Ship, Captain and Crew: Rules for the Five-Dice Game

Ship, Captain and Crew is a quick dice game for two or more players that needs nothing but five standard dice. Each player gets up to three rolls per turn to collect a 6 (the ship), a 5 (the captain) and a 4 (the crew), strictly in that order. Once all three are on board, the two remaining dice are the cargo, and their total is the score. The highest cargo after everyone has rolled wins the round. A player who never completes the ship, captain and crew scores nothing.

It goes by other names too: Ship, Captain, Mate and Crew, Six-Five-Four, or simply Cargo. The core idea stays the same everywhere, but small house rules differ, so settle them before the first throw.

What you need

• Five ordinary six-sided dice (one set is enough for the whole table)
• A cup or a tray, so dice do not roll off the edge
• Paper for scores, or tokens if you play rounds for points
• Two players at minimum; it stays lively up to about eight

How a turn works

1. First roll. Throw all five dice. If a 6 shows, set one 6 aside. That is your ship.
2. Keep the order. A 5 only counts once the ship is set aside, and a 4 only counts once the captain is there. If the same throw shows a 6, a 5 and a 4 together, all three can be kept at once, because the 6 lets the 5 count and the 5 lets the 4 count.
3. Roll what is left. Throw the dice you have not set aside. With three rolls in total, you keep hunting for the missing pieces.
4. Load the cargo. As soon as 6, 5 and 4 are kept, the other two dice are your cargo. Add them up: anything from 2 to 12.
5. Improve or stop. If you still have rolls left, you may throw both cargo dice again to chase a higher total, or stand on what you have. Most tables say you must reroll both cargo dice together, and the newest result counts, even if it is lower.

A 5 that appears before you have a 6 is useless on that throw. Many beginners set it aside anyway; it has to go back into the cup with the others.

A sample turn

Roll one shows 6, 5, 2, 2, 1. The 6 is kept, and because the ship is now in place, the 5 can be kept as the captain. Roll two uses the remaining three dice and shows 4, 3, 3. The 4 is the crew, and the two 3s make a cargo of 6. One roll is left. A cargo of 6 is below the average of two dice, so rerolling is reasonable here; the new throw shows 5 and 4, a cargo of 9, which stands.

Scoring and winning

After every player has taken a turn, compare cargo totals. The highest one takes the round. A player with no ship, captain and crew is out of that round, whatever the dice show. Tied cargo usually means a roll-off between the tied players, one roll each for a fresh cargo, though some groups split the round instead.

Variants worth agreeing on

• One die at a time. Some tables allow rerolling a single cargo die, which makes keeping a 6 and chasing the other much more attractive.
• First player sets the limit. The opening player decides how many rolls they used, and everyone after them gets the same number at most. It rewards a fast, lucky start.
• Points to a target. Instead of single rounds, add cargo totals across turns and play to an agreed number, such as 50.
• Mate included. In the longer version a 3 joins the order as the mate (6, 5, 4, 3), and only one die is left as cargo. Turns get tighter and zeros more frequent.

The odds behind a turn

The order is what makes the game harder than it looks. On a throw of five dice, the chance of at least one 6 is about 60 percent (one minus five-sixths to the fifth power), so missing the ship on the opening roll happens in roughly four throws out of ten. Every die you keep leaves fewer dice in the cup, which is why the crew is often the last piece to show up.

Cargo works like any two-dice total. Seven is the most likely sum, 2 and 12 the rarest, and the spread follows the familiar triangle shown in the two-dice probability chart. That gives a simple rule of thumb for rerolling: with a cargo below 7 and a roll left, a reroll is more likely to help than to hurt. With 8 or more, standing is usually the calmer choice, unless someone has already posted a higher total and you have nothing to lose.

Common mistakes

• Keeping a 5 or a 4 before the 6 is on the table.
• Rerolling only one cargo die when the table agreed both must go together.
• Forgetting that a reroll is final: a cargo of 10 can turn into 3.
• Not deciding the tie rule until a tie actually happens.

Where it fits on a game night

Because a full round takes only a minute or two, Ship, Captain and Crew works well as a warm-up or a tiebreaker between longer games. If the group enjoys deciding when to stop, Farkle's six-dice push-your-luck scoring is a natural next step. For more table talk and bluffing, try the bids and challenges of Liar's Dice, and for a large group that likes switching partners, Bunco's rounds and tables handle a crowd easily.

In bars the game is sometimes played for drinks or small stakes. Keep it to friendly points or tokens, play it only as an adult when money is involved, and check what the law where you live says about wagering on private games.