Question 1

How do you play craps?

Accepted Answer

You bet on what two dice will do. The first roll of a round is the come-out: bet the Pass Line and a 7 or 11 wins immediately, a 2, 3 or 12 loses. Anything else — 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 — becomes "the point", and from then on you are waiting for that number to come up again before a 7 does. Make the point and the Pass Line pays even money. Roll a 7 first and it is gone.

Question 2

Is this free? Do I need an account?

Accepted Answer

Free, no account, no download, and the chips are not real. You start with 1,000 and can top up whenever you like — there is nothing to lose and nothing to buy.

Question 3

Why does the table look so complicated?

Accepted Answer

Because it carries about thirty different bets, and a real layout gives no clue which of them you may make right now. That is the actual difficulty of craps, not the maths. Here every spot you cannot currently bet is dimmed, and the line above the table says in words what the table is waiting for.

Question 4

What is the point, and what is the puck?

Accepted Answer

The point is the number established on the come-out roll. The white puck marks it, sitting ON the number. Once it is on, the whole table means something different: the Pass Line is closed to new bets, and a 7 stops being good and starts being the thing that ends everything.

Question 5

What is the best bet on the table?

Accepted Answer

Free odds, and it is not close — it is the only bet in a casino with a house edge of exactly 0%. Once a point is established you can back your Pass Line bet with "odds", which pays true odds: 2:1 on the 4 and 10, 3:2 on the 5 and 9, 6:5 on the 6 and 8. The house makes nothing on it. Every serious craps strategy is some version of "bet the line small and take maximum odds".

Question 6

What is the worst bet?

Accepted Answer

Any Seven, at 16.67%. It sits in the middle of the layout where the dealer can reach it, it pays 4:1, and the true odds are 5:1. The whole proposition box is expensive — Any Craps is 11.11%, the hardways are 9% to 11% — and the field is worse than it looks.

Question 7

Why is the field a bad bet when it covers seven numbers?

Accepted Answer

Because it covers the wrong seven. The field pays on 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 12 — which sounds like most of the table until you count the ways: those seven numbers happen 16 times in 36, and the five numbers it misses happen 20 times. It is the single most convincing trap on the layout, and it runs at 2.78% here because the 12 pays triple. Where the 12 only pays double it is 5.56%.

Question 8

What is a Come bet?

Accepted Answer

A Pass Line bet that starts on the next roll instead of the come-out. Put a chip in COME and the very next roll is its own personal come-out: 7 or 11 wins it, 2, 3 or 12 loses it, and anything else moves it onto that number. From then on it wins if its number rolls before a 7 — while the table point is doing exactly the same thing on a different number.

Question 9

So I can have several bets riding at once?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and that is how experienced players play. A Pass Line on the point plus two or three Come bets on other numbers means several numbers are working for you. They all die together on a 7, which is the trade.

Question 10

What is Don't Pass?

Accepted Answer

Betting against the shooter. It wins where the Pass Line loses, with one exception: the 12 on the come-out is a push rather than a win. That single rule is where its entire house edge comes from — without the bar, betting against the dice would favour the player.

Question 11

Is Don't Pass better than Pass?

Accepted Answer

Marginally: 1.36% against 1.41%. The difference is about a twentieth of a chip per hundred wagered, and it costs you being on the same side as everyone else at the table. Play whichever you enjoy.

Question 12

What is the difference between placing a number and betting the Come?

Accepted Answer

Speed and price. A Come bet has to travel — the next roll decides which number it lands on — but it costs 1.41%. Placing a number puts you straight on it, and you pay for the convenience: 1.52% on the 6 and 8, 4% on the 5 and 9, and 6.67% on the 4 and 10.

Question 13

Which place numbers are worth it?

Accepted Answer

The 6 and the 8, at 1.52%, and nothing else. The 5 and 9 cost 4% and the 4 and 10 cost 6.67% — two and four times as much for numbers that come up less often.

Question 14

What are hardways?

Accepted Answer

Betting that a number comes up as a pair — 4 as 2-2, 8 as 4-4. It loses to a 7 like everything else, and it also loses to its own number rolled the easy way, which is what makes it much worse than it sounds. Hard 6 and 8 pay 9:1 for a 9.09% edge; hard 4 and 10 pay 7:1 for 11.11%.

Question 15

Why should I never bet Big 6 or Big 8?

Accepted Answer

Because it is the same bet as placing the 6 or 8, paid worse — even money instead of 7:6. That takes it from 1.52% to 9.09%. It exists on the layout because it is easy to understand.

Question 16

Can I take my bets back?

Accepted Answer

Some of them. A Pass Line or Come bet with a number on it is a contract and cannot be taken down — you are now the favourite, so the house will not let you off. Don't Pass can be removed, place bets can be turned off, and the game enforces the same rules a real table does.

Question 17

Are place bets working on the come-out?

Accepted Answer

Not here. They are off for the come-out roll, which is the usual house rule and the one that favours you: a come-out 7 would otherwise sweep every number you own.

Question 18

Are the dice fair?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it is checkable. Two independent dice are rolled from one seeded stream keyed to the roll number, so the same session number replays exactly. The roll is computed before any bet on the table is looked at — there is a test that plays the same session with an empty table and a loaded one and asserts the dice come out identical.

Question 19

How do you know the payouts are right?

Accepted Answer

They are checked against the maths rather than by playing. The test suite takes the 36 ways two dice fall, applies this game’s own payout tables, and computes the expected value of every bet — then compares it to the published house edge. A wrong payout fails the build. That matters because a mispriced bet is invisible in play: a place bet paid slightly too well just feels like a good night.

Question 20

What is a good craps strategy?

Accepted Answer

Pass Line with maximum odds, and nothing else. Keep the flat bet small so you can afford large odds behind it, because the odds portion is free. Adding one or two Come bets with odds gives you more numbers at the same low cost. Everything in the middle of the table is entertainment you are paying a lot for.

Question 21

Does any craps system beat the house?

Accepted Answer

No. Every roll is independent of the last, so no pattern of bet sizing changes the expected value — a system that doubles after a loss simply concentrates the same edge into rarer, larger losses. The only thing that genuinely lowers the house edge is taking odds, and that is because the odds bet is priced fairly to begin with.

Question 22

What does "seven out" mean?

Accepted Answer

Rolling a 7 once a point is established. It kills the Pass Line, every Come bet and every place bet at once, and at a real table it ends that shooter’s turn. It is the reason the room goes quiet.

Question 23

Can I play on a phone?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A craps layout is about thirty printed spots wide, so on a phone the felt keeps a readable width and the table pans sideways rather than shrinking the print into illegibility. Chips can be tapped onto a spot or dragged there.

Question 24

Where does craps come from?

Accepted Answer

From an English game called hazard, simplified in New Orleans in the nineteenth century and spread by American soldiers in both world wars. The name is probably from crabs, the old hazard term for the losing throw of two.