The game 6-5-4 (ship, captain, crew) can be played with as few as two people, but is usually played in groups of five to twenty people.
This game is played with five dice. The object of the game is to roll a six (the “ship”), a five (“Captain”), and a four (“crew”) with three dice, and get the highest score with the other two dice (“the ship’s cargo”).
Here's how to play from Yarddice.com:
1. Each player antes at the beginning of the game. It is common for the first person of each round to set the ante for that particular round ($1 is a common ante). A player gets up to three rolls to get a 6, a 5, and a 4. Once doing so, the remaining dice are added together to form the player’s score.
2. If a 6, a 5 and a 4 is not obtained in one roll, a player needs to roll first a 6, then a 5 and then a 4.
3. A player who rolls a 6, a 5, and a 4 in fewer than three rolls can choose to re-roll the remaining two dice, in hopes of a better score. It should be noted that if a player decides to continue rolling, their previous high score does not count towards their final score.
4. For example, a player’s first roll may be 3, 3, 3, 6, and 4. Although the player rolled both a 6 and 4, they can keep only the 6. The player re-rolls the other four dice, and gets 5, 4, 1, and 2, which gives them the 6 (from the first roll), 5 and 4 (from the second roll). The remaining dice are added together to form the player’s score for this round – 3. At this point, having rolled the dice only twice, the player can choose either to stay with the current score (3) and pass the dice on to the next player, or to roll two dice a third time (setting aside the 6, 5 and 4).
5. Then the next player then picks up all 5 dice. Their goal is to try to get a 6-5-4 with a score higher than 3. This player’s first roll may be a 5-4-5-5-5. Since they did not get a six, they have to re-roll all 5 dice. Their second roll is a 6-5-4-6-6. They decide to stay with the score of 12. The remaining players try to tie their score. If there is a tie, then all players must re-ante and another round is started by the tying player.
6. A player who fails to roll a 6, a 5, and a 4 does not score for that turn does not “qualify” and has to re-ante depending on the rules. The winner begins the next round.
Please note that if you obtain a 6-5-4, the best score is 6-5-4-6-6 – "12 points". The worst score is 6-5-4-1-1 – "2 points". The player with the highest score at the end of the round wins the entire pot.
Many people only use dice when playing packaged board games. However, there are some excellent dice games for kids that use only a pair of dice and a piece of paper for score keeping. Check out some simple dice games for kids for ultimate fun at Icebreakerideas.com.