Ship, Captain & Crew Drinking Game

Find your 6, your 5, your 4 - then sail on the leftovers.

Also known as: 6-5-4 · Ship Captain Mate and Crew

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Players 2-8

You need5 dice, drinks

DrinkAnything

Intensity

Time15-30 min

Play Ship, Captain & Crew online

Ship, Captain & Crew is the old salt of dice drinking games - a five-dice classic where every player gets three rolls to assemble a voyage. First you need a ship (a 6), then a captain (a 5), then a crew (a 4), locked in that exact order. Only once all three are aboard do your last two dice count as cargo, and the highest cargo total wins the round. Everyone else drinks.

The genius is in the ordering rule. Roll a fistful of 5s and 4s before you have your 6, and none of them count - the sea does not care about your captain if there is no ship to put him on. It plays beautifully with anywhere from two to eight people, needs nothing but five dice, and delivers the best agonizing-decision moments in casual dice gaming.

What you need & setup

Gather 2-8 players, five dice and a rolling surface with some rail to it.
Everyone gets a drink; agree on the round stake (losers sip, last place drinks double is standard).
Choose a starting player - traditionally whoever most recently saw the ocean.
Play passes clockwise, one full turn per player per round.

How to play Ship, Captain & Crew

Know the hierarchy

You are hunting three specific dice in strict order: a 6 is your ship, a 5 is your captain, a 4 is your crew. You cannot keep a captain before you have a ship, and you cannot keep a crew before you have a captain. A single roll can supply several at once - roll 6-5-4 immediately and you are fully manned with two rolls to spare.

Take your three rolls

Roll all five dice. Set aside whatever you legally can - ship first, then captain, then crew - and re-roll the rest. You get a maximum of three rolls per turn. Any dice you set aside stay locked. This is the whole engine of the game: three chances to build a boat out of chaos.

Load your cargo

Once ship, captain and crew are set aside, your remaining two dice are cargo, and their total (2 to 12) is your score. Here is the decision point: if you complete the crew on roll one or two, you may keep the cargo as rolled or re-roll both cargo dice with your remaining rolls - but you must re-roll both, never just one.

Sweat the re-roll

That cargo decision is where the game lives. Sitting on a 7 with one roll left while the table leader has a 9? Six-six dreams say roll; the odds say you will probably do worse. Whatever you roll last stands as your final score. Fortune favors the bold and punishes them about equally.

Score the round

Every player takes a full turn, then compare cargo totals. Highest cargo wins the round and hands out the drinking: everyone who scored lower takes a sip, and anyone who failed to complete ship-captain-crew in three rolls drinks double and scores zero. Ties among the leaders are re-rolled head-to-head, sudden death.

Sail again

The round winner rolls first next round - or last, if your table prefers giving the winner maximum information to gamble with. Play to a set number of rounds or just until the fleet disbands. A running tally of round wins gives the night a champion worth toasting.

Roll outcomes

Roll	What happens
6 (Ship)	Set it aside first
5 (Captain)	Set aside after the ship
4 (Crew)	Set aside after the captain
Remaining two dice	Your cargo score
No ship/captain/crew in 3 rolls	Drink and score zero

The rules

Each turn is a maximum of three rolls with five dice.
You must set aside a 6 (ship), then a 5 (captain), then a 4 (crew), in that order only.
Multiple pieces can be claimed from a single roll if the order allows it.
Dice set aside are locked for the rest of the turn.
The two dice left after crewing up are your cargo score (2-12).
Cargo may be re-rolled with any remaining rolls, but always both dice together.
No ship, captain and crew after three rolls: score zero and drink double.
Highest cargo wins the round; everyone lower drinks one.
Tied high scores roll off head-to-head to settle it.
Winner starts (or anchors) the next round, per house preference.

Variations & house rules

Midnight Cargo

Rolling double 6s for cargo - a perfect 12, called Midnight - lets the winner hand out four extra sips and demand a table-wide toast. Some crews also rule that Midnight ends the round instantly, skipping any players yet to roll. Cruel, nautical, correct.

