A good Yahtzee score is 250 or more. A computer playing the perfect strategy reaches 250 in only 48.4% of games. Most games land in the 200s (72.0% of perfect-play games land between 200 and 299), and 300 or more is an excellent game, a score even perfect play manages in only 14.3% of games.
Perfect play averages 254.59 points, but its median game scores 248, and single games swing a lot. Below are the exact percentiles, a table to rate your own score, how often a Yahtzee really shows up, and why the highest possible score, 1,575, is not a target anyone should play for.
We don't have data on how people score, so every number here describes computer play. That makes it a fixed yardstick you can measure your own games against.
How we measured
The numbers come from the exact solver behind our Yahtzee strategy guide, built for Poozee's Yacht Dice, which uses the standard American scorecard and the forced joker rule. Yahtzee is a Hasbro trademark; Poozee isn't affiliated with Hasbro.
Instead of simulating games, we followed the probability of every roll, every hold and every scorecard through all 13 turns, keeping the exact chance of every final score from 0 to 1,575. Nothing is sampled, so the percentages below are exact, rounded for display. As a cross-check, 4,000 games with seeded dice, played through the game's own scoring code, match the computed distribution within normal sampling error.
We measured four ways of playing:
- Perfect play: the strategy with the highest possible average. The Hard computer in Yacht Dice plays it.
- Stay on pace: take the most points each turn, but value the upper bonus while three of each remaining number would still reach 63. This is the Medium computer.
- Most points each turn: no thought for later turns. This is the Easy computer.
- Chase five of a kind: hold the most common number on every roll, then take the most points.
How good is my Yahtzee score?
Find your score and read across. Each percentage is how often that player scores less than you.
| Your score | Perfect play scores less | Medium computer scores less | Easy computer scores less |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 | 0.9% | 3.6% | 3.5% |
| 180 | 5.0% | 14.9% | 14.7% |
| 200 | 13.6% | 28.0% | 37.0% |
| 220 | 26.7% | 44.3% | 65.3% |
| 230 | 32.9% | 53.3% | 72.3% |
| 240 | 40.7% | 60.2% | 76.4% |
| 250 | 51.6% | 69.9% | 81.2% |
| 260 | 60.5% | 75.2% | 87.1% |
| 270 | 72.4% | 81.6% | 92.0% |
| 300 | 85.7% | 91.1% | 94.3% |
| 350 | 92.8% | 94.8% | 96.6% |
| 400 | 96.2% | 97.8% | 99.1% |
So a 230 beats 32.9% of perfect-play games, and a 260 beats 60.5%. The same 230 beats 72.3% of the Easy computer's games, because a player who only grabs points this turn almost never earns the upper bonus.
Notice the jump between 260 and 270 in the perfect-play column: 260 to 269 is perfect play's most common 10-point range, with 11.9% of games.
Yahtzee score percentiles
Here's the full picture for perfect play (the Hard computer) and for the Medium and Easy computers. The 10th percentile is the score that 1 game in 10 doesn't beat; the 90th is the score that only 1 game in 10 tops.
| Perfect | Medium | Easy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average | 254.59 | 232.8 | 217.4 |
| Standard deviation | 59.6 | 59.7 | 49.0 |
| 10th percentile | 194 | 169 | 173 |
| 25th percentile | 217 | 196 | 190 |
| Median | 248 | 226 | 208 |
| 75th percentile | 272 | 259 | 236 |
| 90th percentile | 318 | 292 | 265 |
| 99th percentile | 474 | 434 | 393 |
| 200 or more | 86.4% | 72.0% | 63.0% |
| 250 or more | 48.4% | 30.1% | 18.8% |
| 300 or more | 14.3% | 8.9% | 5.7% |
| Upper bonus | 68.1% | 51.5% | 3.2% |
| 50 in the Yahtzee box | 33.7% | 27.6% | 30.4% |
| At least one Yahtzee bonus | 8.2% | 7.0% | 5.2% |
Three things stand out:
- Luck is large. Perfect play's standard deviation is about 60 points, so one game says little about skill. Even averaged over 10 games, the standard deviation is still about 19 points.
- The upper bonus separates Easy from the rest. Easy earns it in only 3.2% of games, and its median game is 208.
- Chasing Yahtzees makes a lopsided player. Always going for five of a kind averages only 162.2 and its median is only 145, yet its 90th percentile (275) is higher than the Easy computer's (265), and it earns a Yahtzee bonus in 11.8% of games, more than any player in the table. It trades typical games for a few big ones.
