Yamslam and Yahtzee - two takes on a push your luck classic

Hi all! I'm back for another casual game review. I've gotten a request to review Yahtzee, a classic dice game which, for many families, has become an often-returned-to favorite. I wanted to turn this into a 2-in-1 review, because my family often plays Yamslam, a game which uses the basic premise of Yahtzee but replaces the paper score sheet with chips and makes some changes to how players can get bonus points. I'll start with Yahtzee, then talk about Yamslam.

1. Yahtzee

On a given turn in Yahtzee, players roll five dice. They can then set as many of those dice aside as they like, rolling up to two more times. Players are trying to end up with a variety of different combinations of dice, which are listed on their score sheet. If they choose to stop rolling, or if they have rolled three times, they chose which row to write down their score in. Early on in the game, they will usually have a choice. For example, if a player rolled the dice three times and ended up with three fives, a one, and a two, they could score for a three of a kind or write their score in the "Fives" row. Choosing one or the other is based on where the player could score more points and the spaces they hope to save for filling in with high-scoring rolls later.

A score sheet for Yahtzee from papertraildesign.com. If you have five dice, you can simply print their sheets, or free sheets from another website, and play.

Because the possible choices for each roll are outlined on the sheet, players don't have to memorize their options, making the game very easy to learn. It's also very portable, only requiring the sheet and five dice. It's a great game if you're fond of dice and games in which you plan ahead to set yourself up for success later on, and it's very widely available. You can give it a try on Board Game Arena here, too.

2. Yamslam

This game is a classic in my family, and is made by a company that makes a whole range of excellent casual games: Blue Orange. Yamslam comes in a metal box and rather than recording your score on a sheet, players draw chips from one of seven piles. Just as in Yahtzee, you get three rolls to arrive at your desired dice combination, and you can set aside dice or stop rolling at any time. Of course, once all the chips are gone for one pile, you can't score points for that combination, so the race is on.

This player rolled a full house (two of one number and three of the other), but they could also take a "three of a kind" chip. The full house chip is worth more, though, and might be a better choice.

Players can get bonuses for a variety of different things, the highest-scoring of which being having one of each type of chip or having all types but one. This is a great game to take to a café or when traveling, because it includes its own playing surface. I've played it on the train, in hotels, on picnic tables in the forest, and at the beach, to name just a few places. This one is a real standby for my family and I have many happy memories of getting it out to play with my friends, my dad, and my grandfather. Because it requires a physical copy, it is more expensive than printing Yahtzee sheets, but the built-in playing surface provides a lot of enjoyment, too.

This was the first review featuring a requested game – but it won't be the last! Please keep your requests coming: my posts now allow you to comment directly and let me know what you'd like reviewed. What new game categories would you like to see, or which ones would you like to see more of?

So long and happy board gaming!