Your Child’s First Yahtzee game 2 to 4 players ages 4 to 6
Yahtzee Jr is a fun version of the adult game Yahtzee. You can learn how to play that version here and you can get a free Yahtzee score sheet in our Fun Library.
So how did they make the some-what complicated dice game easy for younger kids? They swapped out the numbers for fun characters and ditched the score pad for a game board. Keep reading to see what the differences are.
Yahtzee Jr Game Parts
First are the dice. Instead of numbers, they have put popular characters on the dice. Our copy has Mickey and Friends but you can get Princesses, super heroes and other current favorites.
Next, all players take a set of scoring tokens. Each set has one of each character in a different colour.
Last is the board. Each character has a row and the numbers 1 to 5 on it. The board makes it easy to score and see where everyone sits.
Number of Turns
The number of turns a player gets depends on how many players are playing. In a 2 player game, each player gets 5 turns. When there are 3 players, each get 4 turns. And in a four player game, everyone gets 3 turns. (Please note that we had forgotten this rule over the years and we play with everyone having 5 turns no matter who is playing.)
Playing Yahtzee Jr.
On your turn, you roll all of the dice. You are trying to get the most of any character that you can. Mickey are wild so you’ll want to keep any of those. You can then choose to re-roll any dice that you would like. Again, you keep any dice you would like. Last, you can reroll any dice you want for a third time. A player does not have to reroll at any time.
After three rolls, you must score.
Scoring
To score your round, you add up the amount of dice with the same character, including any of the wild Mickeys. Next, you place your coloured token on the number square that matches both the number rolled and the character.
When you score the same amount as another player (his token is on the square that you were going to put your token on) then you place your token on the board to the left of the other player’s token. For example, you rolled 4 Donalds but another player already scored that, then you place your token on the 3 square in Donald.
Play then moves on to the next players.
Note: that once a token has been placed it can’t be moved during the game.
Round Two
In a player’s second game, she may not score for the character that she score in before. For example, if she score 4 in the Minnie column then she needs to try for Daisy, Donald, Goofy or Pluto. This stays the same for the whole game—you can only score once per character.
Mickey Mouse Yahtzee
When five Mickeys are rolled that’s a Mickey Mouse Yahtzee. You can then place your token in any character’s row that you haven’t scored in yet.
Scoring Zero
When your last roll leaves you with only character that you’ve already scored, you must score zero on another character. You do this by placing your token on the picture column on the board for that character. These are the only spaces where more than one player’s token can be.
Winning Yahtzee Jr.
When all the turns have been taken, players then count up their scores. This is done by adding the numbers together of where your tokens sit. For example, if you have 3 Minnies and 4 Plutos then your score is 7.
The player with the highest total is the winner.
What We Like
We like that instead of numbers on the dice there are characters. There’s nothing more fun than rolling five of your favorite character. We also like that it’s a much faster moving game than the original Yahtzee. Decisions are also easier.
What We Don’t Like
We found that the first time that we played, the different way of scoring was hard to wrap our heads around. (Maybe because we were use to the original game.) This, thankfully, was short lived. Another thing that we don’t like, is when you have to take a lower score than what you rolled. This can lead to hurt feeling with younger kids.
The Last Roll
True fully, we like Yahtzee Jr better than the original. Kids love rolling dice and seeing their favorite characters. And who doesn’t love shacking the dice, letting them crash to the table and then getting to yell “Yahtzee!” If you have younger kids, then we recommend making space for Yahtzee Jr on your Family Game Shelf.
To get your copy of Yahtzee Jr shop here. Canadians can shop Yahtzee Jr here.
And if you’re looking for more younger kid games that the whole family will love, see our game reviews here.
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