These are tips for the default Yahtzee rules scoring and many do not apply to variant scorings.
If we throw 2 pairs, continue with the lower pair if it is open on the top. If it is not, then continue with the higher pair to either score the top if it is open, or pip more on the bottom (3ok, 4ok, chance). Why work lower pairs on the top? Because if we can't improve to 3 of a kind, it's better to score lower. For example, if we throw 13355 and continue for 5s and miss, we score 10 for 5s and lose 5 points that will be hard to make up with 4s and 3s and 2s etc. However, if we continue with 3s and miss, we can score 6 for 3s and can still make it back up in 1 turn with 4 4s, 4 5s, etc. The only exception is if one of our pairs is 1s. Then we can continue with the higher pair because filling our 1s early does not score much and uses up a really nice out for us that can be very handy later, and can also allow us to chase full houses when we have weak scoring pips, (see that tip below).
The top bonus is earned when we score 63 points or more. If we get 3 of a kind for all 6 dice boxes, that = 63. So the simple way to keep track is to count pips over or under par 3. For instance, if we score 6 for 2s, that's even. Then if we score 6 for 3s, we are 3 under. Then we score 12 for 4s that's par, so we are still 3 under. Then we score 20 for 5s, that's 5 over par so add 5 and we are now 2 over. If we can keep this even/over/under par count running in our head, we won't need the +/- on the score card to tell us how far off we are (although it is very tough to do in triple mode). We also know which dice we need to make it or which dice we can score short as an out. For instance, if we need 3s and 4s and we are 4 over, we can continue with 4s and if we miss we can score 8 for 4s and still be even par, so that's okay because we can still hit bonus with just 3 3s later.
Try to work the top full before the bottom if we can, although if we hit something good on the bottom like a straight or a full house on our last throw, take it. It is not hard to get 3 of something if 3 of anything (or almost anything will do), but it can be quite difficult to get exactly 3 4s (say) if the last thing that we need is 4s for the top. It is easier to fill the bottom last than the top last, so if we can, fill the top for the bonus first. But of course, if we smash the top bonus early, the remaining top boxes become free outs. ; )
Don't chase full houses unless we are late in the game and need it to fill the card. If we throw 2 pair, don't throw the single die to make the full house. Continue with the lower pair if we need it for the top, or the higher pair if the lower pair is full for either the top or to pip the bottom (3ok, 4ok, chance). Remember, if we keep only 1 pair, we can still fairly often hit the full house anyways, so we might as well try for 3ok, 4ok, Yahtzee (more on this below).
Do chase the full house when we throw 2 pair, the higher pair is full on the top and the lower pair is 1s and 1s is open (this is the tip mentioned above). For instance, if we throw 11445 and 4s are full, throw the single die and chase the full house. First, odds of hitting the full house with the single die is 33% and we get 2 chances, so much better than 33% (very good). However, if we miss, we can just score 2 in the 1s and only cost us 1 point under on the top, and if we are already at least 1 point over par, it won't hurt us (except in the rare case when we are say 3 over and we need 3s, then dropping to 2 over will hurt us a little).
Always score 4 of a kind on the top if we need it there, unless we're waaaayyy over on the top. For instance, if we end up with 56666 and 6s are open, absolutely score 24 for 6s and go 6 over par. Do not score 29 for 4ok (<- rookie mistake). If we count scratches, our average score for 4ok is somewhere between 10 and 15. scoring 29 here will gain us 14-19 points more than normal. That's pretty good, but the top bonus is 35 points (roughly double what we gain with large 4ok score) and our chances of hitting it skyrocket if we score 6 over par. Furthermore, 4ok is often a good scratch out late in the game. If we score it, we might have to scratch small or large straight, or score an under par on the top instead.
Be aware of our outs. Outs are score boxes that we can scratch or take low scores in when we have a bad turn. Chance is the first obvious out. Most players believe that 1s is the 2nd best out (or even the best out) but it's not. The 1s score is very very handy for us when chasing full houses with a pair of 1s late in the game (see the tip above). The second best out is to scratch 4ok. 4ok is an overrated score box. It scores pips just like 3ok and chance except it is harder to fill so usually scores the lowest of those three. We are usually happy to score anything half-decent in 4ok, like even a 22225 for 13 is better than nothing, but in chance or 3ok we rarely settle for anything less than 20 pips. So on average, scratching 4ok costs us significantly less than scratching 3ok and definitely less than scratching full house or straight.
