About Yahtzee: Zilch Edition
Standard Yahtzee plus one rare, wild-card category — all rules and scoring explained
What’s Different?
Yahtzee: Zilch Edition plays identically to standard Yahtzee with one addition: a 14th scoring category called Zilch. You have 14 turns instead of 13, and stats are kept separately so they never mix with your standard-game records.
Everything else — dice, freezing, rolls per turn, left-column bonus — is identical to standard rules.
The Zilch Category
Requirement: All 5 dice show different values and they do not form a run of 4 or more consecutive numbers.
Score: 45 points
Why not just “all different”? Because 4 of the 6 possible all-different hands are already straights:
- {1,2,3,4,5} and {2,3,4,5,6} → Large Straight
- {1,2,3,4,6} and {1,3,4,5,6} → Small Straight
Only {1,2,3,5,6} and {1,2,4,5,6} qualify as a true Zilch. Probability of rolling one on a single throw: approximately 3.1% — rare but real.
Scoring Guide
Left Column — Numbers
| Category | How to Score | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | Sum of all dice showing 1 | 5 |
| Twos | Sum of all dice showing 2 | 10 |
| Threes | Sum of all dice showing 3 | 15 |
| Fours | Sum of all dice showing 4 | 20 |
| Fives | Sum of all dice showing 5 | 25 |
| Sixes | Sum of all dice showing 6 | 30 |
| Bonus — if left total ≥ 63 | +35 | |
Right Column — Combinations
| Category | Requirement | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 of a Kind | At least 3 dice the same | Sum all dice |
| 4 of a Kind | At least 4 dice the same | Sum all dice |
| Full House | 2 of one + 3 of another | 25 |
| Sm. Straight | Any 4 consecutive values | 30 |
| Lg. Straight | 5 consecutive values | 40 |
| Yahtzee | All 5 the same | 50 |
| Zilch ✨ | All 5 different and no run of 4 — only {1,2,3,5,6} or {1,2,4,5,6} | 45 |
| Chance | Any combination | Sum all dice |