# Is there an optimum strategy to Yahtzee?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimum-strategy-to-yahtzee/855164>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [June 6, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimum-strategy-to-yahtzee/855164 "2020-06-06T19:32:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 3

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**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-optimum-strategy-to-yahtzee/855164/3 "2020-06-06T20:13:31Z")

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> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> So does Yahtzee have a theoretical optimum strategy for each roll and each score?

Yes! How close do Yahtzee bots come to optimal play? I don’t know.

In a previous thread on Yahtzee, I mentioned a variant which is “a popular pastime of Danish businessmen overseas.”

> [@I didn't have near enough frustration in my life, so I started to play Yathzee online](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-have-near-enough-frustration-in-my-life-so-i-started-to-play-yathzee-online/832924/9):
>
> Anyone here heard of [Balut](https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Balut_(game))? It’s very similar to Yahtzee; one difference is the absence of rows to score 1’s, 2’s and 3’s (though I think those rows add strategy). My businessman acquaintance tells of chartering a helicopter to ferry him and his friends from Hongkong to Manila just for a Balut game! :smack:

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