How to Play Ship, Captain and Crew

This simple - and sometimes frustrating - two-player dice game requires little skill and much luck to win.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Cups
• 5 Dice

1. Put five dice in a cup.

2. Assign the following designations: 6 = Ship, 5 = Captain, 4 = Crew. You need a Ship before you get a Captain, and you need a Captain before you can have a Crew.

3. Roll all five dice. If you roll a 6, you have your Ship. You may either pull that dice out of the cup and secure your Ship or put it back into the cup and hope you roll another 6 along with a 5 and 4.

4. Toss the dice up to three times on your turn. Your goal is to get the Ship, Captain and Crew in order. Once you have them, the last two dice (the Cargo) are totaled for your score.

5. Score zero if you don't complete the set.

6. Win by having a higher score than your opponent after you both roll the dice.

[buzzard33]

on 8/8/2009 When I played this game in the Navy, there was one other rule which everyone missed. If the starting (initial) player rolls a 6, 5, 4, 6, 6, (called a midnight)on the 1st roll, he/she is an automatic winner and all other players do not get to roll. Winners always get to roll first. The rest of the comments for numbers of rolls per person is correct. You get to roll only the number of times the initial player rolls. Love this game...anybody want to ante?....lol

[radman1955]

on 1/22/2009 Excellent discussion. We had a dispute the last time we played. What about the scenario where the first qualifier has 0 points after two rolls, and 8 points after three rolls. The next player scores 6 points on his second roll, and stops. Is he now the winner, since he has more points on two rolls and the first player had 0 points after two rolls? Or is the second player forced to roll a third time, in order to beat the 8 points set by the qualifier?

[kcferg]

on 1/19/2008 what happens if Player 1 has a 6-5-4 and total 8 on the third roll. If Player 2 rolls 6-5-4 and then a total 8 on his second turn, does Player 2 take the lead, or is he still trying to BEAT Player 1, ie. ties do not count? Or, again Player 1 has 6-5-4 total 8 on three rolls, as does Player 2. Are they tied, or is player 1 the winner as Player 2 did not beat him?

on 6/30/2006 The number of times a player rolls the dice is determined by the first qualifier. A player qualifies when he rolls a ship, captain and crew (6,5,4). For example, if five people are playing, assume Player 1 does not qualify in three rolls of the dice (that is, he/she did not roll a 6, 5 and 4). Player 2 rolls a 6 and 5 on first roll and a 4 on the second roll along with another 5 and a 3. Player 2 has eight points after his/her second roll. Player 2 now has the option of rolling again with two dice or stopping with two rolls and eight points. If Player 2 stops at two rolls and eight points, the remaining players now have only two rolls to beat Player 2's score of eight.

Likewise, if the first player to qualify does so in one roll and elects to stop there, then each succeeding player has only one roll.

This rule is often overlooked with unfair results. It is not fair if, for example, Player 1 qualifies on the first roll (with let's say a roll of 6, 5, 4, 6, 4--ten points) and all remaining players get three rolls to beat him/her.