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Posts in category Dice Games

Craps – A Basic Guide

Apr04
2011 Written by admin

The dice game of craps is a very, very old game – perhaps not as old as some gambling pastimes which we can reliably date to the ancient Chinese or the Persians but it’s still old.  It actually a simplification of a an English dice game called Hazard, a particularly complex dice game which was popular in England until around the 19th century.  It was a favourite at the famous Crockford’s Club in London.  Geoffrey Chaucer mentioned Hazard in the Canterbury Tales, written towards the end of the 14th century.  However some historians believe it was also present during The Crusades, which would date it to around 300 years before Chaucer.

Craps made it’s way across the Atlantic towards the end of the 19th century, it’s name deriving from the French word Crapaud (toad).  With the French influence and the introduction to America, it became a simpler game.

So it’s old but what about the rules.  It’s basically a dice game played with two dice.  The board is played on a version of that shown below (click for a bigger view).

The game is played by multiple players and is played in rounds, with the dice rotating around the players.  The current dice holder is called the shooter and for security reasons can only hold the dice with one hand.

First the shooter (or, depending on the casino rules, all participating players) must make a bet  on the pass or don’t pass line.  The first roll is then known as the come out roll and the player(s) win or lose their pass line bets based on this roll.  A 2, 3, or 12 is a losing roll (craps) and players lose their pass line bets.  A 7 or 11 is a winning roll but all the remaining numbers take the game to the next stage.

So if a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 is rolled that number becomes the point number.  The dealer moves a button to the on side and the second phase begins.  If the point number is rolled again, pass bets win, if a seven is rolled pass bets lose and a new round begins.  Any other number means the dice are handed on clockwise to the next player.

Give it a go, it’s not as complicated as it sounds.

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Dice – An Interesting History – Part Four

Mar16
2011 Written by admin

Who would have thought that the humble dice would have provided enough information to cover four posts – so far.  Last time we talked about how, over the centuries, various devious individuals have found ever more cunning ways to alter the behaviour of the dice in their favour.  Now we’re going to have a look at how the casinos have counteracted those alterations – what’s known as countermeasures.

A Micrometer - enemy of the dice tamperer.

Now of course casinos have their own manufacturers to provide precision made dice for them.  Instruments such as micrometers are available that can measure them to within thousands of an inch.  But why would measuring be necessary when the production process is so scientific?  Because it’s always possible for a lightning-fingered player to switch the die for his own tampered version.

Previously we talked about how a dice could be hollowed out and refilled with a liquid substance such as mercury or wax to influence its behaviour.  Now casinos use translucent die so you can see right through it.  In fact the level of sophistication in modern dice manufacture is so high that there is no longer even any variable weight distribution caused by the spots – a one spot face weighs exactly as much as a six spot face.

Translucent Dice

As an added security measure many larger casinos have dice which are stamped with security numbers to individually identify each die.  So even if you manage to somehow produce a dodgy, replica casino die which you think will fool the operators and then you are swift enough to switch the dice without the croupier noticing, you are still in possession of dice which are not stamped with the correct security numbers.  So it’s probably not worth trying any more.

The other side of the coin of course is that you (as a genuine punter) can now go to a casino and be sure that the dice you are winning or losing with is as cube-like as modern technology makes it possible to be.

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Dice – An Interesting History – Part Three

Mar09
2011 Written by admin

Part three then, and we’ve just about reached the point where dice have been introduced into Europe and are being played with relish by the Germanic people in particular.  We’re also at the point were the dice becomes a more standard, recognisable object – the numbers one to six on six sides with the opposites adding up to seven.

It seems an appropriate time then to have a look at the various methods our medieval cousins (and our more modern ones) employed to their advantage.  After all it was difficult to check the exact measurements of a die after a few drinks late at night 600 years ago.  Various strategies were available to those willing to employ bias so let’s check them out:

Loaded Dice: This is the most basic form of tampering but can also be ingenious.  At the most basic level it just requires altering the die slightly – perhaps a corner shaved off here to favour one number or alternatively a sharper corner to favour an opposite face.

A more modern method could be to have a hollow section inside containing wax which would melt when held in the hand.  It would then ooze down to one side, favouring a particular face.  Even more up to date could be a magnet inside which can be influenced by a charge in the table itself.

Shaved Dice:  This involves shaving small slices from one side, the resulting effect on the weight influencing the dice in the players favour.

Iced Dice:  Iced dice contain lead where the spots are, meaning that a six will fall face down more often as it is the heavier face.

Heated Dice:  One of the more awkward methods, this involves heating a plastic die for a short time until the plastic melts and loses it’s shape (but not noticeably), ensuring a bias for a particular face.

In this clip Jason England talks about his loaded (gaffed) dice collection:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFOleDzZiJs

It’s important to note that these methods are not guaranteed winners, they just turn the odds slightly in the players favour.

In the next post we’ll check out what casinos do to counter these tricks.

Part Four follows…….

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Dice – An Interesting History – Part Two

Mar02
2011 Written by admin

Well I think you’ll agree that this is indeed a fascinating subject, with regards to what we have learned so far.  We know that dice can be traced back more than 5000 years, mostly to Central and Southern Asia and that by the time it was mentioned in Indian religious scripts (3-4000 years ago) it was regarded as a vice when used as a gambling aid.

During Roman times, dicing was again very popular as much archaeological evidence has

Excavated Roman Die

proved.  It has also been highlighted as the cause of gambling misery and there and many Roman writers, including Horace, wrote of the dangers of this pastime.  Interestingly the Romans did not limit themselves to the usual six-sided dice, twelve-sided versions have been unearthed which suggest the playing of more complex games.  The Romans almost certainly had no interest in Dungeons and Dragons though.  The Romans, like other cultures, did not just have luck on their side – they also had Zeus’ daughter Fortuna helping out as Gods were often expected to do.  If even that failed there is ample evidence to show that Romans were quite capable of manufacturing loaded dice.

