Craps table

The layout of a craps table

Players use casino chips rather than cash to bet on the Craps "layout", a fabric surface which displays the various bets. The bets vary somewhat among casinos in availability, locations, and payouts. The tables roughly resemble bathtubs and come in various sizes. In some locations, chips may be called checks, tokens, or plaques.

Against one long side is the casino's table bank: as many as two thousand casino chips in stacks of 20. The opposite long side is usually a long mirror. The U-shaped ends of the table have duplicate layouts and standing room for approximately eight players. In the center of the layout is an additional group of bets which are used by players from both ends. The vertical walls at each end are usually covered with a rubberized target surface covered with small pyramid shapes to randomize the dice which strike them. The top edges of the table walls have one or two horizontal grooves in which players may store their reserve chips.

The table is run by up to four casino employees: a boxman seated (usually the only seated employee) behind the casino's bank, who manages the chips, supervises the dealers, and handles "coloring up" players (exchanging small chip denominations for larger denominations in order to preserve the chips at a table); two base dealers who stand to either side of the boxman and collect and pay bets to players around their half of the table; and a stickman who stands directly across the table from the boxman, takes and pays (or directs the base dealers to do so) the bets in the center of the table, announces the results of each roll (usually with a distinctive patter), and moves the dice across the layout with an elongated wooden stick.

Each employee also watches for mistakes by the others because of the sometimes large number of bets and frantic pace of the game. In smaller casinos or at quiet times of day, one or more of these employees may be missing, and have their job covered by another, or cause player capacity to be reduced.

Some smaller casinos have introduced "mini-craps" tables which are operated with only two dealers; rather than being two essentially identical sides and the center area, a single set of major bets is presented, split by the center bets. Responsibility of the dealers is adjusted: while the stickman continues to handle the center bets, it is the base dealer who handles all other bets (as well as cash and chip exchanges).

By contrast, in "street craps", there is no marked table and often the game is played with no back-stop against which the dice are to hit. (Despite the name "street craps", this game is often played in houses, usually on an un-carpeted garage or kitchen floor.) The wagers are made in cash, never in chips, and are usually thrown down onto the ground or floor by the players. There are no attendants, and so the progress of the game, fairness of the throws, and the way that the payouts are made for winning bets are self-policed by the players.^[5]

Rules of play

Each casino may set which bets are offered and different payouts for them, though a core set of bets and payouts is typical. Players take turns rolling two dice and whoever is throwing the dice is called the "shooter". Players can bet on the various options by placing chips directly on the appropriately-marked sections of the layout, or asking the base dealer or stickman to do so, depending on which bet is being made.

While acting as the shooter, a player must have a bet on the "Pass" line and/or the "Don't Pass" line. "Pass" and "Don't Pass" are sometimes called "Win" and "Don't Win" or "Right" and "Wrong" bets. The game is played in rounds and these "Pass" and "Don't Pass" bets are betting on the outcome of a round. The shooter is presented with multiple dice (typically five) by the "stickman", and must choose two for the round. The remaining dice are returned to the stickman's bowl and are not used.

A roll of 11 in the come-out phase is a "natural".

Each round has two phases: "come-out" and "point". Dice are passed to the left. To start a round, the shooter makes one or more "come-out" rolls. The shooter must shoot toward the farther back wall and is generally required to hit the farther back wall with both dice. Casinos may allow a few warnings before enforcing the dice to hit the back wall and are generally lenient if at least one die hits the back wall. Both dice must be tossed in one throw. If only one die is thrown the shot is invalid. A come-out roll of 2, 3, or 12 is called "craps" or "crapping out", and anyone betting the Pass line loses. On the other hand, anyone betting the Don't Pass line on come out wins with a roll of 2 or 3 and ties (pushes) if a 12 is rolled. Shooters may keep rolling after crapping out; the dice are only required to be passed if a shooter sevens out (rolls a seven after a point has been established). A come-out roll of 7 or 11 is a "natural"; the Pass line wins and Don't Pass loses. The other possible numbers are the point numbers: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10. If the shooter rolls one of these numbers on the come-out roll, this establishes the "point" – to "pass" or "win", the point number must be rolled again before a seven.

