Yard Dice Games

Yard dice are large hand sized dice meant for playing a wide variety of diced based games in outdoor settings like a backyard get together, BBQ, birthday party, work party, picnic, and much more. These oversized dice typically come in sets of six, which allows you to play many different games. There are so many options for playing you will never get bored. Lawn dice games are growing in popularity and fun for the whole family. Get your children away from the TV or computer by adding kid friendly rewards to the mix. Keep the adults interested by adding a drinking game to the mix. As you can see yard dice offers something for everyone. We will take a look at some popular and creative games to play with your yard dice.

Items Needed for Yard Dice Games

Any decent sized area works well for playing a wide variety of outdoor games like yard dice. A set of six large dice will allow you to play just about any dice related game you can think of. In addition to the dice, you will need a pen and paper for keeping score and a 3 foot circular ring made of rope depending on what game you choose. Increase the excitement by adding different prizes of your choice.

Go to your local office supply shop and get some papers as large as you can find to keep the illusion of giants playing in your backyard. Trust us, it’ll be more fun like that. Alternatively, you can get some crafting paper and make your own personalized scoreboards and whatnot to your heart’s content. We always encourage creativity here at Fun-Attic.

Snake Eyes Yard Dice Game


GoSports Giant 3.5″ Wooden Playing Dice Set with Bonus Rollzee…

  • GIANT SIZE: Each die measures: 3. 5″ x 3. 5″ x 3. 5″
  • ROLLZEE AND FARKLE BOARD INCLUDED: Double Sided Dry-Erase Scoreboard with Pen for Endless Fun!
  • PREMIUM CONSTRUCTION: Includes 6 hand sanded wooden dice with canvas carrying case

Snake Eyes is definitely one of the most popular and easiest games to play with yard dice. This is a fun and exciting choice for including people of all ages. Children and adults can have fun together when playing Snake Eyes. Set the game up by placing your 3 foot wide target ring about ten feet away from the throwing line. You can divide up into teams or play as singles. Six dice are thrown per turn. You must toss the dice so they land in the circular ring. Count up the value of the dice that land inside of the ring. The objective of the game is to be the first person or team to reach twenty one total points or roll snake eyes. Snake eyes is when you roll all ones in a single turn. You also have the option of making the game last until 11 or 15 points depending on how long you want each round to last. This game is simple and fun. It is the perfect way to get everyone into playing yard dice and away from the TV or computer.

Yard Dice Yahtzee


Trademark Innovations Giant Wood Yard Dice with Carry Bag, 3.5″

  • Comes with 6 dice in a jute drawstring bag
  • Each die measures 3.5″ square
  • The dice come in an attractive natural stain

Playing outdoor Yahtzee with yard dice really takes this classic game to new levels of fun and excitement. You can play alone or in large groups.  We have all probably played Yahtzee many times in our lives, but we will go over the general rules again. For ease of scoring and following rules, I recommend getting official Yahtzee score cards and rules. The object of the game is to obtain the highest score possible by throwing five dice. The game has thirteen rounds. You roll the dice in each round and choose your score for one of the thirteen different categories.  Choose one score per category depending on what you roll. Up to three rolls per round are allowed and you can keep or re roll as many of the dice as you choose. After three rolls you must choose your score for a given category. There are two different categories for scoring, an upper and lower section. For the upper section, your score is the value of the specified die face for numbers one through six. For example, if you roll 3-4-3-6-2 and choose the three categories, your score would be 2 because you rolled two different dice with three on the face. The lower section of scoring is either a set amount or zero based on whether you meet the requirements.  These categories are three and four of kind. If you roll this you get the total if the dice. The next category is small straight (30 points) or large straight (40 points).  A full house is next and is when you roll a 3 and 2 of a kind together. Full house scores 25 points.  The last category is a 5 of kind or Yahtzee which scores 50 points and 100 for an additional Yahtzee. After filling all categories the high score wins.

Beat That Yard Dice Game


Cardinal 5 Giant Wood Dice Giant Game

  • Made from solid wood
  • 5 Wooden Dice – 3.5″ x 3.5″ x 3.5″
  • Numbers are heat branded directly into the wood

Beat That is a simple and great game for kids of all ages. It is fun and improves strategic thinking and recognizing different numbers. You can roll anywhere from two to six dice. Using more dice makes the game a little more complicated for older children. The object is to roll the dice and arrange them in the highest number combination possible. For example, if you decide to throw three dice per round and get a 3-6-9, you would add that up to the highest total of 963. Once the child has decided on what they think the highest number combination is they challenge the next player to “beat that” and continue with the game in the same manner. The game is played in rounds and a winner is chosen for each round. You can also add variations to the game like lowest score wins or setting a goal of total points that you add up per round until the number is achieved. Adding prizes for the winner of each round will keep the kids involved and give everyone plenty of chances to win.

Yard Dice Games FAQ

How do you play Yarkle?

Yarkle is basically a giant backyard version of Farkle, hence the play on words and changing of the first letter of the name respectively. You need six dice for a game of Yarkle, and they all need to be pretty big, such as the ones that we have listed above in this article. To play Yarkle, it’s enough to know the rules of Farkle, which you can find here. As for the papers required for playing, you can either write your own by hand or print the ones from here.

What is the Yardzee game?

The object of Yardzee is to obtain the highest score from throwing the 5 dice. The game consists of 13 rounds. In each round, you roll the dice and then score the roll in 1 of 13 categories. You must score once in each category. After rolling you can either score the current roll or re-roll any or all dice. You’ll get the hang of it quite soon if you’ve ever played regular Yahtzee. Even so, new players can learn the game fairly quickly with a little help from their friends.

Final Thoughts

These are all great games for getting started with your yard dice set. There are literally hundreds more out there. You can even get creative and make up your own yard dice games. The options are endless. Looking for some other fun yard games? Try your luck at the popular game cornhole.

Alternatively, you can keep browsing our site for more and more games and suggestions that you probably didn’t even hear of until now. There’s always an idea that can make you and your friends’ day even more fun. Stay tuned for even more fun articles from Fun-Attic!

Featured Image via Flickr

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