2–6 players · Ages 8+ · ~20 minutes
Yacht Six is a fast-paced climbing game of sequences and sets, played with unsuited cards ranked 1–6. Two rulesets are offered: The Marauder (the classic game, with one special Pirate card in the deck) and First Mates (no Pirate card — instead every player starts with their own pirate token).
Be the first player to play all your cards. Once someone goes out, the hand is over.
Shuffle and deal all cards equally. Players pick up the top 7 as their starting hand; the rest become a face-down draw pile.
To decide the dealer, each player cuts a card. The player cutting the highest card deals; players tied for highest redraw until the matter is settled (the Pirate counts as lowest).
The player to the dealer's left is the starter for the first hand. Thereafter the deal rotates left. In a 2-player game, the starter is always the player trailing on the scoresheet — or, if tied, whoever lost the prior hand.
The starter plays any meld (single card or combination) to the center. Play proceeds clockwise.
Meld Types:
A response must be higher: same count with a higher rank, or more cards. Once a multi-card meld is played, only matching families (sets on sets, sequences on sequences) may follow.
After playing, draw from your pile equal to the cards played.
Yacht Six: A set of 6 cards of the same rank. Can be played on any sequence!
The Pirate: Steals the current meld — no need to beat it. The chain continues from the stolen meld. (The Marauder only.)
Deck: 10 of every rank (1–6) and no Pirate card. Instead, every player starts with their own pirate token.
Tokens play like the Pirate card: on your turn you may play a higher meld, play your token, or pass. Lead the token to start a chain (any real card beats it), or steal the live meld to become captain.
Stacking steals: a token may be played onto a meld that was already stolen by another token — each token steals the whole pile and its player becomes the new captain.
Tokens are on offer: when a chain ends, the scavenge pool is the peak meld exactly as it stands — the highest actual meld plus every pirate token played to steal it. Scavenging a token gives you its steal power (and its color shows whose it was).
Token penalty: any pirate token still in your hand when the round ends — yours or one you scavenged — costs a flat 5-point penalty (instead of The Marauder's double-points rule).
When all opponents pass consecutively, the last player to meld (the captain) wins the chain.
Scavenging: Starting left of the captain, each player may scavenge one card from the captain's winning meld. The captain then starts a new chain.
When someone goes out, others score 1 point per unplayed card (hand + draw pile).
Double Points (The Marauder): If you're holding The Pirate in your hand when the round ends, your points are doubled!
Token Penalty (First Mates): Any pirate token still in your hand when the round ends — yours or one you scavenged — costs a flat 5-point penalty.
2 players: Lowest score after 3 hands wins.
3–6 players: Lowest score after each player has dealt once wins.