Sinking Ship

If you fail to find a ship at all in three rolls - not one 6 - you have sunk, and you finish your drink while the table hums a sad shanty. Statistically rare, emotionally devastating, and the single best moment the game can produce.

Full Voyage

Play exactly ten rounds as a voyage, tracking cargo totals across all of them. Lowest cumulative cargo at the end buys the next round or does a forfeit. Turns a pickup game into a proper evening with standings, rivalries and a grand finale.

Loose Orders

Beginner-friendly: ship, captain and crew can be claimed in any order. It roughly doubles completion rates and halves the drinking, which makes it a good training setting - but purists will tell you the strict order IS the game, and they are right.

Captain's Privilege

The previous round's winner may steal one re-roll: once per round, they can force any single opponent to re-roll their final cargo. Adds politics and villainy to an otherwise pure luck game. Expect the privilege to be used with maximum spite.

Pro tips

Never break the order in your head - count 'ship, captain, crew' out loud as you set dice aside to avoid illegal keeps.

With three rolls left needing everything, your completion odds are decent; with one roll needing two pieces, they are grim. Budget accordingly.

Re-roll cargo of 6 or less if you roll early in the turn order; stand on 8+ unless someone has already posted a 10.

Rolling last is a real advantage - you know exactly what cargo you need. Rotate the start position every round.

Keep one designated scorekeeper per voyage; cargo disputes multiply with every drink.

Felt, a book or a shallow box lid makes five dice far less likely to end up under the couch.

Where Ship, Captain & Crew fits on the shelf

Ship, Captain & Crew is one of the gentler picks on the shelf - 7th of 9 dice games by intensity, rated 2 out of 5.
It is one of the few games here that genuinely works with just 2 players, and it stays fun up to 8.
A typical session runs 15-30 min - a solid middle act for the evening.
Browse the full dice drinking games shelf to compare all 9 games side by side.

A little history

Ship, Captain & Crew is genuinely old - versions appear in American bar and naval tradition going back generations, and it is often said to have been popular among sailors and later spread through Midwestern taverns, where it is still played for rounds of drinks today. The exact origin is unrecorded, as bar games' origins tend to be, but its structure suggests kinship with nineteenth-century wagering dice games. The drinking version simply swaps coins for sips.

Drink responsibly: Ship, Captain & Crew is a slow-burn game, but double penalties on failed voyages stack up over a long night. Cap the failure penalty at two small sips, keep water on the table between rounds, and let anyone sail a round with soda - the dice cannot tell the difference. See our safety guide for pacing tips and alcohol-free versions.

Ship, Captain & Crew FAQ

Can I set aside a 5 or 4 before I have my ship?

No, and this is the rule that defines the game. The ship (6) must come first, then the captain (5), then the crew (4). If your opening roll is 5-5-4-4-2, you keep nothing and re-roll all five dice. The one exception is within a single roll: if a 6 and a 5 land together, the ship covers the captain, and both may be kept at once.

What happens if I never complete ship, captain and crew?

You score zero for the round and drink the failure penalty - double the standard sip at most tables, a full finish under the harsher Sinking Ship variant if you never even rolled a 6. Roughly one turn in seven ends incomplete under standard play, so the penalty lands often enough to keep everyone humble.

Can I re-roll just one of my cargo dice?

No. Cargo is re-rolled as a pair or not at all. Keeping a 6 and fishing for a second 6 with one die would make high scores far too easy, so the traditional rule forces you to gamble the whole load. Whatever the pair shows after your final roll is your score - there is no taking it back.

How many people can play Ship, Captain & Crew?

The registry range of two to eight is honest. It is one of the few dice drinking games that genuinely works head-to-head, because every turn is a complete story on its own. Past eight players, the wait between your turns gets long; split into two tables and send each round's winners to face each other.

Is Ship, Captain & Crew a gambling game?

Historically yes - it has long been played in bars for money or for rounds, and some jurisdictions treat dice games for stakes accordingly. The drinking version replaces the pot with sips, which is how most people play it today. If you play for anything beyond drinks, know your local rules and keep stakes friendly.

Ship, Captain & Crew Drinking Game

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What you need & setup