Why the average is higher than a typical game
Yahtzee scores have a long right tail. A 50 in the Yahtzee box plus a 100-point bonus or two can push a game past 400, while perfect play scores under 150 in only 0.9% of games. Those rare big games pull the average up, so only 44.1% of perfect-play games beat the average of 254.59.
That's why the median, 248, is the better number for "a typical game", and why a 250 is a good score even though it's below the average.
What makes a big game: the bonus and the Yahtzee
Under perfect play, here's how scores split by the two big prizes: the 35-point upper bonus and 50 in the Yahtzee box.
| Card ends with | Share | Mean | Median | 250+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neither | 20.5% | 195 | 198 | None |
| Upper bonus only | 45.8% | 245 | 247 | 47.2% |
| Yahtzee only | 11.4% | 261 | 249 | 49.6% |
| Both | 22.3% | 326 | 306 | 94.4% |
A card with neither prize can't score more than 247 points (62 in the upper section plus 185 in the lower boxes), so it can never reach 250. At the other end, of the perfect-play games that reach 300, more than 99.99% of them have 50 in the Yahtzee box, and 86.7% have the upper bonus too.
Pro tip: Judge a game by how the card ended, not just the total. The median game with the upper bonus and no Yahtzee is 247, so a 240 there is close to par, while a 240 that includes a 50 in the Yahtzee box left points on the table elsewhere.
How often do you get a Yahtzee?
Under perfect play, at least one turn ends in five of a kind in 36.7% of games, a bit more than 1 game in 3. Perfect play scores 50 in the Yahtzee box in 33.7% of games and earns at least one 100-point Yahtzee bonus in 8.2%, about 1 game in 12.
Per turn, the best you can do is hold your most common number every roll, which makes five of a kind in 4.60% of turns. Playing for points instead of Yahtzees changes little: the Easy computer rolls at least one in 30.5% of games.
Chasing five of a kind on every turn scores 50 in the Yahtzee box in 45.8% of games, the most of any player here, but it costs 92 points a game compared with perfect play. A Yahtzee is worth chasing when the rest of the card can afford it, not at any price.
The highest possible Yahtzee score: 1,575
The maximum takes five of a kind on all 13 turns, with the first one in the Yahtzee box:
| Part of the card | Points |
|---|---|
| 50 in the Yahtzee box (the first Yahtzee) | 50 |
| Five of each number in Ones through Sixes | 105 |
| Upper bonus | 35 |
| Five 6s as jokers in the six other lower boxes (30 + 30 + 25 + 30 + 40 + 30) | 185 |
| 12 Yahtzee bonuses at 100 each | 1,200 |
| Total | 1,575 |
This assumes the standard rules our Yahtzee rules guide explains: 100 points for every extra Yahtzee while the Yahtzee box holds 50, and the joker rule, which sends an extra Yahtzee to its matching upper box first and lets it score full house and straights in full once that box is filled. To confirm nothing beats it, we tried every possible roll in all 536,320 scorecard situations: 1,575 is the most any game can score.
It isn't a realistic target. Whatever you hold, a turn has at most a 4.60% chance of ending in five of a kind, so 13 in a row has a chance of less than 1 in 200 quadrillion. Perfect play, which aims for the best average rather than the biggest game, scores 500 or more in 0.72% of games (about 1 in 139) and 1,000 or more in about 1 game in 175 million.
How to raise your score
The tables point at the same few habits our strategy guide covers in detail: play for the upper bonus (three of each number), don't throw away a turn chasing five of a kind early, and dump bad rolls in a low upper box rather than Chance. Together with many smaller decisions, they make up the 40-point gap between the Easy computer's median of 208 and perfect play's 248.
Keep playing
- Play Yacht Dice solo, then check your score against the tables above
- Yahtzee strategy: what perfect play holds and where it scores
- 2048 scoring explained, with what a good 2048 score is
Frequently asked questions
What is the average Yahtzee score?
Perfect play, the strategy with the highest possible average, scores 254.59 points a game on average, and its median game scores 248. Taking the most points each turn with no thought for later averages 217.4.
Is 300 a good Yahtzee score?
Yes, it's an excellent game. Even perfect play reaches 300 in only 14.3% of games, and practically all of those games have 50 in the Yahtzee box.
How often do you get a Yahtzee?
Playing perfectly, at least one turn ends in five of a kind in 36.7% of games, a bit more than 1 game in 3. On a single turn, holding your most common number gets five of a kind 4.60% of the time.
Can you really score 1,575 in Yahtzee?
Only in theory. It takes five of a kind on all 13 turns, a chance of less than 1 in 200 quadrillion. Perfect play scores 500 or more in only about 1 game in 139.