Be aware of how our outs stack. Stacked outs are fall backs in case we miss. As we move up the stack, the boxes become harder to score. For instance, if we throw 44446 and continue for a Yahtzee and miss, our fallback out in the stack is 4ok. These outs stack like this: Yahtzee, 4ok, 3ok, chance. So if we miss our 4ok we fall back to 3ok. If we miss our 3ok we can fall back to chance. So we want to try to fill the card from the top of the stack down. For instance, if we chase 4ok and miss, but 3ok is already full, we have to fall back to chance, and if chance is full, we probably have to scratch. So if we can fill 4ok before 3ok, this makes filling the card later in the game much easier as we go - and full cards tend to win more. Obviously, there is a lot of luck involved in the dice and we won't always be able to do this, but we will be aware and try.
The other stacked outs are large straight and small straight (and chance). If we throw 23345 and continue for large straight and miss, we can fall back to small straight. This is another reason why we should not chase the inside straight if we can avoid it. Missing the inside straight falls back right to chance and usually scores rather meh when it does. If we can fill the large straight before the small straight, it can help us immensely, since a small straight isn't too hard to complete if we need it late in the game but a large straight can be very difficult. Of course again, luck will have a big say here and often won't allow us to do this but we will be aware and try.
Never chase inside straights unless it is late in the game and we need it to fill the card. For instance, if we throw 12356, don't throw the 1 or the 6 trying to hit a 4. We will probably get a better chance later.
Go for straights when open-ended. We are twice as likely to complete open-ended than inside. For instance, if we throw 23345, we absolutely want to throw one of the 3s to try for a 1 or a 6. This is our better chance.
Going for a large straight on 1234 or 3456 is not as good as 2345 but is still okay. These are just as hard to complete as inside straights but at least if we miss we can fall back on small straight.
If our small straight is filled late in the game and we need a large straight, we may have to chase an inside straight. Do know that 1234 and 3456 are considered inside straights even though they are 4 in a row, since the odds to complete are the same as an inside. In this case, if chance is open, 3456 makes a much better choice to chase the straight than 1234 since if we fail with 1234, the most that we can score in chance is 16 (12346), however if we fail with 3456 the least that we can score is 19 (13456). If chance is full then this does not matter, however, if 1s are open, we could score 1 or 2 extra points in 1s if we chase 1234 (provided that this won't lose us the top bonus).
Very similarly, if we must chase an inside straight with say 12356 late in the game and our small straight is full, throwing the 1 is best if chance is open, but throwing the 6 is best if chance is full and 1s are open (provided that scoring a 1 or 2 on top won't lose us the top bonus).
If we throw 3 of something, always continue with it, even if it's 1s, unless it is very late in the game and we can only score with say a straight and/or a different number on top. With 3ok, we have an option tree. 3ok is the root of the tree. It then branches up to 4ok and full house. Finally it tops with Yahtzee. So, with 3ok always continue to go as high as we can, unless it is late in the game and we hit a branch that we need to fill. For instance, let's say that it is early in the game and the bottom of our card is empty. if we throw 23335 (and 3s are full on top), continue with 3s. if we then throw 33344, continue with 3s (yes!). Why? Because we could get 4ok and fill it before 3ok which is very good for us, or we could get a Yahtzee! or we could still hit a full house again, and if we end up with 13336, oh well, we fall back on 3ok. It hurts to burn the bottom of our out stack like this but it is worth it to try to score higher with no risk to scratch, and we will be surprised how often we do hit something better than 3ok on the last throw. Remember, if our 2nd throw gets us 33334, we have a 16% chance to Yahtzee on the last throw! We can't pass that up. Furthermore, if we still do not have 4ok on the 2nd throw, we still have a 3% chance to Yahtzee with the last throw as well as a 13% chance to complete full house.
Try to keep the Yahtzee box open as long as we can, but the later in the game, the less valuable it becomes since there is less and less chance of scoring bonus Yahtzees afterwards, so once it gets into those last 3 or 4 turns, Yahtzee usually becomes a good scratch.
The best general tip is to always think, "If I go for this and fail, what options do I have to score this?" Nearly all of these tips are based on this premise. There are two ways to play smart Yahtzee. The first is to continue with the best odds as much as possible. The other is to fill the card in the way that keeps options open later in the game. There is a lot of luck in Yahtzee (a LOT) but If we can do both of these things, over time, we will be a winning player.
And finally, these are all tips to help us get the best score that we can, which is great if we are playing solo, but if we have an opponent, we have to watch his scorecard, especially late in a close game, and if we are behind, we will likely have to gamble more. For instance, if our opponent is finished and is 90 points ahead and on our last turn we need to fill large straight, and we already have scored the Yahtzee, the only way that we can win is with a bonus Yahtzee. So if we throw 23445, chasing the open-ended large straight has a much better chance to improve our score so that is the best odds play ... but even if we complete, we will still lose. So in this case, the only thing that we can do is to continue with the 4s and gamble like hell to hit a bonus Yahtzee.