The dealer flips a button to the "On" side and moves it to the point number signifying the second phase of the round. If the shooter "hits" the point value again (any value of the dice that sum to the point will do; the shooter doesn't have to exactly repeat the exact combination of the come-out roll) before rolling a seven, the Pass line wins and a new round starts. If the shooter rolls any seven before repeating the point number (a "seven-out"), the Pass line loses, the Don't Pass line wins, and the dice pass clockwise to the next new shooter for the next round. Once a point has been established any multi-roll bet (including Pass and/or Don't Pass line bets and odds) are unaffected by the 2, 3, 11, or 12; the only numbers which affect the round are the established point, any specific bet on a number, or any 7. Any single roll bet is always affected (win or lose) by the outcome of any roll.

While the come-out roll may specifically refer to the first roll of a new shooter, any roll where no point is established may be referred to as a come-out. By this definition the start of any new round regardless if it is the shooter's first toss can be referred to as a come-out roll.

Any player can make a bet on Pass or Don't Pass as long as a point has not been established, or Come or Don't Come as long as a point is established. All other bets, including an increase in odds behind the Pass and Don't Pass lines, may be made at any time. All bets other than Pass line and Come may be removed or reduced any time before the bet loses. This is known as "taking it down" in craps.

The maximum bet for Place, Buy, Lay, Pass, and Come bets are generally equal to table maximum. Lay bet maximum are equal to the table maximum win, so players wishing to lay the 4 or 10 may bet twice at amount of the table maximum for the win to be table maximum. Odds behind Pass, Come, Don't Pass, and Don't Come may be however larger than the odds offered allows and can be greater than the table maximum in some casinos. Don't odds are capped on the maximum allowed win some casino allow the odds bet itself to be larger than the maximum bet allowed as long as the win is capped at maximum odds. Single rolls bets can be lower than the table minimum, but the maximum bet allowed is also lower than the table maximum. The maximum allowed single roll bet is based on the maximum allowed win from a single roll.

In all the above scenarios, whenever the Pass line wins, the Don't Pass line loses, and vice versa, with one exception: on the come-out roll, a roll of 12 will cause Pass Line bets to lose, but Don't Pass bets are pushed (or "barred"), neither winning nor losing. (The same applies to "Come" and "Don't Come" bets, discussed below.)

Joining a game

A player wishing to play craps without being the shooter should approach the craps table and first check to see if the dealer's "On" button is on any of the point numbers.

• If the button has been turned to "Off", then the table is in the come-out round, and a point has not been established.
• If the dealer's button is "On", the table is in the point round where casinos will allow odds behind an existing Pass line to be bet. Some casino do not allow new Pass line bets while a point has been established. Some casinos will place the bet straddling the outer border of the Pass line so as to indicate that it is to be paid the same odds as a place bet, instead of just even money. Other casinos will take the bet on the Pass line after a point has been established, known as put betting, which is a disadvantage to the player (since the seven is the most common roll and likely to happen before the "point").

In either case, all single or multi-roll proposition bets may be placed in either of the two rounds.

Between dice rolls there is a period for dealers to make payouts and collect losing bets, after which players can place new bets. The stickman monitors the action at a table and decides when to give the shooter the dice, after which no more betting is allowed.

When joining the game, one should place money on the table rather than passing it directly to a dealer. The dealer's exaggerated movements during the process of "making change" or "change only" (converting currency to an equivalent in casino cheques) are required so that any disputes can be later reviewed against security camera footage.

Rolling

The dealers will insist that the shooter roll with one hand and that the dice bounce off the far wall surrounding the table. These requirements are meant to keep the game fair (preventing switching the dice or making a "controlled shot"). If a die leaves the table, the shooter will usually be asked to select another die from the remaining three but can request permission to use the same die if it passes the boxman's inspection. This requirement exists to keep the game fair and reduce the chance of loaded dice.

Names of rolls

Names of Rolls in Craps

	Snake Eyes
	Ace Deuce	Hard Four
	Easy Four	Five (Fever Five)	Hard Six
	Five (Fever Five)	Easy Six	Natural/Seven Out	Hard Eight
	Easy Six	Natural/Seven Out	Easy Eight	Nine (Nina)	Hard Ten
	Natural or Seven Out	Easy Eight	Nine (Nina)	Easy Ten	Yo (Yo-leven)	Boxcars/Midnight

There are many local variants of the calls made by the stickman for rolls during a craps game. These frequently incorporate a reminder to the dealers as to which bets to pay or collect.

