Yahtzee

Today's Score to Beat: 431
High Score is Still: 485

Speaking of Yahtzee, I went looking for a Yahtzee game for the computer, and what I found puzzles me. I was hoping for a freeware game with just the basics, something that would pretty much do the same thing as my electronic version, but the official shareware game (good for 20 minutes at a time, and we all know how engrossing a good game or 300 of Yahtzee can be, virtually eats up all the free time) has a 3-D environment. There's a 3-D cup to roll the dice in and a table, and a room around the table. I didn't read long enough to find out if there were players to choose from.

Isn't that a bit like designing a computer version of any board game, say Chess or Checkers and then making a super realistic room for the board to sit on? I can even understand in a game like Chess or Checkers where there is some form of board position that is intrinsic to the playing of the game, but Yahtzee? All you need to play Yahtzee is five dice, a cup (or your hand), a flat surface and a pencil and paper. That's it. Where you do it has no bearing on the game whatsoever. It would be like a poker game with a detailed room and computer players (though that could be made interesting if the players were full interactive and maybe had little tells that you could see if they were bluffing or had good hands or whatnot).

Perhaps I ponder these things too much.