Craps — rules card
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Craps
1 players · two six-sided dice
THE IDEA
• You throw two dice. Every bet here is about
what they add up to, and when.
• Two dice make THIRTY-SIX outcomes, not
eleven. Seven comes six ways and twelve
comes one, and every price here is worked
out from that.
• You are playing with counters. They buy
nothing and turn into nothing.
THE COME-OUT ROLL
• The first throw is the come-out. You must
have a bet on the PASS LINE to make it.
• 7 or 11 — the pass line wins, straight away.
• 2, 3 or 12 — the pass line loses. This is
"craps", and it names the game.
• 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 — that number becomes
THE POINT. The puck flips to ON and shows
it.
THE POINT
• Keep throwing. The point again wins the
line; a 7 first loses it — a "seven out".
• Nothing else touches the line. A point of 6
waits for a 6 or a 7.
• You may NOT take the line bet back once
the point is set. A real rule, and not in your
favour: every point is harder to roll than a
seven.
THE ODDS BET
• Once a point is on, you may put more
counters BEHIND the line. This is the odds
bet.
• It pays true odds — 2 to 1 on the 4 and 10,
3 to 2 on the 5 and 9, 6 to 5 on the 6 and 8 —
so the house keeps NOTHING from it.
• The only bet in the building with no house
edge. It is printed nowhere on a real layout.
• You may back the line with up to three times
what is on it.
THE REST OF THE TABLE
• A COME bet is a pass line bet starting next
throw. Same price, and it takes odds of its
own.
• A PLACE bet says a number comes before
a 7. The 6 and 8 cost 1.52%, the 5 and 9
4.00%, the 4 and 10 6.67%.
• The FIELD is one throw: 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 or
12 — sixteen ways in thirty-six, not seven
numbers in eleven.
• A HARDWAY needs the number as a pair
— 3+3 for a hard 6 — before a 7 or an easy 6.
• ANY 7 pays 4 to 1 on a throw that lands one
time in six — the worst bet on the table, at
16.67%.
• Place bets and hardways are OFF during a
come-out throw.
• Every square shows what it pays, what
would be fair, and the gap between them.
WORDS THIS GAME USES
Come-out roll — A throw with no point set.
Seven out — A 7 while a point is on. The line
goes, and so does nearly everything else.
True odds — A payout matching how likely a
thing is. A 6 comes five ways against a 7's six,
so true odds are 6 to 5.
Hard and easy — 8 as 4+4 is hard; as 6+2 or
5+3 it is easy.
The house edge — The share of everything
staked at a square that the table keeps over
time.
WHERE THESE CAME FROM
Wizard of Odds — Craps. No governing body,
and house rules vary — but the arithmetic of
two dice is settled and published. Craps
descends from hazard.
w.richardpringle.com/games/craps/
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