• Two is "snake eyes", because the two ones that compose it look like a pair of small, beady eyes.^[6] During actual play, more common terms are "two craps two" during the comeout roll because the Pass line bet is lost on a comeout crap roll and/or because a bet on any craps would win. "Aces; double the field" would be a more common call when not on the comeout roll to remind the dealers to pay double on the field bets and encourage the field bettor to place subsequent bets and/or when no crap bets have been placed. Another name for the two is "loose deuce" or "Snickies" due to it sounding like "Snake eyes" but spoken with an accent.
• Three is typically called as "three craps three" during the comeout roll, or "three, ace deuce, come away single" when not on the comeout to signify the come bet has been lost and to pay single to any field bettors. Three may also be referred to as "ace caught a deuce", "Tracy", or even less often "acey deucey".
• Four, usually hard, is sometimes referred to as "Little Joe from Kokomo" or "Little Joe on the front row" or just "Little Joe". A hard four can be called a "ballerina" because it is two-two ("tutu").
• Five is frequently called "no field five" in casinos in which five is not one of the field rolls and thus not paid in the field bets. Other names for a five are "fever" and "little Phoebe".
• Six may be referred to as "Jimmie Hicks" or "Jimmie Hicks from the sticks", examples of rhyming slang. On a win, the six is often called "666 winner 6" followed by "came hard" or "came easy".
• Seven rolled as 6–1 is sometimes called "six ace" or "up pops the Devil". Older dealers and players may use the term "Big Red" because craps tables once prominently featured a large red "7" in the center of the layout for the one-roll seven bet. During the comeout, the seven is called "seven, front line winner", frequently followed by "pay the line" and/or "take the don'ts". After the point is established, a seven is typically called by simply "7 out" or "7 out 7"..
• Eight rolled the hard way, as opposed to an "easy eight", is sometimes called an "eighter from Decatur". It can also be known as a "square pair", "mom and dad", or "Ozzie and Harriet".
• Nine is called a "centerfield nine" in casinos in which nine is one of the field rolls, because nine is the center number shown on the layout in such casinos (2–3–4–9–10–11–12). In Atlantic City, a 4–5 is called a "railroad nine". The 4–5 nine is also known as "Jesse James" because the outlaw Jesse James was killed by a .45 caliber pistol. Other names for the nine include "Nina from Pasadena", "Nina at the Marina", and "niner from Carolina". Nine can also be referred to as "Old Mike", named after NBA Hall-of-Famer Michael Jordan, who wore No. 9 in his FIBA international career, when players could only wear numbers 4 to 15.
• Ten the hard way is "a hard ten", "dos equis" (Spanish, meaning "two X's", because the pip arrangement on both dice on this roll resembles "XX"), or "Hard ten – a woman's best friend", an example of both rhyming slang and sexual double entendre. Ten as a pair of 5's may also be known as "puppy paws" or "a pair of sunflowers" or "Big Dick" or "Big John." Another slang for a hard ten is "moose head", because it resembles a moose's antlers. This phrase came from players in the Pittsburgh area.
• Eleven is called out as "yo" or "yo-leven" to prevent being misheard as "seven". An older term for eleven is "six five, no jive" because it is a winning roll. During the comeout, eleven is typically followed by "front line winner". After the point is established, "good field and come" is often added.
• Twelve is known as "boxcars" because the spots on the two dice that show 6–6 look like schematic drawings of railroad boxcars; it is also called "midnight", referring to twelve o'clock; and also as "double-action field traction", because of the (standard) 2-to-1 pay on Field bets for this roll and the fact that the arrangement of the pips on the two dice, when laid end-to-end, resemble tire tracks. On tables that pay triple the field on a twelve roll, the stickman will often loudly exclaim "triple" either alone or in combination with "12 craps 12" or "come away triple".

Rolls of 4, 6, 8, and 10 are called "hard" or "easy" (e.g. "six the hard way", "easy eight", "hard ten") depending on whether they were rolled as a "double" or as any other combination of values, because of their significance in center table bets known as the "hard ways". Hard way rolls are so named because there is only one way to roll them (i.e., the value on each die is the same when the number is rolled). Consequently, it is more likely to roll the number in combinations (easy) rather than as a double (hard).

