chips and then return the chips to the "kitty." When two tables are playing, divide the Bonus Chips by color.
YAHTZEE PLAYED WITH PARTNERSYAHTZEE may be played by two or more teams of partners. Partners write their score in the same column. All other rules remain the same.
YAHTZEE PLAYED SOLITAIREYAHTZEE may also be played solitaire. The highest score that can be obtained in any one game is 375 points.
STRATEGYIf you are not as lucky as your opponent, try to beat him with strategy, Here are a few examples:if at the completion of each turn, your dice show:

You have the choice of scoring the following boxes, if open:9 points in "threes" box in Upper Section; or 19 points (total of all dice) in "3 of a kind" or "Chance" box in Lower Section.20 points in "Fives" box in Upper Section; or 22 points (total of all dice) in "3 of a kind" or"4 of a kind" box, or "Chance" box in Lower Section.19 points (total of all dice) in "Chance" in Lower Section or 4 points in "twos" box in Upper SectionThis last choice, however, puts you 2 points below (63) for Upper Section bonus of 35 points, To overcome this deficit,you would have to score either 4 "Threes," "Fours," "Fives," or "Sixes," duringthe game to earn the bonus.If,in any of the above examples, all appropriate boxes were already filled, you would have to score a zero in a blank box. It would be best if you could take a zero in an open box of the Upper Section without ruining your chances for making par of 63 to earn the 35 point bonus. If this cannot be done, a player would have to use his judgment in placing, the zero so as to lose the minimum number of points.
Read more!

