Ship, Captain, Crew

An old game using dice where players assemble, in order, a ship, a captain, and a crew by rolling for them.

Number of Players

The game may be played with two or more players.

Set Up

• 5 six-sided dice

Determine player turn order somehow.

Game Play

Players take turns.

They roll their dice. If a 6 (ship) is found in this roll, set it aside. If a 5 (captain) is also found, set that aside, too. If a 4 (crew), set that aside, too. If none of this in-order combination is found, roll again up to a maximum of 3 total rolls. Once a ship, a captain, and a crew are set aside or on the same turn, the player’s turn ends and the remaining dice are their score. If a player does not get a ship, a captain, and a crew on their turn, their score is 0.

Winning the Game

The player with the highest score is the winner.

Traditions

A few traditions are found in this old game. They concern mostly terminologies and ways to add “flavor” to the game.

Terminologies

If the player is last to roll their dice, they are called the “hammer”. The current winning score is the “point”. A player that rolls two for the scoring dice, it is called the “minimum”. A player that rolls any sixes in the scoring dice has rolled “boxcars”. A player that rolls two “boxcars” for the scoring dice, it is called “midnight”.

Betting

There are ways to add betting to these games. Betting is used with tokens, such as poker chips or money, into the kitty. Players will bet through any kind of betting method (e.g. anteing or blinds). Another way is for the players to try for a minimum score. The winner is the player who achieves the highest score. If no player gets the minimum score, the kitty stands for another round.

Drinking

When a winner is determined, all players but the winner takes a drink. Another approach is for the winning player to determine who drinks (e.g. by being rude and naming a player outright or by rolling a die to see who drinks).