Line bets

The shooter is required to make either a Pass line bet or a Don't Pass bet if he wants to shoot. On the come out roll each player may only make one bet on the Pass or Don't Pass, but may bet both if desired. The Pass Line and Don't Pass bet is optional for any player not shooting. In rare cases, some casinos require all players to make a minimum Pass Line or Don't Pass bet (if they want to make any other bet), whether they are currently shooting or not.

Multi-roll bets

These are bets that may not be settled on the first roll and may need any number of subsequent rolls before an outcome is determined. Most multi-roll bets may fall into the situation where a point is made by the shooter before the outcome of the multi-roll bet is decided. These bets are often considered "not working" on the new come-out roll until the next point is established, unless the player calls the bet as "working."

Casino rules vary on this; some of these bets may not be callable, while others may be considered "working" during the come-out. Dealers will usually announce if bets are working unless otherwise called off. If a non-working point number placed, bought or laid becomes the new point as the result of a come-out, the bet is usually refunded, or can be moved to another number for free.

Single-roll bets

Single-roll (proposition) bets are resolved in one dice roll by the shooter. Most of these are called "service bets", and they are located at the center of most craps tables. Only the stickman or a dealer can place a service bet. Single-roll bets can be lower than the table minimum, but the maximum bet allowed is also lower than the table maximum. The maximum bet is based on the maximum allowed win from a single roll. The lowest single-roll bet can be a minimum one unit bet. For example, tables with minimums of $5 or $10 generally allow minimum single-roll bets of $1. Single bets are always working by default unless the player specifies otherwise. The bets include:

2 (snake eyes, or Aces)

Wins if shooter rolls a 2.

3 (ace-deuce)

Wins if the shooter rolls a 3.

Yo

Wins if the shooter rolls 11.

12 (boxcars, midnight, or cornrows)

Wins if shooter rolls a 12.

2 or 12 (hi-lo)

Wins if shooter rolls a 2 or 12. The stickman places this bet on the line dividing the 2 and 12 bets.

Any Craps (Three-Way)

Wins if the shooter rolls 2, 3 or 12.

C & E

A combined bet, a player is betting half their bet on craps (2,3,12) and the other half on 11 (yo). The combine payout is 3:1 on craps and 7:1 on 11 (yo). Another method of calculating the payout is to divide the total bet in half. The player would receive 7:1 minus half the total bet payout on half the total bet for craps and 15:1 minus half the total bet payout on half the total bet for 11 (yo). For example, using this method if a player were to bet $2 on C & E, $1 would receive 7:1 payout on craps minus $1 for the bet on 11 so the total profit would be $6. If an 11 was rolled the player would receive 15:1 minus $1 for the bet on craps so the player's total profit is $14. Both methods of calculation yield the same result so either method can be used. If a player wishes to take the bet down after a win the player would receive the whole bet not half even though only one of the two bets can win per roll. The minimum bet on C & E is double the lowest unit bet allowed at the table. So if the minimum single roll bet is $1 the lowest C & E bet allowed would be $2. Players are, however, able to make odd number bets larger than $2 if desired. One of the two bets will always lose, the other may win.

Any seven

A single roll bet which wins if the shooter rolls a 7 with 4:1 payout. This bet is also nicknamed Big Red, since the 7 on its betting space on the layout is usually large and red, and it is considered bad luck and a breach of etiquette among gamblers to speak the word "seven" at the table.

Horn

This is a bet that involves betting on 1 unit each for 2, 3, 11, and 12 at the same time for the next roll. The bet is actually four separate bets, and pays off depending on which number is actually rolled. The combined payout is 27:4 for 2, 12 and 3:1 for 3, 11. Each individual bet has the same payout as a single bet on the specific numbers, 30:1 for 2 and 12 minus the other three bets, 15:1 for 3 and 11 minus the other three bets. If a player wins the bet he can take down all four bets instead of a single bet even though only one bet can win per roll. Many players, in order to eliminate the confusion of tossing four chips to the center of the table or having change made while bets are being placed, will make a five-unit Horn High bet, which is a four-way bet with the extra unit going to one specific number. For example, if one tosses a $5 chip into the center and says "horn high yo", they are placing four $1 bets on each of the horn numbers and the extra dollar will go on the yo (11). Horn bets are generally required to be in multiples of 4 or 5 with the minimum bet being 4 times the minimum unit allowed. For example, if the single roll minimum at the table is $1 the Horn bet must be $4 or more.

