Chuck-a-Luck
Crown and AnchorБанк на костях
Three dice tumble in a wire cage and the betting is on a number: the more dice it lands on, the more it pays.
Three dice sit inside a wire shaped like an hourglass. Players bet on numbers, the dealer turns the cage over, the dice tumble and stop — and that is all: there are no decisions after the bet.
The payout follows how many dice show the chosen number: one, and it pays what was staked; two, double; three, considerably more. On none of them, the bet is lost.
The cage is not decoration. Dice inside it cannot be palmed or thrown in a favoured way, and everybody can see they were tumbled. The later drums and wheels grew from the same reasoning — the mechanism is the same, the spectacle more trustworthy.
Six-sided dice
Under these rules: Three dice inside the cage.
Ordinary gaming dice, pipped from one to six.
The most widespread randomiser people have invented. Opposite faces add up to seven — not a rule of any game but a convention of manufacture, and the thing by which a die is recognised.
Rules of chuck-a-luck
What you need
Three six-sided dice in a cage and a layout with betting areas — one for each number from one to six, and possibly others.
A round
- Players place chips on the areas they choose.
- The dealer closes the betting and turns the cage.
- The dice settle and the dealer announces the three numbers.
- Losing bets are collected and winning ones paid.
A bet on a number
The player picks a number from one to six. The bet wins if it shows on at least one die, and pays by the number of matches:
| Matches | Pays |
|---|---|
| One | 1:1 |
| Two | 2:1 |
| Three | by the table's schedule, considerably more |
A bet on a triple
Wins if all three dice show the same number — any number. It comes up rarely and pays accordingly.
A bet on the total
Some layouts have areas for the total of the three dice — for a stated range of values. The terms and the payouts are each table's own.
Worth knowing
The payouts are set by the table rather than by the game: three matches of one number pay ten to one in some houses and less in others, and any triple pays from thirty to one upwards. Which bets exist at all depends on the layout; the table posted beside it takes precedence over any general description.
Glossary of terms
- A triple
- Three dice showing the same number. A bet of its own, winning on any such result.
- The cage
- An hourglass-shaped wire drum with three dice inside. The dealer turns it, and the dice tumble and settle.