Craps is a two-dice betting game: one shooter rolls, everyone bets on whether certain totals appear before a 7. The busy table is only a map of those bets. Learn the Pass Line first, then the point, then the side bets.
The game uses 2 standard six-sided dice. At a casino table, many people can bet on the same shooter. Online, you can treat it as a one-player game against the table. There is no hand of cards, no hidden information and no score to keep. Results are settled by the dice and by the payout printed for each bet.
The order matters. A new sequence starts with a come-out roll. That roll either settles the Pass Line at once or creates a point: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10. Once a point exists, the central question is narrow: will that point roll again before a 7? Everything else on the craps table layout adds extra ways to bet around that same rolling rhythm.
What do all those boxes on a craps table actually mean?
The boxes are bet positions. They are not spaces you move through, and they are not a board to complete. A craps table layout looks noisy because it lets several bets stay active at once while the same 2 dice decide them.
Start with the Pass Line. It is the beginner’s home base because it follows the main story of the roll. Before any point exists, the shooter makes a come-out roll. On that roll, 7 or 11 wins the Pass Line. Totals of 2, 3 or 12 lose. Any 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 becomes the point, and the dealer marks it.
Once the point is on, the Pass Line box means this: you want the point to appear again before a 7. The large numbered boxes across the layout are there because those same point numbers can also be backed with other bets. Place bets let you choose one of those numbers directly. Come bets behave like a fresh Pass Line bet made after the point is already set.
Other boxes are shorter-lived. The Field is a one-roll bet. Hardways are bets on doubles: hard 4, hard 6, hard 8 and hard 10. Free odds sit behind an active Pass Line or Come bet and pay at true odds, which means that part of the bet has no house edge. The table looks like a jumble until you see that most boxes answer one question: which total do you want before the losing total arrives?
How does a single roll turn into a round?
- Choose the main bet. For craps for beginners, that usually means the Pass Line. Put plainly, you are betting with the shooter. You want a good come-out roll, or you want the point repeated before a 7.
- Roll the come-out. This is the first roll of a Pass Line cycle. If the dice total 7 or 11, the Pass Line wins immediately. If they total 2, 3 or 12, it loses immediately. No point is set in either case.
- Set the point if needed. If the come-out roll is 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10, that number becomes the point. The game has now changed shape. The Pass Line no longer cares about 11, and it no longer loses on 2, 3 or 12.
- Roll until the point or 7 appears. Other totals may matter to side bets, but they do not finish the Pass Line cycle. If the point rolls again, Pass Line wins. If 7 rolls first, Pass Line loses.
- Resolve active side bets. A Field bet settles on the very next roll. Place bets wait for their chosen number or a 7. Hardways wait for a specific double, but lose if the same total arrives the easy way or if a 7 appears first.
- Begin again. After the Pass Line cycle resolves, the next come-out roll starts a new one. The shooter’s full hand may continue until a seven-out, but each Pass Line decision has its own beginning and end.
Which bets are on the layout, and what are they for?
Good craps rules are easier to remember by purpose than by table position. Some bets follow the shooter. Some let you pick a number. Some last for one roll only. The cost is in the payout: bets that feel more dramatic often carry the larger house edge.
| Bet | When it is used | Wins if | Loses if | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pass Line | Before the come-out roll | 7 or 11 on come-out; after a point, the point before 7 | 2, 3 or 12 on come-out; after a point, 7 before the point | The main beginner bet and the clearest route through a hand |
| Come | After a point is already on | 7 or 11 on its first roll; then its own come point before 7 | 2, 3 or 12 on its first roll; then 7 before its come point | A way to start a Pass Line-style bet in the middle of play |
| Free Odds | Behind an active Pass Line or Come bet once a point exists | The linked point rolls before 7 | 7 rolls before the linked point | The cleanest add-on, because it pays true odds |
| Place Bets | On 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 after betting opens | Your chosen number rolls before 7 | 7 rolls before your chosen number | Direct control over which number you are backing |
| Field | For the next roll only | 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 or 12 rolls | 5, 6, 7 or 8 rolls | A fast one-roll bet with no waiting for a point |
| Hardways | On hard 4, 6, 8 or 10 | The chosen total rolls as a pair, such as 3 and 3 for hard 6 | A 7 rolls, or the chosen total rolls the easy way | A high-variance bet built around doubles |
What ends a hand, and how do you know who won?
Craps uses the word hand in a slightly different way from card games. A Pass Line cycle can end quickly, but the shooter’s hand can last longer. The shooter keeps rolling through come-out rolls and points until they seven-out: rolling a 7 after a point has been established.
That detail matters because a come-out 7 is good for the Pass Line, while a 7 after the point is bad for it. Same total. Different moment.
- Pass Line on the come-out: 7 or 11 wins. 2, 3 or 12 loses. Any point number moves the bet into the next phase.
- Pass Line after a point: the point wins if it repeats before 7. A 7 before the point loses and ends the shooter’s hand.
- Come bets: each Come bet has its own first roll and then its own point, so several decisions can be alive at once.
- Place bets: they win when the chosen number rolls before 7 and lose when 7 rolls first.
- One-roll bets: the Field is decided by the next total only. It does not wait for the main point.
