I’m going to conduct this review assuming that you know what Yahtzee is. If you’ve never played Yahtzee, then you’ve probably at least heard of it, and if you haven’t heard of it, here’s a quick rundown of the rules to get you started.
The Ultimate Yahtzee CDROM is, well, it’s Yahtzee on your computer. Let’s start off with a quick comparison of the two:
| The Ultimate Yahtzee CDROM | Regular Boring Yahtzee | |
| Game Modes | Classic Yahtzee Triple Yahtzee Battle Yahtzee Color Yahtzee Pyramid Yahtzee | Classic Yahtzee Triple Yahtzee Any number of Home-Brew Yahtzee variants |
| Number of Players | 1-4 | As many as you have score sheets |
| Music | CD Music | The box sounds sort of like a drum |
| Dice Cup | 3D animated dice cup | Depending on which version of Regular Boring Yahtzee you buy, you will either get a cup covered in imitation leather, or no cup at all. Yahtzee without a cup is… well… still Yahtzee, I guess. |
| System Requirements | Very low. Probably the only computer that won’t run this game is a TI-83. | Even lower! No computer required. |
| Price | $4.99 | Anywhere from $5 to $15. |
Here’s my patented one-sentence summary of the different game modes offered:
- Classic Yahtzee: Regular Yahtzee with standard rules.
- Triple Yahtzee: Regular Yahtzee, but you can get 1x 2x or 3x your normal totals.
- Color Yahtzee: Your dice have different colors painted on them, making scoring a little more interesting.
- Battle Yahtzee: You use 2 sets of dice (and have to play this with 2 players) and use the red dice to try and knock around the hand of the person who threw the green dice.
- Pyramid Yahtzee: Regular Yahtzee with 4 sided dice and different scoring methods
So there it is. I don’t really know what else I can say about this game except that it *is* Yahtzee, and you don’t have to worry about losing the dice. You can play against the computer if you don’t have any friends, and the 3D animated dice cup and dice all look fine.
The hallmark of this game is it’s medioctriy. There’s nothing in this game that makes me want to jump up on my roof and sing it’s praises, but then again, there’s nothing really bad about it. It’s just there.
Game Name: The Ultimate Yahtzee CDROM
By: Hasbro Interactive
Price I paid for it:$4.99
Price I wish I’d paid for it: $4.
Rating: I give this game a 6.5 out of 10. It’s an OK game, just nothing great. If you like Yahtzee and have a computer, it’s certainly a viable option.
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| This is what you get with the game. |
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| Me doing horribly at the game. |
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| This is what happens when you play shoddy software all night. |