Not So 'Crap'

If you are someone who enjoys the thrill of casino games, you might be aware of one of the most intimidating games played there–– Craps. What looks like a simple game of dice and board involves many complicated rules, cases of probability and most importantly luck. What if we tell you that Craps can be played more easily and can be customised inside the four walls of your home? You read it right. It's been long since Craps found its place in streets, hoods and in popular culture the game is being played more and more by groups of friends and family at parties and gatherings since all it needs is a pair of dice and a flat surface. Now, even though the game involves gambling of money–– hence the infamous reputation–– but you can always replace cash with poker chips or anything that makes for a good symbol of reward.

How to play

The ease of playing Street Craps is that it can easily be made into a multiplayer game and two player game without much change in the rules. Before you start going by the steps, there are few terms that you must get familiar with.

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Shooter: The one who throws the dice.

Pass: If the shooter throws 7 or 11, he immediately wins the bet.

Crap out: If the shooter throws 2,3 or 12, loses the bet.

Point: Any number between 1 to 11 except for the Crap and Pass numbers are point numbers.

Seven out: When the shooter throws 7 before rolling out the point.

Steps:

Choose the shooter among you either by random selection or make each player throw a dice and the player with the highest (or the lowest, however you want) number on dice gets to be the shooter.

The shooter places a bet and each player either collectively tries to match the shooter’s bet or place a bet higher than him.

The shooter throws a pair of dice

If the numbers on the dice pair add up to either 7 or 1, the shooter wins the bet and gets to keep the dice.

If the numbers on the dice pair add up to 2,3 or 12, the shooter loses the bet, the reward gets divided evenly among other players and the dice passes on to the player next to the shooter. (Crap out)

If the numbers on the dice pair do not add up to neither Pass nor Crap then the number becomes ‘Point’ and the shooter has to keep rolling the dice until he either gets that ‘Point’ again or seven.

If the shooter rolls seven before he rolls out the point number, he loses the bet, reward gets divided among other players and the dice passes over the player next to the shooter. (Seven out )

To make the game more interesting, you can also place side bets while the shooter tries to get the ‘Point’ again. Suppose the shooter is trying to get the point number 8 and while throwing a seven can make him lose, you can side bet on 7 or 8 to gain more from his defeat or even his victory. To really ace this side betting, you must keep the dice probability in mind. Happy gaming !

From the November 2020 issue of FHM India.