Ship, Captain, Crew
Ship, Captain, Crew is a fast-paced dice game of luck and light strategy. Players race to assemble a Ship, Captain, and Crew, then squeeze the highest Cargo score they can from the remaining dice.
Objective
Win rounds by posting the highest Cargo score. The first player to win three rounds wins the match.
Players
2 to 6 players.
Components
Five standard six-sided dice.
May be banked only after the Ship
May be banked only after Ship and Captain
The two leftover dice after the crew is set
Setup
All five dice start in the pool. Players take turns in order, and each round, every player gets one turn. The first turn moves one seat round the table each round: Player 1 opens round 1, Player 2 round 2, and so on, wrapping back to Player 1. Who opens round 1 also alternates between games, so the next game starts one seat further on. A roll-off does not change who opens the next round.
Turn Structure
You have a maximum of three rolls per turn. Like Train and Zilch, you click Roll, then select which dice to bank.
1. Roll
Click Roll Dice to throw every die that is not yet banked as Ship, Captain, or Crew.
2. Select dice to keep
After each roll, select the Ship / Captain / Crew faces you want to bank, then click Keep Selected:
1.
Ship (6) — bank one 6 if you do not already have a Ship.
2.
Captain (5) — bank one 5 only if you already have (or are also banking) a Ship.
3.
Crew (4) — bank one 4 only if you already have (or are also banking) Ship and Captain.
You may bank several of these in one selection when the order rules allow it (for example Ship + Captain + Crew on the same throw). Cargo faces (any die that is not a needed 6/5/4) cannot be selected here — they stay in the rolled tray.
If nothing useful showed, click Done to skip banking and continue.
3. Decide
•
Crew incomplete, rolls left — click Continue to roll the unbanked dice again.
•
Crew complete — the leftover dice in the rolled tray are your Cargo:
•
Stand — lock in the sum of the two Cargo dice.
•
Reroll Cargo — if you still have rolls left, throw both Cargo dice again (you must reroll both).
•
Three rolls used without a full crew — click End Turn to bust for 0 Cargo.
Scoring
Your Cargo score is the sum of the two leftover dice (range 2–12), or 0 on a bust.
After every player has finished their turn, the highest Cargo score wins the round. A true tie among the leaders is settled with a roll-off among the tied players: each of them takes one more full turn, in seat order, and the highest Cargo of that roll-off wins the round. Everyone behind the leaders sits the roll-off out and cannot win the round, even if every tied player busts. If the roll-off ties again, the players still tied roll off again.
Winning the Match
The first player to win three rounds wins the match.
Example Turn
1.
Roll 1: 6, 4, 3, 3, 1 — select and keep the Ship (6). The 4 cannot be kept yet (no Captain). Continue and reroll the other four.
2.
Roll 2: 5, 4, 2, 2 — select Captain (5) and Crew (4) together. Cargo is currently 2 + 2 = 4.
3.
Roll 3: Reroll both Cargo dice and get 6 and 3. Stand for 9.