California Craps – Craps without Dice
One of the most iconic images in all of casino gambling is that of the hot shooter throwing dice at the craps table. In fact, if you asked people what they think of when they think of craps, the answer will almost unanimously be the dice.
With that in mind, it might surprise you to learn that there are forms of craps played without using dice at all! In California, gambling law does not allow the outcome of craps to be directly determined by the use of dice. This means that the casinos must either add an extra step to craps, or eliminate the dice entirely. While this might seem like a major change to the game, it’s mostly cosmetic; in most cases, nothing changes when craps is played with cards instead of (or along with) dice.
One method of playing California craps is by “mapping” the dice to cards placed on the table, so that technically, it is the cards deciding the outcome of each roll. For instance, in some casinos, six cards (usually ace through six, or special cards marked one through six) are shuffled and randomly placed face down on six spots that each represent one side of a die. The shooter rolls the die as normal, but the result of the roll isn’t the final number used in the game. Instead, the cards that correspond to the dice rolls are turned over, and they count as the official “roll.” So, a player might roll a three and a four on the dice, but that only means that the cards in the third and fourth positions being flipped over to determine the actual result. One variation on this uses two separate “decks” of six cards, in two different colors. The dice are also two different colors, so one die corresponds to the first deck, and one to the second.
Other than that one change, the game is played just like a normal craps game. As the two dice are rolled independently and the results are entirely random, there’s no difference in the odds between this form of craps and traditional craps.
The Pala Casino has another unique way of combining dice and cards to get around California’s gambling laws. The Pala craps game uses a deck of 36 cards, each of which shows one of the 36 possible ways a roll of two dice can turn out. Two of these cards are dealt out before each roll; one is placed in a red box, and the other in a blue box. The shooter rolls two dice: a blue die that can roll either a two or a three, and a red die that can come up one or four. The die that shows a higher number determines which card is used for that roll. Again, the odds are exactly the same here as in traditional craps.
Other California craps games cut out the dice entirely, and rely solely on cards instead. Most of these games also take care to make sure the odds of their games will be exactly the same as in traditional craps, meaning that the changes are again superficial. For instance, some games use two shoes of cards, with several copies of each possible die roll (one through six) in each shoe. One card is taken from each shoe to make a “roll” of two dice. After each roll, the cards are replaced back into the shoe, so the odds never change.
However, there are some card-only craps games where the odds do differ slightly from craps games were dice are used, usually because cards aren’t replaced after every roll. For instance, the California Craps game at the Viejas Casino (played at a blackjack-sized table and called PlayCraps) uses a single shoe of cards. According to most sources, the game is played with 44 copies of each card from ace through six, for a total of 264 cards. The cards are replaced after every “roll” back into a continuous shuffler. However, because a few cards are buffered into the chute of the shuffler, a handful of rolls are determined at any given time, the cards that were used in the last few rolls will never be drawn on the current roll. This nudges the odds slightly away from those of a completely random craps game. Analysis shows that this slight penetration into the shoe alters the odds significantly in favor of the don’t pass bet, resulting in a (very small) player edge on this bet!
This is just a small sampling of the California craps games out there. If you’re trying to analyze how a craps game without dice might effect your odds of winning, the key thing to remember is that any time there’s full replacement, and the two dice “rolls” are completely independent, the odds will be exactly the same as in your standard craps game. However, if for any reason there’s less than complete replacement of cards (including the fact that a continuous shuffler doesn’t deal out recently reinserted cards), then you’re playing a game where the odds will be slightly different. This will almost always favor the don’t pass bet, since the “missing” cards are ones that would make the point more likely to be rolled.
Should you play California craps? That decision comes down to how you get enjoyment out of craps. If the atmosphere and die rolling are important to you, you’ll probably have a lot less fun at a California craps table. However, if you’re more interested in the action than the aesthetics, you’ll get just as much playing California craps as you would from any other craps game in the world. And if you’re looking for an advantage in the casino, the right craps game without dice might just give you the edge you’re looking for.
