Yahtzee: Grandma Taught Me What She Knew

It was always a treat to play Yahtzee with my grandma. She was animated and would make the game quite entertaining.

She'd pick up the dice and the shaker and she'd muse about her score sheet. Then, she'd shake with the precision of a extreme dice shaker and she'd tip over the cup. Then, she'd analyze her dots.

When you play Yahtzee, the score sheet is divided into two sections. You have the individual dice scores on the left. If you score at least 62 points on the left side of the sheet, you are awarded 35 extra points. My grandma would grin and show her gold cap on her front tooth and she'd pick through the dice and she'd sweep the matching dice to the side at first.

You get three rolls to accomplish whatever score you are trying to get.

The best idea is to try to get five of a kind every time you roll. That is the ultimate goal: to fill in the Yahtzee spot, which is worth a cool 50 points. The game sheets that I purchased, have a bonus Yahtzee section, so you get extra points with each additional Yahtzee.

If you are going to record scores, you should record the scores on the left first if you roll three or four of a kind. That beefs up your score so that 35 point bonus is easier to obtain. If you have a choice between claiming two dice with six dots or claiming the single dots, claim the single dots.

Why? Because you lose the least amount of points towards your 62 point goal.

My grandma would giggle when she'd get what she decided was a good score for that round. She had a laugh that was quite contagious and it was funny to hear it when she'd laugh. It was a delighted laugh.

It wasn't even that we let her win. Nope. She was just that good at Yahtzee, and lucky. That woman was so lucky. If she was trying for a certain dice, she'd roll and if she got that certain dice, she'd swish it to the side, and you'd get the 'look' - the look was a tight eyed look and her back teeth would touch and the tips of her front teeth would touch.

She had determination and pluck when she'd play.

I have spent so much time playing other games on Facebook that I had ignored the rest. Well, plus my internet was so limited. I'd burn up so much time playing games that I had no internet left and would have to buy extra time from my provider.

Today, I discovered that they have Yahtzee and I started to play with individuals that were selected by my computer. The first person I was playing against had good strategy. The timing was good and this person kept playing.

Finally, I got lucky enough to win.

I would like to lie and tell you that it was as fun to play online with total strangers as it was to play against my grandma. Nope. I cannot lie to you. It's frustrating when you click on your dice and it is supposed to stay selected and for some, internet related reason, it unclicks itself just before you select the play button. Apparently, my internet is slow enough that it doesn't register my clicks.

My computer is a sloth, I guess.

Ah, yes. What would a competition be without rewards for competitive play? Yes. They keep interrupting your game to give you little rewards that you must click and claim. The rewards add to your base score and your score keeps increasing.

I went from a Level 1 player to a Level 3 player with my first game.