SCChigh or low
3 dice make up an outside straight (4-5-6 or 1-2-3) and the remaining 2 dice are either high or low.
Also known as: Outside straight, Crew
What to keep
Keep 1-2 or 5-6 and roll the other three for the missing 3 or 4: it has to come from those three, since your kept dice are part of the straight. Pick one: you can’t hold both, and once kept you’re committed to it. You can only keep the connector or the made straight, nothing else. Once you have it, the other two dice are your kicker, re-rolled together.
A question from the table
Ship Captain Crew Low, a kicker of 4 to beat: keep the 1-2 or the 5-6?
No SCCKeep 5-6, roll 3. (+9.4% ties) to get what you need, with 2 rolls left · keep 1-2, roll 3: (+7.3% ties).
Why does the 5-6 come out ahead?
Either way you need one number and a low kicker from the three dice you roll: a 3 if you keep 1-2, a 4 if you keep 5-6. The other two dice are your kicker, and 1-1 or 1-2 (in either order) beats the 4. That's just as likely for both keeps: 4.2% on one roll.
The difference is the tie at 4, a kicker of 1-3 or 2-2. With the 5-6, a 4, a 1 and a 3 are three different numbers, so they can land 6 ways; with the 1-2, that kicker repeats the 3 you need (3-3-1), which lands only 3 ways. So the 5-6 ties 4.2% of the time on one roll, against 2.8%.
Over both rolls the 1-2 wins a hair more often (9.5% against 9.4%), but the 5-6 ties 9.4% against 7.3%, and a tie is a replay, not the pencil. Make it with a kicker that's too high and you re-roll just those two dice, the same for either keep.
In High it's the other way round: keep the 1-2. Keep the end whose missing number sits away from the kicker you want.
A question from the table
Ship Captain Crew High, a kicker of 10 to beat: keep the 1-2 or the 5-6?
No SCCKeep 1-2, roll 3. (+9.4% ties) to get what you need, with 2 rolls left · keep 5-6, roll 3: (+7.3% ties).
Why does the 1-2 come out ahead?
It's the Low question turned around. To beat 10 the kicker needs 11 or 12: a 5-6 (in either order) or a 6-6. Alongside the 3 the 1-2 needs, or the 4 the 5-6 needs, that's just as likely: 4.2% on one roll.
The difference is the tie at 10, a kicker of 4-6 or 5-5. Keep the 5-6 and you need a 4, which the 4-6 kicker repeats: 4-4-6 lands only 3 ways. Keep the 1-2 and you need a 3; a 3, a 4 and a 6 land 6 ways. So the 1-2 ties 4.2% of the time on one roll, against 2.8%.
Over both rolls the 5-6 wins a hair more often (9.5% against 9.4%), but the 1-2 ties 9.4% against 7.3%, and a tie is a replay.
The rule of thumb: keep the end whose missing number sits away from the kicker you want. In High that's the 1-2, which needs a 3; in Low, the 5-6, which needs a 4. At every kicker, with one roll left or two, it's never worse.
Chance of making SCC
Keeping only dice toward the game, as the rules allow. Exact over every roll.
Not sure what to keep from a roll? Ask the Odds Lab.
Often paired with
The games most often made by the same rolls as SCC.
How strong are SCC hands? Every roll that makes it, graded by the Hammer’s chance of the pencil calling it at a 3-player table (from rounds played by solid bots).
The comeback
If both refusals turn down SCC, what does the Hammer call instead?
| Rank | Comeback | Chance |
|---|---|---|
#1 | 10-2 Low | 29% |
#2 | 7's High | 15% |
#3 | 7's Low | 15% |
#4 | 10-3 High | 15% |
#5 | Razzle | 10% |
#6 | 10-3 Low | 7% |
#7 | Pairs Low | 4% |
#8 | Tres Away | 4% |
Exact over every roll: the call the site recommends, then its best call once SCC is refused. A Hammer who calls differently changes these. Refusers decide from their own dice, so a refusal doesn’t change the odds.
When is SCC the comeback?
- After 10-2 High: SCC High 48% of the time (the likeliest comeback)
- After 10-4 High: SCC High 26% of the time (the likeliest comeback)
- After 10-3 Low: SCC High 18% of the time
- After 10-3 High: SCC Low 17% of the time
42 unique roll patterns for SCC, strongest first: the Hammer’s chance of the pencil calling it.