Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants Dice Game: Rules and Instructions for How to Play

Objective of Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants

The objective of Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants is to roll dice and try to match the most characters to score the most points.

Setup

Players take five scoring tokens of the same color (yellow, green, blue, or purple). They should have a SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, and Squidward token of the same color. Put the five dice in the cup and place the scoreboard within reach of all players. The setup for Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants is now complete.

How to set up a game of Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants.

Playing Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants

The youngest player gets to be the starting player and play will continue clockwise from there. The number of turns each player gets depends on the number of players.

2-player game: 5 turns per player
3-player game: 4 turns per player
4-player game: 3 turns per player

Each turn consists of rolling the dice up to three times and scoring one of your character tokens you haven’t already scored.

Rolling the Dice (First Roll)

Players place the five dice in the dice cup in order to roll them. After rolling, they look over their dice and choose which ones to keep (presumably whichever character they have the most of). They can elect to score their matching dice or continue rolling to try to get more of the same character.

This picture shows a player's first roll in Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants. They rolled two Sandy's, one Squidward, one SpongeBob, and a Mr. Krabs so they elect to keep the two Sandy dice and re-roll the rest.

An example of a player’s first roll. The only character they got more than one of is Sandy so they elect to keep those two dice and re-roll the others.

This picture shows an example of a player's first and only roll in Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants. Since they rolled four Squidward dice and a Gary, they can't do any better and have elected to score instead of re-rolling.

This player had a very lucky first roll, scoring a Yahtzee with four Squidward dice and a Gary (which I’ll get into later). Since they can’t do any better, they elect to stop rolling and score their Squidward token.

Second Roll

If a player chooses to keep rolling, they pick out the ones they don’t want and put them back in the dice cup. They can re-roll as many unwanted dice as they want, even all five if they so choose. After rolling again, they set aside any additional dice they want to keep.

Continuing the example above, the player rolled another Sandy. Their other two dice landed on Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob. They can re-roll those dice one more time before having to score.

This player’s second roll got them another Sandy die so they keep it. They can re-roll the other two dice just once more before having to score.

Third Roll

They then can score or roll their dice a third time. If they decide to re-roll, they again only choose the dice/die they don’t want and roll them. No matter what you get, the third roll marks the end of your turn. Count up your dice, score your points (most likely the character you have the most of), and move on to the next player.

The player going for Sandy dice has completed their third and final roll. They got a fourth Sandy but their other roll (a Patrick) is not re-rollable.

The player’s third and final roll got them one more Sandy die before they have to score. They cannot re-roll the Patrick die as they have rolled it the limit of three times.

Note: You can change which character you’re going for in a round at any time. If you roll and keep two Patrick dice after your first roll but then get three Squidwards on your next roll, feel free to keep the Squidwards and re-roll the Patrick dice for your third roll.

This player banked two Patrick dice in their first roll but then rolled three Squidward with the three dice they re-rolled. If they want, they can keep the Squidward dice and re-roll the Patrick dice even though they previously “banked” them.

Rolling Gary

Gary is on one of the sides of four of the five dice. If you roll Gary, he is considered a “wild” and can be counted as any character (SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy, Squidward, or Mr. Krabs). You don’t have to declare what character he is until scoring so he basically just adds another point to your total and should always be kept when rolled.

You don’t even have to roll the character you want to count Gary as. For example, let’s say you roll three Gary, one Sandy, and one Squidward. If you have already scored your Sandy and Squidward tokens, you could use the three Gary dice as SpongeBob, Patrick, or Mr. Krabs even if you didn’t roll them.

This player rolled a Gary which is “wild” for any character. Since they already have three SpongeBob, they can keep it and it will count as a fourth SpongeBob when they are done rolling.

Rolling Plankton

On the other hand, there is one die with a Plankton on one side. If you roll him, set the die aside. You can’t re-roll it or score it for this turn. Once the next player’s turn begins, the die is returned to play.

This player kept two Mr. Krabs then rolled a Plankton, Mr. Krabs, and SpongeBob on their second roll. The Plankton die is set aside and can't be scored or re-rolled this turn. This player can keep their third Mr. Krabs and re-roll their SpongeBob die for their third turn.

This player was unfortunate enough to roll the one Plankton side throughout the five dice. They will have to set the die aside (they can’t re-roll it or score it). They can however add the third Mr. Krabs they rolled to the dice they’re keeping. The only die they will want to and be able to re-roll is the SpongeBob die.

