Boatzee is a Yahtzee variation game that we've been playing for several years. It grew organically as our needs and preferences shifted -- especially to meet the specific requirements for my special needs son, Brighton. Paper scoresheets became a spreadsheet which became a shared spreadsheet complete with macros and advanced formulas. The next step, naturally, was to create a web-based application from scratch.

Boatzee was born!

A project like this always presents many challenges. In this case, the game itself was already a known quantity. That was actually the least complex part of this project. Early complications arose with acceptable formatting across screens (not unusual), multiple local players, and tracking high scores. The real complications, however, were keeping a form of user "state" -- allowing multiple remote players in real time -- and controlling the user experience both while playing *and* while waiting. When you finally feel like you're nearing the end game (pun intended), you test with someone like my son that needs help logging in, joining a game, and even identifying the correct square to play his score. Some of it should've been more obvious to me, but other pieces really required trial and error to identify. It was a series of "attempt a fix, test further, rinse, and repeat". But seeing my son start to "get it" while playing Boatzee on his tablet, dad on his computer, and grandma 200 miles away was incredibly rewarding. There will be future improvements and tweaks of course.

For those who care about the "tech", Boatzee is hosted on an Azure VM running Debian 10, Nginx for web-serving and proxy, Node.js as the "game server", and PM2 for retaining game server state.

Lastly, Boatzee is freely available for any/all to play! If you made it this far, well.... thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it 😀

Boatzee is a classic dice game played with 5 dice. The goal is to score the most points by rolling specific combinations.

1. Setup

• Boatzee supports 1 to 4 players.
• Single Player: Enter your player name at the start screen, click Create New Game, and then click Start Game.
• Multiple Players Locally: Enter the first player name, click Create New Game, and then enter additional player names -- clicking the + Add button after each one. Click the Start Game button when you're ready!
• Multiple Players Remotely: Enter your player name at the start screen, click Create New Game, and then give the Room Code to your additional players to enter at their start screen. Click the Start Game button when everyone is listed!
• Tip: At the Start Game screen you can click on the clipboard icon next to the Room Code to send a room link to your other players! They can simply enter their name and hit Join Game to be added to the player list.

2. Game Rules

• Each turn consists of up to 3 rolls of the dice.
• On the first roll, you roll all 5 dice.
• After the first roll, you can click on any die to "Hold" it (keep its value).
• You can re-roll the un-held dice up to two more times to try and get a better combination.
• If you cannot form a valid combination for a specific category, you must take a zero for that category.

3. The Two Columns (Double Scorecard)

• You may place your score in either column at any time. You do not have to finish one column before starting the other.
• Strategy Tip: Use this flexibility to maximize your Upper Section Bonus.
• If you have rolled three 6s (18 points), but your first column's "Sixes" is already full, place it in the second column to help get the bonus there too!
• Sometimes it is smart to "burn" a bad roll in a column where you have already missed the bonus, saving the "good" column for high scores.

4. Scoring Categories

The scorecard is divided into two sections:

Upper Section

Score the sum of dice matching the category number.

Category	Description
Ones - Sixes	Sum of all dice matching that number.
Bonus	If an individual column's Upper Section totals 63+, that column gets 35 bonus points. (It is possible to get this bonus twice!)

Lower Section

Poker-style combinations.

Category	Points	Description
Three of a Kind	Sum of Dice	At least 3 dice the same face.
Two Pair	Sum of Dice	Two separate pairs (e.g., 2-2, 5-5).
Odds or Evens	20	All dice are Odd or All dice are Even.
Full House	25	Three of one number, two of another.
Small Straight	30	4 sequential dice (e.g., 1-2-3-4).
Large Straight	40	5 sequential dice (e.g., 1-2-3-4-5).
Boatzee	50	5 of a kind (All dice the same).
Chance	Sum of Dice	Any combination (good for when you miss a roll).

5. Boatzee+

6. How to Win

The game ends when all players have filled both columns for all 13 scoring categories.

The player with the highest total score wins the game!