Talk:Yahtzee/Archive 1

This is an archive of past discussions about Yahtzee. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Archive 1

Mathematics of Yahtzee

Can anyone add in some mathematics and/or strategy to playing Yahtzee with the average expected score, maximum possible score, minimum possible score (all zeros with a 1,1,1,1,2 for chance for a score of 6), etc...

--- —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.123.124.244 (talk) 00:10, 24 December 2006 (UTC).

Minimum is 5. Rolling 5 1's for Chance after the Yahtzee box has been X'd out. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Frorule (talk • contribs) 21:36, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Maximum up top is 5+10+15+20+25+30 with an additional 600 points for those all being Yahtzee's and 35 for bonus. (740) Maximum below is 30+30+25+30+40+30+50 w/ an additional 300 for 3ofakind, 4ofakind, and Chance all being Yahtzees. (535) Add that up for a grand total of 1275. Good luck achieving that. :) Frorule (talk) 21:46, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

________________

The player must roll at least three of a kind of all six die face values to achieve a bonus, No, all you have to do is get 63. It doesn't matter how you get it.--Camperboy38 18:08, 2 March 2007 (UTC) The score nessasary to recive the the bonus is equal to the score obtained by rolling three of a kind on all six die, but there are many ways to obtain a high enough score for the bonus. For example: (0) 1's (0) 2's (3) 3's (4) 4's (4) 5's and (3) 6's would earn the bonus without rolling three of a kind on every die face.

When I was a kid (in the 60's) my father would play this game with me. He called it "Henerales" (which is the Spanish pronunciation of "Generals"). We lived in Colombia and Peru for a while and I wonder anyone can corroborate that was the local name for the game.

i added a link to my yahtzee.swf (42kb) on my server because i was a bit frustrated by the two existing links to the online game, one needing a registration and the other one using java (which in my opinion is pretty heavy and takes forever to start). also mine is a very basic version without even the yahtzee chips for extra yathzees. cheers! -zenzizi

Masturbation?

Can anyone validate the reference to Yahtzee as a euphemism for masturbation as shown on the page? This looks like silly vandalism to me. - Rlw (Talk) 00:43, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

I was about to say the same thing. Contributor appears to be serial vandal, judging by his/her Talk page. I've removed the section as non-encyclopaedic. Dave.Dunford 00:46, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

Had a look at 156.63.116.26's contributions - everything I looked at was vandalism. Yawn. Dave.Dunford 00:55, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

Changes I made

I moved pictures around to make it look cleaner. I think whoever tackles this page next should look at paring down the # of pictures. Way way way beyond what fair use allows. --Woohookitty^(meow) 09:24, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Quite, I have removed the galleries. If you have 20 images illustrating one paragraph, then you haven't written enough to justify each image. ed g2s • talk 01:46, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Cleanup

I tried to get rid of extraneous info about all the game boxes, and I moved the images to a gallery view instead. I think the gallery works well enough to exhibit the evolution of the box over time without a complete description of each box. Sorry about the mess.

Computer versions

Does anyone have information on the officially licensed computer versions of Yahtzee? Particularly the different variations they have, some of which are only possible on a computer. I think this would make a worthy addition to this article. --Lkseitz 16:34, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

There is a game included in Gnome Games called Tali. Would that be worth including in the Similar Games section? --Bradlis7 (talk) 17:30, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

two-of-a-kind

What about Two-of-a-kind? can you not get that?

Two-of-a-kind (one pair) is possable, but it does not have its own place on the scorecard. - NickSentowski 22:22, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Uncited reference to solitaire game having been solved by computer

This form of this game has been solved by computer analysis.‹The template Talkfact is being considered for merging.› ^{[citation needed]} The computer program can tell the player what score choice to make for any possible configuration of the dice and for any possible partially filled score card. The program maximizes the player's expected score.

Gary Levell 13:43, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Rules questions

As a little project I'm trying to code my own Yahtzee game for the computer but I stumbled upon these questions regarding the game's rules and I would appreciate a definitive answer. Can a Yahtzee (for example, 5 sixes) also rank as a Full House (because it's 2 of six and 3 of six) or should the two 'sets' be of a different number? The same question for two pairs: can four of the same numbers (plus one other, different or the same) be ranked as two pairs?

I wish I had a citation (I don't), but for what it's worth I have always played that a yahtzee! can be scored as a full house (a very good roll indeed.) Perhaps it is a house rule. B.S. Lawrence (talk) 03:04, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

(I don't see the two pairs listed in the rules section, although my cell phone's Yahtzee game does have a two pairs position; also the bonus for 63+ in the upper section is 50 in the implementation on my cell). --t0maz 15:16, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

In Kismet, which uses colored dots on the dice, there is a category called "Two Pair-Same Color". 216.179.123.104 13:55, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't think that a Yahtzee can be classified as a Full House. If you look at the Poker definition of Full House, you'll see what I mean. Also the 2-pair classification does not exist in the paper/board version of the game. Gary Levell 13:51, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

But Poker is descended from card games that only have 4 of any one kind, so 3 Queens and 2 more Queens wouldn't be possible - the section on maximum score in the article does assume that Yahtzee does count as Full House without being a wild card. (I too am playing with writing a game of this, in Excel) Stevebritgimp 15:24, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Should the rule section be expanded to fully explain the scoring of the game? Now granted, this page shouldn't be the rule sheet, but a full explaination of the scoring would be good. Also, so you some of the types of the lower section (small straight, etc), be linked to a poker page? While I agree that straights and full-houses are semi-poker-ish, this is dice, not cards.--Ronb 21:01, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Mathematics correction