Whirl or World

A five-unit bet that is a combination of a horn and any-seven bet, with the idea that if a seven is rolled the bet is a push, because the money won on the seven is lost on the horn portions of the bet. The combine odds are 26:5 on the 2, 12, 11:5 on the 3, 11, and a push on the 7. Like the C & E and Horn bet, if a player wishes to take down the bet after a win he or she would receive all five units back. The minimum bet is five of the minimum units. For example, if the minimum single roll bet is $1, the minimum World/Whirl bet is $5.

On the Hop

(also Hop, or Hopping) A single roll bet on any particular combination of the two dice on the next roll including combinations whose sum is 7 (e.g. 4 and 3). For example, if someone bets on "5 and 1" on the hop, they are betting that the next roll will have a 5 on one die and a 1 on the other die. The bet pays 15:1 on easy ways (same as a bet on 3 or 11). Hard ways hop pays 30:1 (e.g., 3 and 3 on the hop, same as a bet on 2 or 12). The true odds are 17:1 and 35:1, resulting in a house edge of 11.11% and 13.89% respectively. When presented, hop bets are located at the center of the craps layout with the other proposition bets. If hop bets are not on the craps layout, they still may be bet on by players but they become the responsibility of the boxman to book the bet. Sometimes players may request to hop a whole number. In this case the money on the bet different combinations. For example, if a player says "hop the tens" (6–4, 5–5, 4–6) the player must give the dealer an even number bet so it can be divided among the hard and easy ways. If the player gives $10, $5 would be placed on the easy ways 10 with 15:1 odds and $5 would be placed on the hard way with 30:1 odds. If a player wishes to "hop the sevens" there would be three different combinations and six possible ways to roll a 7 (6–1, 5–2, 4–3, 3–4, 2–5, 1–6) therefore the player should bet in multiples of 3 so the bet can be divided among each combination with a 15:1 payout minus the other two bets, otherwise if players does not bet in multiples of 3, they would specific which combination has additional units.

Field

This bet is a wager that one of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12 will appear on the next roll of the dice. This bet typically pays more (2:1 or 3:1) if 2 or 12 is rolled, and 1:1 if 3, 4, 9, 10, or 11 is rolled. The Field bet is a "Self-Service" Bet. Unlike the other proposition bets which are handled by the dealers or stickman, the field bet is placed directly by the player. Players identify their Field bets by placing them in the Field area directly in front of them or as close to their position as possible. The initial bet and/or any payouts can "ride" through several rolls until they lose, and are assumed to be "riding" by dealers. It is thus the player's responsibility to collect their bet and/or winnings immediately upon payout, before the next dice roll, if they do not wish to let it ride.

Player bets

Fire Bet: Before the shooter begins, some casinos will allow a bet known as a fire bet to be placed. A fire bet is a bet of as little as $1 and generally up to a maximum of $5 to $10 sometimes higher, depending on casino, made in the hope that the next shooter will have a hot streak of setting and getting many points of different values. As different individual points are made by the shooter, they will be marked on the craps layout with a fire symbol.

The first three points will not pay out on the fire bet, but the fourth, fifth, and sixth will pay out at increasing odds. The fourth point pays at 24-to-1, the fifth point pays at 249-to-1, and the 6th point pays at 999-to-1. (The points must all be different numbers for them to count toward the fire bet.) For example, a shooter who successfully hits a point of 10 twice will only garner credit for the first one on the fire bet. Players must hit the established point in order for it to count toward the fire bet. The payout is determine by the number of points which have been established and hit after the shooter sevens out.^[7]

Bonus Craps: Prior to the initial "come out roll", players may place an optional wager (usually a $1 minimum to a maximum $25) on one or more of the three Bonus Craps wagers, "All Small", "All Tall", or "All or Nothing at All." For players to win the "All Small" wager, the shooter must hit all five small numbers (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) before a seven is rolled; similarly, "All Tall" wins if all five high numbers (8, 9, 10, 11, 12) are hit before a seven is rolled.^[8]