Dice and Shaker from the Middle Ages

Archaeological and written evidence also tells us that the pastime headed North about 2000 years ago, probably with the Romans as they marched around Europe.  It’s a well-documented game for ancient Germans and this appears to have continued into the middle ages when the game flourished despite religious pressure to have it banned.

So what was happening in China when much of the world was playing dice?  Well there’s no evidence to suggest they had similar items.  It’s more likely that dominoes, much more popular in East and South-East Asia, descend from dice – after all a domino tile is just two sides of a dice.

Part Three follows…..

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Dice – an interesting history – Part One

Feb23
2011 Written by admin

So it’s a cube and it’s got six numbers on it.  On a standard six-sided die (the singular) the numbers are always in the same position so the opposites add up to seven (1 + 6, 2 + 5, 3 + 4).  Apart from that most people really know very little else but is there much more to know?  Well yes there is and this post is going to set out the history and variants of dice.

Dice have been used as far back as it’s possible to record, meaning that they were almost

Iranian Dice

certainly used before then.  Archeological evidence has revealed dice from an excavation in Iran at the Shahr-i Sokhta location.  This has been dated to 5000 years and incredibly was part of an ancient backgammon set.  Asia certainly appears to be the starting point for dice and if we head to India it’s mentioned many times in various texts including the following.  Here’s a few extracts from the Rigveda, Mandala 10, Hymn 34 (between 3000 and 4000 years old) and if you don’t fancy reading it all it actually warns against the addictive nature of gambling and the harm that can come to familes:

“6. The gamester seeks the gambling-house, and wonders, his body all afire, “Will I be lucky?”
The dice run against his desire, giving the best throws to his adversary.
7. Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe.
They give gifts like boys [do], and then snatch them back from the winner,
[they are] sweetened [as] with honey with magic power over the gambler.

……………………………..

10. The gambler’s wife is left forlorn and wretched: the mother mourns the son who wanders homeless.
In constant fear, in debt, and seeking money, he goes by night to the home of others [probably to steal].

…………………………………

14. Make me your friend: show us some little mercy. Do not forcibly bewitch us with magic power.
Let your wrath [and] emnity now come to rest. Let the brown [dice] now snare some other captive.”

Anyway, enough misery, we’re here to celebrate dice and they are also in fact given a mention in the bible in Psalm 22 indicating that dice were used in the reign of King David around 3000 years ago.

Part Two follows…….

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Sic Bo (Tai Sai – Big and Small)

Feb02
2011 Written by admin

The proliferation of casinos in Macau and Hong Kong and the emergence of China on the global economic stage has led to an increase in the number of Chinese gambling in these casinos and also at those further afield, such as Australia in particular.  Hence it’s only logical that games of Chinese origin would eventually find their way into casinos around the world.

Sic Bo is one of those games and an intricate game is too.  It has several different names but Sic Bo tends to be it’s moniker in larger casinos – it means ‘precious dice’.  Origins are difficult to pin down precisely but it appears to be a variant of an ancient Chinese game somewhat similar to the old English game of Grand Hazard.

So how is it played?  Well for a start it uses three of the aforementioned ‘precious dice’.  In common with other dice games the players are betting on the outcome of the roll of the dice. As with a variant such as craps, the casino version of the game requires a table with betting options laid out as follows:

When three dice are used there’s a fairly large number of possible outcomes compared to a game with two dice and the table below demonstrates the basics of gameplay and shows the various odds and possibilities resulting from each throw.

Sin Bo Odds & Probabilities

So it’s fairly self-explanatory but a quick word about some of the choices.  For example a bet on Duo must be fairly specific – you bet on two different numbers which need to shown on the roll but the combinations of numbers are limited to a pre-determined selection as shown in the chart.

If you are betting on the most likely odds, for example a Big, then you are receiving fairly generous odds and not bad ones from a gamblers point if view.  The house edge is reduced to 2.8% and very few games improve upon that.  Some of the long shots are also the biggest however and if you bet on three of a kind the odds lengthen to 180-1.

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Craps – Basic

Feb01
2011 Written by admin

There are many variations of dice games available top play inside and outside casinos. The simplicity of dice makes it an easy and cheap game to play anywhere. It also does not have to played for money and so makes an excellent addition to kids games.

However we’re interested in gambling so this article is about the casino game of craps.  It is directly related to an old English game called Hazard and Hazard can be reliably dated to around 800 years old – the time of the Crusades.  Hazard was a fairly complex dice game which was played notably at the famous Crockford’s gentleman’s club in London during the 19th century.

So craps.  How does it work?  Well the game is played, when in a casino, on a felt surface as shown below, with various betting locations marked out.  It can all look a bit confusing to start with so out of necessity this guide is for beginners.  It’s played with two dice.

Craps Table

The aim of the game then is to win money by betting on the outcomes of the roll of the dice. One player is the shooter and it is on this person’s roll that the winning or losing outcomes are determined.   The shooter must have a bet on the Pass or Don’t Pass sections of the table. The first roll is known as the come out throw and the various totals rolled by the player give different outcomes as follows:

A roll of a 7 or 11 is known as a natural and is a winning throw.

A roll of 2, 3 or 12 is known as craps and is a losing throw.

Any other throw is known as the player’s point and the player throws again until making another point, in which case he wins (making the point) or throwing a 7 in which case he loses (a seven out).

Most bets are laid by players on the Pass and Don’t Pass areas of the table and the winning odds are some of the best you’ll find in casinos.  That’s the basics of craps, for in-depth game play another article will be written.

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