There is no scoring track in craps. You know who won by checking each active bet against the roll that decided it. One throw can win one bet, lose another and leave a third untouched. That is why the table needs so many labelled boxes.
Why do people keep playing craps after the first few rolls?
Craps feels different because the rules are strict but the roll pattern is uneven. A hand can end on the next throw, or it can stretch through a run of harmless totals while Place bets, Come bets and odds sit waiting. Nothing is hidden. The dice land, the table reacts.
The game also gives beginners a sensible place to stand. You can play only the Pass Line and understand every decision that matters. Add free odds once the point is set, and you have learned the most important upgrade without learning a new win condition. After that, Place bets teach you how the numbered boxes work. The Field teaches you one-roll risk. Hardways teach you why a tempting payout usually has a catch.
The draw is the shared rhythm. Even when you are playing alone online, craps still has the feel of a table game built around one central event: can the shooter make the number before the 7 arrives? Solitaire games such as FreeCell or Klondike Solitaire (Turn 1) ask you to solve a position. Craps asks you to choose your exposure, then live with the dice. That is a clean kind of tension.
Frequently asked questions
No. Craps looks busy because the table shows every legal place to put chips, not because you need all of them. Start with Pass Line, Come, Place 6 and 8, and free odds. Those bets teach the rhythm of the hand without dragging you into the centre-table bets that resolve quickly and often carry a higher house edge.
7 is the most common total with two standard dice. There are 6 ways to make it: 1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2 and 6-1. That is why 7 wins immediately on the come-out roll for Pass Line, but ends the hand once a point has been set.
The common misconception is that a larger payout means a better bet; the correction is that payouts are priced against likelihood. A hard 8 pays more than a Place 8 because it is much harder to roll two 4s before any easy 8 or 7 appears. The centre of the table is for sharp, short bets, not automatic value.
You put 5 chips on the Pass Line. The come-out roll is 6, so 6 becomes the point. You then place extra chips directly behind your Pass Line bet: those are odds. If 6 rolls before 7, the Pass Line wins at even money and the odds pay at true odds. If 7 rolls first, both lose.
It depends on the side you want: Pass Line backs the shooter making the point, while Don’t Pass backs 7 arriving before the point repeats. Don’t Pass has a slightly lower house edge, but it loses on 7 or 11 on the come-out roll and pushes on 12 under common rules. Many beginners choose Pass because the table’s flow is easier to follow.
Compared with a live casino table, free online Craps gives you the same main betting ideas without the speed, noise or chip handling. You still see Pass Line, Come, Place bets, Field, hardways and odds. The difference is practical: the browser can show results cleanly, stop illegal placements, and let you learn at your own pace.
You can usually take down or reduce bets that are not contract bets. The exception is the Pass Line and Don’t Pass after a point is established; those stay until they win, lose or push under the rule in play. Odds behind them can normally be removed. Place bets can normally be turned off or taken down.
Most people try to read the whole layout at once. That is backwards. Follow one chip, not the table. Ask what number it wants, what number beats it, and whether it resolves on the next roll or stays working. A Field bet is one-roll. A Place 6 can sit there for many rolls. That difference matters more than the box shape.
A working bet is active on the next roll. If its winning number appears, it wins; if its losing number appears, it loses. Some bets are always working unless turned off. Others may be off on the come-out roll, depending on the rule set or the player’s instruction. Online craps usually makes the active state visible, which helps.
Open Craps, make one Pass Line bet, and watch only the puck and the point number. Add odds after you can explain what happens on 7. Then practise one Come bet. After that, try Place 6 and Place 8. Leave hardways, Field and centre bets until you can say exactly what wins them and what kills them.
Nobody knows precisely, because matter depends on the rules you are learning and how the table artwork is divided. The best available figure for a beginner is 5: Pass Line, Don’t Pass, Come, Don’t Come and Field. Add Place bets and odds next. The rest can wait until the basic round feels slow rather than frantic.
Craps descends from hazard, an old English dice game that reached North America and changed shape in New Orleans. The modern casino table grew around banked play, where the house covers the bets and the layout tells players and dealers what each chip means. That history is why some names feel plain, and others feel oddly inherited.
A wrong box costs you control. You may have made a one-roll bet when you meant to make a point bet, or backed a number that loses on the next 7. In free online play the cost is only the hand and the lesson. In any real-money setting, the same mistake changes the price of the decision immediately.
Final thoughts
If you are learning how to play craps, resist the urge to learn every box at once. Start with one chip on the Pass Line in your head. Watch the come-out roll. If it wins or loses immediately, fine. If it sets a point, say the job out loud: make that number again before a 7.
That single sentence carries more of the game than most long explanations. Once it feels natural, add odds behind the Pass Line. Odds are unusual because they pay at the true mathematical odds of the point. The Pass Line still has the house edge; the odds part does not add to it. That makes odds worth understanding before the louder bets.
Then look at the rest of the layout as choices about timing. Do you want a number to arrive before 7? That is the shape of a Place bet. Do you want the very next roll to decide it? That is the Field. Do you want a double before the easy version or 7? That is a Hardway.
The table stops being intimidating when you stop treating it as a diagram to memorise. It is a set of promises, each with a clear trigger, a clear failure point and a price.
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