|
Games Cruisers Play
8/19/02
Blaine Parks
One of the biggest jokes inside the cruising community is how often
we’re asked, “What do you do all day?” and “Don’t you get bored?”
Well, we don’t watch much television or spend long hours scouring
the Internet for something to buy on Ebay.
Most of us have returned to a much simpler pastime – games.
Cruising also offers plenty of opportunities to fix and improve
things aboard a boat. When
you combine these two things – games and improving things – you come
up with the “Games Cruisers Play”.
Cruiser games are similar to the games you grew up with.
In fact, we play many “normal” games you already know –
Scrabble, Monopoly, Solitaire, and the like.
However, we also have a few games of our own; Games like Skelch,
Mexican Train, or UNO with boat rules.
Other boaters taught us these games and the rules seem to ebb and
flow depending on the amount of rum involved.
We’ve compiled the rules for these three games.
While nobody really knows who came up with the games to start with,
we’ll give credit to the boaters who taught them to us.
You should try playing these games while sober at first. Remember,
cruising takes practice.
Enjoy!
Skelch
Rules
(Gary and Laurie aboard Silent Partner)
This game is
played with 6 dice. Each turn begins by rolling all 6 dice.
You must score with every roll or you “skelch”, losing your
score for the current roll and passing play to the next person.
While playing, the dice that you score with get pushed to the side and you
roll the remaining dice. You can stop rolling at any time.
However, if you succeed in scoring with all 6 dice you may then
roll all 6 again for more score or hold, keeping the current score you
have and passing the dice to the next player. Once dice are pushed
aside for scoring, you may not return them to the roll unless you’ve
scored with all six dice. Play continues until a player reaches 10,000 points, or
whatever number you choose before the start.
Scoring is as
follows:
1 - 100
5 - 50
3 x 1 - 300
3 x 2 - 200
3 x 3 - 300
3 x 4 - 400
3 x 5 - 500
3 x 6 - 600
4 of a kind - 1000
5 of a kind – 1500
6 of a kind - 2000
6 in a row (straight) – 1000 must be 6 in a row for a straight 1 - 5
doesn't count
3 pairs - 1000
3 of a kind with 3 of a kind – 1000
Example Roll:
First Roll
(6 dice) -- 2
5 6 5 1
3 -- I choose to keep
my two fives for scoring – 100 pts
Second Roll (4
remaining dice) – 6 5 4
6 -- I take the 5.
My score is now 500 pts
Third Roll (3
remaining dice) – 4 4 4
-- I now have two 3 of a kinds – 1000 pts
I’ve scored
with all six dice. I can pick them up and roll all six again, keeping my score,
or I can quit and pass the dice to the next player.
I could have stopped at any roll after my first, but I chose to
keep rolling in the hopes of higher scores.
If I choose to continue rolling, any score on my continuing rolls
will be added to the first 1000 pts of my first roll. You roll until you either skelch, losing all your points for
that turn, or until you take your score and pass the dice. I’ll continue to roll as the example.
Fourth Roll (6
dice) -- 2
4 4 3
2 3
-- Skelch – I lose my turn and the previous 1000 pts
Mexican
Train Rules
(Gary and Laurie aboard Silent Partner)
Use a set of
Double Twelve dominoes. Turn the dominoes face down on a table and
mix well. You can play with
2-8 players. With 2, 3 or 4 players draw 15 dominoes each.
With 5 or 6 draw 12 each and with 7 or 8 players draw 11 each.
OBJECT to play
off all of your dominoes. You play off onto your own train, onto the
Mexican train or onto other players “MARKED” trains.
Play begins by
determining who has the highest doubles in their hand.
Start with double twelve and work backwards until somebody has the
doubles. FIRST PLAYER: Open the center train station by placing
your highest double in the center of the table. You must then begin
your train by playing off a domino matching the station number. Head
your train towards you. If no one has a double to start the play you
all draw in turn until a double is found.
Play then rotates
to the left and the next player starts their own train off the center
train station or they can start the Mexican Train (which is a wild train
that anyone can play on at any time during their turn) This wild train
must start with the same number as the center train station. IE if
the center started with a double 10 then the wild train must start with a
10 etc. Continue playing around the table and either play a domino
on your own train or on the wild train. If you do not have a domino
to play or your train, the Mexican train, or another players, marked
train, then you must go to the bone yard and draw one. If you still
don't have a play you must place a marker on your train (we use a penny).
This marker opens up your train so that any other player may play on it.
This marker can only be removed by you playing on your own train - not on
another marker or on the Mexican train. Once you play on your own
marker you may remove your marker and this stops other players from
playing on your train. You cannot play on any other trains while
your train is marked. You
must first clear your own train.
If any player
plays a double they must make another play on that double, in the same
turn. If they can't, they draw one domino from the bone yard.
If they can play that domino, then they play it, but if they still can't
play they must place a marker on their train and play continues to the
next player. The next player MUST play on the double and if
unable must draw one from the bone yard. If still unable to play, they
must put a marker on their own train. This action continues until
someone plays off the double. No other play may happen until the
double is satisfied. Exception to this rule is if the last play is a
double and you have no more dominoes. This ends the game
immediately.
All play stops as
soon as one player is out of dominoes.
Players report the sum of all their remaining dominoes. The
game ends after an agreed number of rounds, or score.
Whoever has the lowest score wins. We usually play to 500
points.
Variation –
Play twelve rounds. Play begins with double twelves for the first round, then
double elevens, then double tens, etc. until you reach double ones.
If no player has the required doubles to start, each player must
select from the bone yard until the correct double is found.
Game ends when all twelve doubles have been played.
Uno Boat Rules
(Rob and Olivia aboard Samoa)
This
game is played by adding the following rules to normal Uno rules. The game moves exceptionally fast and can be downright
ruthless!
-
If a person has an
exact match (same color and number) as a card that is played, that
person may immediately play the card and play resumes in the
appropriate direction from the person who played the match (not from
the person who played the original card).
For example, you have four players:
A
D
B
C
Play
is going in a clockwise rotation. Player
A plays a Blue 3. Player C
has a Blue 3 as well and immediately plays the card, before Player B can
get a card down. Play
resumes clockwise from Player C, so it is Player D’s turn (Player B is
skipped due to the immediate exact match play.)
-
The dealer gets to look
at his cards first and no other player can look at his cards until the
dealer says it is OK. This
gives the dealer the ability to play the exact match (explained above)
before the other players. If
a player does look at his hand before the dealer says it is OK, the
player picks up a 2- card penalty.
-
If a player plays a
number 0 card (in the correct color being played), that person may
switch hands with any other player of his choosing.
The player playing the 0 does not have to switch hands, but he
can if he chooses.
-
A player may play a
Draw Two on a Draw Two card given to him and the next person has to
draw 4 or may also play a Draw Two for the next person to draw 6
cards. In the example
player layout above going in a clockwise rotation:
If Player A plays a Draw 2 card, then Player B may play a Draw
2 card on it if he has one and then Player C has to draw 4 cards.
If Player C has a Draw 2 card as well, he can play that card
and Player D must draw 6 cards.
|
