Advantage Yahtzee

Description
Table of Contents
Excerpt

Table of Contents:

1. Yahtzee: A Brief History
2. Yahtzee: The Rules
3. Contemplating Yahtzee Strategies
4. Yahtzee’s Secrets Unlocked: The Optimal Strategy
5. The Basic Strategy
6. Basic Opening Strategy: Hands One to Four
7. Basic Middle-Game Strategy: Hands Five to Nine
8. Basic End-Game Strategy: Hands 10 to 13
9. Playing Against Others
Appendix I: Distribution Chart
Appendix II: Sample Games with Annotations
Appendix III: The Yahtzee Solution
Excerpt:

Yahtzee is one of the world’s best known and most avidly played games. It’s estimated that more than 90% of all Americans are familiar with the name Yahtzee and that it’s played regularly by some 100 million people worldwide.
Although it’s now a part of the American landscape, Yahtzee is a game of humble beginnings. It was invented in 1954 by a wealthy Canadian couple while sailing aboard their yacht. They called their invention “Yacht Game.” Wishing merely to have copies to distribute to friends, the couple sold exclusive production rights to Edwin S. Lowe in exchange for the first 1,000 copies.
For reasons unknown, Lowe changed the name from “Yacht Game” to “Yahtzee,” then began actively marketing his new product. One of his most successful marketing techniques was organizing Yahtzee parties, which increased the game’s popularity dramatically via word of mouth. Lowe profited handsomely, and in 1973, sold his company—and the rights to Yahtzee—to Milton Bradley, now a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc.
Description:

Win at Yahtzee!

Buried within Yahtzee is a mathematical puzzle so complex that this seemingly simple game has long been considered unsolvable by the mathematical world. But now the code has been broken and an optimal strategy discovered for playing Yahtzee. Advantage Yahtzee shows you how to improve your results with a powerful score-enhancing strategy—based on the best possible way to play—that’s been simplified for easy recall and use. Beat your friends, your kids, and anyone else who doesn’t play according to the Advantage Yahtzee strategy. Also included in Advantage Yahtzee:

* Special “Yahtzee Advantage Play” tip boxes that take you step-by-step through the important points.
* A strategy for maximizing results against other players.
* A unique distribution breakdown that lets you compare your scores with the universe of possible scores to see how well you’ve done.

Reviews/Media Mentions:

“For some reason, I had always thought of Yahtzee as a game of mostly luck and a little skill. Then I read Advantage Yahtzee, by Olaf Vancura, Ph.D. The book is cheap (only 6.95) and a relatively quick read, but I guarantee that your Yahtzee scores will improve dramatically after reading it just one time. . . . Pick it up, it’s well worth the cheap cover price and will improve your game vastly.”
—BellaOnline.com

(Read the full review at http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29081.asp)