Got To See The New Yahtzee

I don’t frequently add new games to my Treo and I ultimately do so (like all other things I do) only if I consider it to be _really_ good and that I will likely play it repeatedly without getting bored (or too frustrated).

After striking lucky in June finding and reviewing both the new Tetris (Hours of Fun with the New & Improved Tetris) and also SkyForce Reloaded (SkyForce Now Reloaded) this month I am glad to now have come across the latest version of the classic game Yahtzee which recently celebrated its 50th birthday.

I last remember enjoying playing Yahtzee a few years ago on my Treo 600 but I had grown somewhat tired of the basic graphics and animation that it provided.  The latest version of Yahtzee has thankfully addressed this with much improved graphics and dice animation as well as great sound.

I am pretty sure that most everyone knows how to play Yahtzee but just in case you’re not familiar with it the game consists of scoring as many total points while completing the board in successive rounds of dice rolls.  You are entitled to three dice rolls per round and must fill one row of the board (there are 13 from Aces to Yahtzee!) at each turn.  The Upper Total (from Aces to Sixes) is calculated by adding the sum of identical dices for a particular line of the board (for example 2 dice of 5 = 10).  The Lower Total is calculated two ways as 3 and 4 Of A Kind as well as Chance combines all dice in the points while Full House, Small and Large Straight as well as Yahtzee! (5 Of A Kind) have fixed points of 25, 30, 40 and 50 respectively (there is also a Bonus of 100 points if you manage to roll two Yahtzee’s in one game).

After your first dice roll you will need to select those that you want to keep (which turn black) while the others will turn again in your next roll.  You’ll do this again until your three rolls are completed and you must then fill one row with the points that you scored.

At the start of the game all rows of the board are in yellow and as you progress and fill each they turn red to indicate which ones you have already completed.  Additionally, at each roll of the dice the board autofills to show you where and how many points you could gain.

I particularly liked the fact that you can interrupt the game at any time and return to it later to complete which is useful if you only want to play a few minutes at a time during short breaks.  Also, I personally switched off the dice roll animation which speeds each round by some 15 seconds (as each animated roll is about 5 seconds).

There is evidently a reason why Yahtzee has remained a popular board game for 50 years now – it’s great fun and extremely simple to play…  Both the PalmOS Yahtzee and Windows Mobile Yahtzee versions for your Treo are undoubtedly at the top of my favourite games list.

Finally, to celebrate the game’s 50th Birthday I have created a 25% discount coupon valid until Monday, July 31 – simply enter the promotion code YAHTZEE in your cart when you purchase this game.

Treonauts are always looking for the very best…