These bets pay 35-for-1, for a house advantage of 7.76%. "All or Nothing at All" wins if the shooter hits all 10 numbers before a seven is rolled. This pays 176-for-1, for a house edge of 7.46%. For all three wagers, the order in which the numbers are hit does not matter. Whenever a seven is hit, including on the come out roll, all bonus bets lose, the bonus board is reset, and new bonus bets may be placed.^[9][10][11]

Multiple different bets

A player may wish to make multiple different bets. For example, a player may be wish to bet $1 on all hard ways and the horn. If one of the bets win the dealer may automatically replenish the losing bet with profits from the winning bet. In this example, if the shooter rolls a hard 8 (pays 9:1), the horn loses. The dealer may return $5 to the player and place the other $4 on the horn bet which lost. If the player does not want the bet replenished, he or she should request any or all bets be taken down.

Working and not working bets

A working bet is a live bet. Bets may also be on the board, but not in play and therefore not working. Pass line and come bets are always working meaning the chips are in play and the player is therefore wagering live money. Other bets may be working or not working depending whether a point has been established or player's choice. Place and buy bets are working by default when a point is established and not working when the point is off unless the player specifies otherwise. Lay bets are always working even if a point has not been established unless the player requests otherwise. At any time, a player may wish to take any bet or bets out of play. The dealer will put an "Off" button on the player's specific bet or bets; this allows the player to keep his chips on the board without a live wager. For example, if a player decides not to wager a place bet mid-roll but wishes to keep the chips on the number, he or she may request the bet be "not working" or "Off". The chips remain on the table, but the player cannot win from or lose chips which are not working.

The opposite is also allowed. By default place and buy bets are not working without an established point; a player may wish to wager chips before a point has been established. In this case, the player would request the bet be working in which the dealer will place an "On" button on the specified chips.

Tips

Tipping the dealers is universal and expected in Craps. As in most other casino games, a player may simply place (or toss) chips onto the table and say, "For the dealers", "For the crew", etc. In craps, it is also common to place a bet for the dealers. This is usually done one of three ways: by placing an ordinary bet and simply declaring it for the dealers, as a "two-way", or "on top". A "Two-Way" is a bet for both parties: for example, a player may toss in two chips and say "Two Way Hard Eight", which will be understood to mean one chip for the player and one chip for the dealers. Players may also place a stack of chips for a bet as usual, but leave the top chip off-center and announce "on top for the dealers". The dealer's portion is often called a "toke" bet, which comes from the practice of using $1 slot machine tokens to place dealer bets in some casinos.^{[14][15][18][20]}

In some cases, players may also tip each other, for example as a show of gratitude to the thrower for a roll on which they win a substantial bet.^[15]

Superstition

Craps players routinely practice a wide range of superstitious behaviors, and may expect or demand these from other players as well.

Most prominently, it is universally considered bad luck to say the word "seven" (after the "come-out", a roll of 7 is a loss for "pass" bets). Dealers themselves often make significant efforts to avoid calling out the number. When necessary, participants may refer to seven with a "nickname" such as "Big Red" (or just "Red"), "the S-word", etc.^{[14][15][18][20]}

Martingale system

Although no wagering system can consistently beat casino games based on independent trials such as craps, that does not stop gamblers from believing in them. One of the best known systems is the Martingale System. In this strategy, the gambler doubles his bet after every loss. After a win, the bet is reset to the original bet. The theory is that the first win would recover all previous losses plus win a profit equal to the original stake.

Gambler's fallacy

Other systems depend on the gambler's fallacy, which in craps terms is the belief that past dice rolls influence the probabilities of future dice rolls. For example, the gambler's fallacy indicates that a craps player should bet on eleven if an eleven has not appeared or has appeared too often in the last 20 rolls. In practice this can be observed as players respond to a roll such as a Hard Six with an immediate wager on the Hard Six.

In reality, each roll of the dice is an independent event, so the probability of rolling eleven is exactly 1/18 on every roll, regardless of the number of times eleven has come up in the last x rolls. Even if the dice are actually biased toward particular results ("loaded"), each roll is still independent of all the previous ones. The common term to describe this is "dice have no memory".

Dice setting or dice control

Another approach is to "set" the dice in a particular orientation, and then throw them in such a manner that they do not tumble randomly. The theory is that given exactly the same throw from exactly the same starting configuration, the dice will tumble in the same way and therefore show the same or similar values every time.

