Ship, captain, and crew

Each player starts their turn by rolling five dice. They are attempting to roll a 6, 5 and 4 in descending order, and whenever the number they require is rolled, they "bank" it by setting it aside.[2]

For example, if the first roll of the dice shows a 6, a 4, two 3's and a 1, the player banks the 6 but must reroll the 4 because there is no 5 yet. If their second roll is a 6, a 5, a 4 and a 1 they may bank the 5 and 4 together, and now they have a full "crew" for their ship.

Each player has only three rolls, and after their third they score their turn. If they have a crewed ship then they score the "cargo" - the total of the other two dice. If they do not have a crewed ship, they score nothing.[2]

The winner is the player at the end of a round who has the highest score.

When beginning the next round, play begins with the player to the right (counter-clockwise) of the first player in the previous round. Alternatively, the player who won the last round starts the next round.

The last person to throw the dice in a round is "the hammer." The current winning score is "the point." It is common to hear a player who is not keeping up ask, "What's the point and who's the hammer?"

A two is the lowest score and is called a "minimum." Double sixes, or scoring a twelve, is often referred to as a "midnight", most likely because 12 o'clock at night on a non-military clock is known as midnight. Sixes have also been known to be called boxcars.

Players often stay with their dice after achieving a score of nine or better (assuming no other player has an established point above their nine or better), but are often subjected to elevated pressure from players with a lower, or no score at all and are advised to "man-up" and "re-roll", thus discounting proven statistics and general logic for the sake of pure machismo. However, it is important to note that in some rare cases, even low scores sometimes win.

It is possible to play this game for money, either by anteing or by playing for a set value per point.

When played as a drinking game, at the end of the round everyone except for the winner must drink. Alternatively, the winner may roll dice to determine how many drinks the losers must consume.