Craps
Two dice, and the seven decides everything: on the first roll it wins, and once a point is set it loses.
A game of two dice that turns on a single reversal. The makes the : a seven or an eleven wins at once, a two, three or twelve loses at once. Any other number becomes .
And from that moment the seven changes sign. The shooter rolls on until either the point comes again — a win — or a seven arrives, which ends the series and passes the dice on.
The reversal means something because seven is the likeliest total on two dice. On the come-out that makes the opening generous; immediately afterwards it makes the position nearly hopeless. What was the best outcome a moment ago is the worst one now, and nothing in the rules has changed.
Everybody at the table bets, not only the shooter, and almost everything that can be staked hangs on that fork.
Six-sided dice
Under these rules: Two dice, thrown to reach the far wall.
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 craps
What you need
Two six-sided dice and a marked table with betting areas. Wagers are made in chips.
The shooter
One player is the shooter. To throw at all, they must have a bet of their own on the line.
Their series lasts until a seven out; the dice then pass to the next player round.
Bets before the come-out
Before the first roll of a series, wagers go on the line — for the shooter or against them.
The come-out roll
- 7 or 11 — bets for the shooter win at once;
- 2, 3 or 12 — bets for the shooter lose. On a twelve a bet against usually pushes rather than winning;
- 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 — that number becomes the point and the series goes on.
Chasing the point
The shooter rolls again and again until one of two things happens:
- the point comes up — bets for the shooter win, and a new series begins with a come-out roll;
- a seven comes up — seven out: bets for the shooter lose, the series ends and the dice move on.
Other bets
Come and don't come work like the line bets but start from any roll after the point is set.
Odds behind the line are placed once the point is set and are paid at true odds: 2:1 on 4 and 10, 3:2 on 5 and 9, 6:5 on 6 and 8.
Single-roll bets — on the result of the very next throw — and standing bets such as place and hardways settle on their own terms; their payouts are posted at the table.
Settling
There is no running score: every wager settles on its own, at its own payout. A line bet pays even money.
Worth knowing
Which bets are available, what they pay, the table limits and the permitted odds multiples are set by the house rather than by the game: the posted table is what to compare against. How the dice must be handled — how they are held, where they are thrown, what voids a throw — is likewise local.
Glossary of terms
- The come-out roll
- The roll that opens a series. Only on it do seven and eleven win outright.
- The point
- The number rolled on the come-out if it is 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10. The rest of the series is about whether it comes again before a seven.
- The shooter
- The player throwing the dice this series. The role passes round when their series ends.