The numbers stated in The Mathematics of Yahtzee section are incorrect. In order to get to the maximum possible score, you have to roll 4 yahtzees (probability 0.46), and 9 specific yahtzees (probability 0.0076), as stated. However, the calculation seemed to use the following formula:

$0.046^{4}\cdot 0.0076^{9}$

Which is the probability of rolling 4 yahtzees in a row, then 9 specific yahtzees in a row (or vice versa). Of course, we may roll these in any order, so the number stated leaves off a factor of

${\binom {13}{9}}={\binom {13}{4}}=715$

Correcting the odds of achieving the highest score to 1 in $3.69\times 10^{21}$ . I'll correct the page. Luqui 06:13, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, and that's not correct either. A yahtzee won't get you a straight, and a full house is easier than a yahtzee, so these odds are still probably too low. I don't want to do that calculation just yet though. Luqui 06:15, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and in correcting the number of years it would take, etc., I did not do this rigorously. Instead, I just brought everything down by a factor of 715. That should still be a good estimate. Luqui 06:19, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

I don't think the probability of 0.76% for rolling a specific Yahtzee is correct. You can't simply divide the chance of a general Yahtzee by six because the strategy involved in rolling a specific Yahtzee is different. The correct probability can be calculated quite easily by considering each die separately. The chance of obtaining a specific number on the first die in at most three rolls is

1-(5/6)^{3}

or about 0.4213. This happens on all five dice with probability

0.4213^{5}

or about 1.33%. Since the 0.76% value is used in further calculations, I'm reluctant to make an edit without verification that my value is correct. Can someone confirm this? MarkC77 21:25, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

I'm also reluctant to make the correction, but if a super math-type dude (or dudette) has the gall, please go ahead: I would suggest the the prob. of rolling all 5s (for example) is 1/252, or 1/(10_C_5), or more generally: 1/(r+n-1_C_r) where r=the number of objects being chosen (in this case, the number of dice), n=the number of possabilities (in this case, 6, for the options on each die). If you enumerate the possabilites for one, two, and three dice, the equation holds.Zukkie44 17:33, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

ES Lowe

Can anyone confirm the existence of "A Toy is Born" by ES Lowe? I'm doing some research on Lowe and can't find any reference to it besides here. Where can you find it? Viajero99 12:13, 23 February 2007 (UTC) I have a copy. Lowe did not write the book - it was written by Marvin Kaye. The book has various chapters about various toys. One chapter deals with Yahtzee and Bingo and quotes E.S. Lowe. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.130.15.96 (talk) 05:30, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

Game Play

Under game play it is stated that you only have two roles per turn. You get three roles per turn. Also the language is wierd. Also I would like to counter someones point about saying that you have to have a three of a kind in all of the numbered catagories in order to get the 35 point bonus. This is false. as long as you achieve 63 or more points, you are rewarded the bonus.--Camperboy38 21:00, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Maximum Score

Max score is 1575. That is the max of 375 plus 1200 for the 12 additional Yahtzee's. The lower score would not be reduced (for failing to get Full House, Sm Straight and Lg Straight) because you would use the last Yahtzees as wild cards in the lower section after filling in the top section. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.144.70.28 (talk) 16:38, 11 March 2007 (UTC).

This confused me as well. I think the use of Yahtzee as wild card might be optional, so if you had that optional rule, maximum score would indeed be 1575. Otherwise the Yahtzee couldn't count for the straights, so it would be 1505. However I don't have my rules to hand (that's why I'm looking here) so I can't check. In fact the whole deal of bonus Yahtzees has been cleared up a lot by me reading this - I thought you got 100 points, and it was some kind of extra round of play - but you still try to score your Yahtzee somewhere, but get 100 points too. My English set didn't have Yahtzee chips in it. Stevebritgimp 15:29, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Also it says that maximum score in 'Yacht' was 302 points - however much I try to figure it out I can't get to 302 points. Yahtzees in the Upper Table, Chance, Full House, 4 of a Kind, plus 50 for Yahtzee, 40 for High Straight and 30 for Low Straight comes to 315. What am I missing? Stevebritgimp 15:33, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Shouting Yahtzee

Maybe I've just played an old game with old rules, but aren't you supposed to shout out loudly when you get Yahtzee? I thought it was a requirement. -Rolypolyman 02:56, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

No, I don't think that's a requirement - just a House Rule. Stevebritgimp 15:35, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Nipsey's yahtzee score

I removed the follwing from the article:

Internet player Nipsey recorded 351 on June 1st 2004, the highest score ever recorded for the online version. Nipsey is commonly referred to as "Mr. 351".

It was added by User:76.248.239.218 in this edit. Subsequently, the following was added to my talk page:

Why did you delete Nipsey's yahtzee score? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.165.126.109 (talk) 17:05, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

As a reply, here's a copy of my edit summary:

rv misplaced addition by IP user that would require a reference

And that's why. If you have a reference, then give it (here or in the article). It was misplaced, as it appeared in a section on Yahtzee variants. If you'd been a registered user (as opposed to an IP user), I might have brought it up at the talk page myself, but for an IP user - well, you never know if they ever come back. Anyway, I wonder if User:76.248.239.218 and User:216.165.126.109 are the same person.--Niels Ø (noe) (talk) 19:18, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Here's a link to some discussion about the score. Unfortunately the website where the score was attained no longer exists.

Yahtzee Discussion

Please review the reference and add the link back in a timely manner. Thank you in advance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.165.126.109 (talk) 20:18, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

I've now checked out that link, though I didn't read all five pages. It confirms my impression this is not a notable fact belonging in an encyclopedic article on Yahtzee. Forums and blogs are only acceptable sources here in very special cases; see WP:A.--Niels Ø (noe) (talk) 21:06, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Yahtzee logo.JPG

Image:Yahtzee logo.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 03:15, 12 February 2008 (UTC)