Yam and Yahtzee
Harvey V
find it by searching google groups, nor could I find an answer to the
question by trying various search or other engines.
So, the question:
When I learned to play this game -- early 1960s -- we called it "Yam".
At some point shortly after that, some marketing spark started boxing
up 5 dice and a pad of scorecards, and sold the game as Yahtzee.
I seem to recall that there was some sort of difference between what
was required in the bottom half of the scorecard between the two (which
undoubtedly was introduced by Yahtzee so that it could be copyrighted).
Am I imagining this difference, or can someone enlighten me as to what
differed between the two scoring lists?
Many thanks,
Harvey
Greg Aleknevicus
<harve...@REMOVETHISntlworld.com> wrote:
>Am I imagining this difference, or can someone enlighten me as to what
>differed between the two scoring lists?
My understanding of the issue is that there are many subtle variations
and that it can be considered a "traditional" game*. (That is, the
same basic mechanic exists in lots of related games that are all part
of the same "family".) As such it's very difficult to say what
differences exist between the copyrighted Yahtzee and the game you're
calling "Yam" unless you explicity dtate what rules you played with.
(At which point you'll have answered your own question.) (Side note:
There was a published and copyrighted game called Yum that was in this
family of game. Is this what you're thinking of?)
* I have also heard from certain sources that Yahtzee was created with
no prior influence by a couple that played the game on their Yacht
(which was the original name of the game).
Greg Aleknevicus
Editor, The Games Journal
http://www.thegamesjournal.com
Scott Andrew Borton
>I seem to recall that there was some sort of difference between what
>was required in the bottom half of the scorecard between the two (which
>undoubtedly was introduced by Yahtzee so that it could be copyrighted).
"Yam" is (still) sold in Europe by Dujardin. I have a copy in French, and I
don't know if it's available in English. I haven't played Yahtzee in years,
so I had to refresh my memory by looking at a Yahtzee score card online. The
differences that I can see are:
* Yam doesn't have a "Chance" section.
* Yam only allows one 5-of-a-kind to be scored.
* Yam gives 4-of-a-kind a fixed score, rather than a variable score as in
Yahtzee. 3-of-a-kind are treated the same in both games.
* Instead of "small straight" and "large straight" as in Yahtzee, Yam has
"petit suite" (1-2-3-4-5) and "grande suite" (2-3-4-5-6). Even though both
patterns are equally difficult to roll, the grande suite gives more
points.
--scott
--
Notebook on music and airports:
http://two-wugs.net/scott/
Justin Green
> On Thu, 01 Aug 2002 21:22:37 GMT, Harvey V
> <harve...@REMOVETHISntlworld.com> wrote:
>
> >Am I imagining this difference, or can someone enlighten me as to what
> >differed between the two scoring lists?
>
> My understanding of the issue is that there are many subtle variations
> and that it can be considered a "traditional" game*. (That is, the
> same basic mechanic exists in lots of related games that are all part
> of the same "family".) As such it's very difficult to say what
> differences exist between the copyrighted Yahtzee and the game you're
> calling "Yam" unless you explicity dtate what rules you played with.
> (At which point you'll have answered your own question.) (Side note:
> There was a published and copyrighted game called Yum that was in this
> family of game. Is this what you're thinking of?)
The story goes (which I'm sure Greg knows) that a rich Canadian couple
invented the game to play on their boat and named it "Yacht" (this may
be Hasbro revisionist history, however). Anyway, there were indeed
many versions of it with funny names. It has to be one of the
cheapest and easiest games to produce, so it must be quite tempting to
rip it off. Just look at all those Palm Pilot versions!
Justin
Harvey V
Andrew Borton) wrote:
-snip re: differences between Yam and Yahtzee-
> "Yam" is (still) sold in Europe by Dujardin. I have a copy in
> French, and I don't know if it's available in English. I haven't
> played Yahtzee in years, so I had to refresh my memory by looking
> at a Yahtzee score card online. The differences that I can see
> are:
>
> * Yam doesn't have a "Chance" section.
> * Yam only allows one 5-of-a-kind to be scored.
> * Yam gives 4-of-a-kind a fixed score, rather than a variable
> score as in
> Yahtzee. 3-of-a-kind are treated the same in both games.
> * Instead of "small straight" and "large straight" as in Yahtzee,
> Yam has
> "petit suite" (1-2-3-4-5) and "grande suite" (2-3-4-5-6). Even
> though both patterns are equally difficult to roll, the grande
> suite gives more points.
Many thanks, Scott -- those were exactly the sorts of differences I
recall from so many years ago, but I couldn't remember any of the
details.
--
Cheers,
Harvey
Harvey V
Aleknevicus) wrote:
> On Thu, 01 Aug 2002 21:22:37 GMT, Harvey V
><harve...@REMOVETHISntlworld.com> wrote:
>
>> Am I imagining this difference, or can someone enlighten me as to
>> what differed between the two scoring lists?
>
> My understanding of the issue is that there are many subtle
> variations and that it can be considered a "traditional" game*.
> (That is, the same basic mechanic exists in lots of related games
> that are all part of the same "family".) As such it's very
> difficult to say what differences exist between the copyrighted
> Yahtzee and the game you're calling "Yam" unless you explicity
> dtate what rules you played with. (At which point you'll have
> answered your own question.) (Side note: There was a published
> and copyrighted game called Yum that was in this family of game.
> Is this what you're thinking of?)
Might have been -- it's been a long time -- but I seem to recall it as
Yam.
Scott Andrew Borton's post lists the differences -- there were a lot
more of them than I'd remembered.
--
Cheers,
Harvey