Scoring in Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants

Each turn, after a player has finished their third roll (or elected to stop rolling), they will score one character. They can score any character that they haven’t already scored in a previous round. They should choose to score the character they have the most of. Simply count up how many of your dice show that character (plus any Gary dice you have). Then, take your token of that character and place it on the scoreboard in the proper place. For example, if you had four SpongeBob dice this turn, place your SpongeBob token on the SpongeBob space below the number “4.”

This picture shows the scoreboard and the yellow player having three Sandy, one Gary, and a Mr. Krabs at the end of their turn. They take their yellow Sandy token and place it on the proper spot on the scoreboard.

At the end of their turn, the yellow player has three Sandy dice plus a Gary. That means they will score four with their Sandy token. They place their token on the proper place on the scoreboard.

Once a token has been added to the scoreboard it cannot be moved (you can’t score that character again even if you scored poorly with it). Also, only one token is allowed per square on the scoreboard. For example, if you got a “Yahtzee” of Sandy (all five dice showing Sandy or Gary) but another player already claimed the 5-point Sandy spot, you will have to place your token on the next available Sandy spot to the left. If nobody has claimed the Sandy 4-point spot, you will place it there. Otherwise, you will continue moving left until a spot is unclaimed.

This picture shows the green player having four Sandy dice and a Mr. Krabs at the end of their turn. They would normally place their green Sandy token on the Sandy four space but since it is already occupied, they will have to settle for the Sandy three spot to the left.

The green player also rolled a lot of Sandy dice but ultimately wound up getting the same score of four as the yellow player. Since the yellow player already took the Sandy four-point space, they will have to claim the Sandy three-point space instead. Only one token can be on each space (outside of the “zero spaces”).

Scoring “0”

If you have already scored all of the characters you rolled this turn (unlikely since you have three rolls to get something you need), you must choose one of your remaining tokens and place it in the first column on the scoreboard for that character. This token scores you zero points. Unlike the scoring spaces, more than one token can be placed on the same zero spot.

The yellow player only has SpongeBob, Patrick, and Mr. Krabs tokens left to score. Unfortunately, all three of their dice rolls fail to produce any of those characters. They will have to play one of their tokens (they chose SpongeBob) on the "zero space."

The yellow player rolled poorly throughout their rolls and didn’t get a single character they needed (SpongeBob, Patrick, or Mr. Krabs). Because of this they will have to take one of their tokens (they chose SpongeBob) and place it on the “zero spot.”

Winning Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants

After everyone has played the correct amount of turns (5 for a 2-player game, 4 for a 3-player game, and 3 for a 4-player game), the game has ended. Find all of each player’s tokens on the scoreboard and add up the points they scored. The player with the highest total wins Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants.

This picture shows the scoreboard at the end of the game. The yellow player scored five from Squidward, four from Sandy, and two from SpongeBob. The green player scored five from SpongeBob, three from Sandy, and two from Mr. Krabs. The blue player got four from SpongeBob, three from Mr. Krabs, and two from Sandy. Finally, the purple player scored four from Patrick, three from Squidward, and one from Mr. Krabs. Those totals add up to 11 for yellow, 10 for green, 9 for blue, and 8 for purple. The yellow player has the most points and wins the game.

At the end of Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants, the yellow player has eleven points (five from Squidward, four from Sandy, and two from SpongeBob). The green player has ten points, the blue player nine points, and the purple player eight points. Yellow wins the game!

If there is a tie at the end of the game, the tied players each roll all five dice. The player that rolls the most SpongeBobs during this extra roll wins the game.

At the end of this game, both yellow and green have scored ten points. They will have a roll-off to determine who wins (the player who rolls the most SpongeBob SquarePants).

Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants FAQ

Note: If you have any questions about how to play Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.

Components

The components included in Yahtzee Jr.: SpongeBob SquarePants.

1 scoreboard
5 dice
- 4 dice with SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, Squidward, and Gary
- 1 die with SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, Squidward, and Plankton
1 dice cup
20 scoring tokens
- 5 yellow tokens (SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, Squidward)
- 5 green tokens (SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, Squidward)
- 5 blue tokens (SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, Squidward)
- 5 purple tokens (SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, Squidward)
1 label sheet

Year: 2011 | Publisher: Hasbro Games

Genres: Dice, Children’s Game

Ages: 4+ | Number of Players: 2-4 | Length of Game: 10 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Heavy

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Note: We have also covered the rules for several other Yahtzee games.

For more board and card game how to plays/rules and reviews, check out our complete alphabetical list of board game posts.