Casinos take steps to prevent this. The dice are usually required to hit the back wall of the table, which is normally faced with a jagged angular texture such as pyramids, making controlled spins more difficult. There has been no independent evidence that such methods can be successfully applied in a real casino.^[21]

Cards replacing dice

To replicate the original dice odds exactly without dice or possibility of card-counting, one scheme uses two shuffle machines each with just one deck of Ace through 6 each. Each machine selects one of the 6 cards at random and this is the roll. The selected cards are replaced and the decks are reshuffled for the next roll.^[23]

In one variation, two shoes are used, each containing some number of regular card decks that have been stripped down to just the Aces and deuces through sixes. The boxman simply deals one card from each shoe and that is the roll on which bets are settled. Since a card-counting scheme is easily devised to make use of the information of cards that have already been dealt, a relatively small portion (less than 50%) of each shoe is usually dealt in order to protect the house.

In a similar variation, cards representing dice are dealt directly from a continuous shuffling machine (CSM). Typically, the CSM will hold approximately 264 cards, or 44 sets of 1 through 6 spot cards. Two cards are dealt from the CSM for each roll. The game is played exactly as regular craps, but the roll distribution of the remaining cards in the CSM is slightly skewed from the normal symmetric distribution of dice.

Even if the dealer were to shuffle each roll back into the CSM, the effect of buffering a number of cards in the chute of the CSM provides information about the skew of the next roll. Analysis shows this type of game is biased towards the Don't Pass and Don't Come bets. A player betting Don't Pass and Don't Come every roll and laying 10x odds receives a 2% profit on the initial Don't Pass / Don't Come bet each roll. Using a counting system allows the player to attain a similar return at lower variance.

Cards mapping physical dice

In this game variation, one red deck and one blue deck of six cards each (A through 6), and a red die and a blue die are used. Each deck is shuffled separately, usually by machine. Each card is then dealt onto the layout, into the 6 red and 6 blue numbered boxes. The shooter then shoots the dice. The red card in the red-numbered box corresponding to the red die, and the blue card in the blue-numbered box corresponding to the blue die are then turned over to form the roll on which bets are settled.

Another variation uses a red and a blue deck of 36 custom playing cards each. Each card has a picture of a two-die roll on it – from 1–1 to 6–6. The shooter shoots what looks like a red and a blue die, called "cubes". They are numbered such that they can never throw a pair, and that the blue one will show a higher value than the red one exactly half the time. One such scheme could be 222555 on the red die and 333444 on the blue die.

One card is dealt from the red deck and one is dealt from the blue deck. The shooter throws the "cubes" and the color of the cube that is higher selects the color of the card to be used to settle bets. On one such table, an additional one-roll prop bet was offered: If the card that was turned over for the "roll" was either 1–1 or 6–6, the other card was also turned over. If the other card was the "opposite" (6–6 or 1–1, respectively) of the first card, the bet paid 500:1 for this 647:1 proposition.

And additional variation uses a single set of 6 cards, and regular dice. The roll of the dice maps to the card in that position, and if a pair is rolled, then the mapped card is used twice, as a pair.

Floating craps

Floating craps is an illegal operation of craps. The term floating refers to the practice of the game's operators using portable tables and equipment to quickly move the game from location to location to stay ahead of the law enforcement authorities. The term may have originated in the 1930s when Benny Binion (later known for founding the downtown Las Vegas hotel Binion's) set up an illegal craps game utilizing tables created from portable crates for the Texas Centennial Exposition.^[26]

The 1950 Broadway musical Guys and Dolls features a major plot point revolving around a floating craps game.

In the 1950s and 1960s The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas had a craps table that floated in the swimming pool, as a joke reference to the notoriety of the term.^[27]

Records

A Golden Arm is a craps player who rolls the dice for longer than one hour without losing. Likely the first known Golden Arm was Oahu native Stanley Fujitake, who rolled 118 times without sevening out in 3 hours and 6 minutes at the California Hotel and Casino on May 28, 1989.^[28]

The current record for length of a "hand" (successive rounds won by the same shooter) is 154 rolls including 25 passes by Patricia DeMauro of New Jersey, lasting 4 hours and 18 minutes,^[29] at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on May 23–24, 2009. She bested by over an hour the record held for almost 20 years – that of Fujitake.