How to Play Craps
How to Play Craps by Learning the Dice Names
Learning how to play craps is actually a lot more difficult than the game seems once you’re actually playing it. Learning the terminology and names of the rolls are just as important as learning the craps rules. First things first: in order to get to the point of how to win at craps, you need to learn the craps personnel and the set up of the craps table. The “boxman” watches the chips and dealer; the “stickman” takes the bets in the center of the table (standing opposite to the boxman), collects the dice, and gives them to the shooter with his stick; and lastly, the “base dealers” (there are two of them) stand on either side next to the boxman, and one collects the bets while the other one pays the winners.
Terminology and Lingo of The Dice
The next thing to learn with how to play craps is the terminology and lingo of the dice. If the shooter (the person who rolls the dice) rolls anything double (2, 3, 4, or 5), it’s called a Hard (Four, Six, Eight, or Ten).Any roll that adds up to these numbers without being a double are called Easy (Four, Six, Eight, or Ten). Double 1s are called Snake Eyes, and double 6s are called Boxcars. But all 2, 3, and 12 rolls are called Craps, so dealers rarely call these rolls Snake Eyes or Boxcars. If an 11 is rolled, it is often called a Yo, or Yo-leven so that it is not mixed up with the very similar sounding number 7. And if a 7 is rolled, it is either called a Natural or a Seven Out. Depending on where you play, other number combinations have cute nicknames (I don’t in any way suggest you memorize this list, but it’s important for you to know all of the names each number can potentially have. Each casino will play with different lingo and will not use more than one name for each number, except for obviously Hard or Soft rolls; in this list below, I write the most common names first, excluding the Hard or Soft rolls from the list):
| Number | Potential Nickname |
|---|---|
| TWO | Craps, snake eyes, two aces, push the don’t, rats eyes, eleven in a shoe store, two craps two, twice in the rice, two bad boys from Illinois |
| THREE | Craps, ace deuce, winner on the dark side, three craps three, small ace deuce can’t produce, ace caught a deuce |
| FOUR | Little Joe, Little Joe from Kokomo, hit us in the tutu, the country way |
| FIVE | After five the field’s alive, little Phoebe, fiver fiver racetrack driver, we got the fever, 32 juice-roll (apparently this is in honor of OJ Simpson’s jersey number) |
| SIX | Big Red, Big Red catch ‘em in the corner, pair-o-treys, sixie from Dixie, blue chip stock, like a chip, the national average, waiter’s roll |
| SEVEN | Natural, Seven out, Seven Out line away, grab the money, five two you’re all through, six ace end of the race, six one you’re all done, seven’s a bruiser the front line’s a loser, front line winner back line skinner, Benny Blue you’re all through, up pops the devil |
| EIGHT | Eighter from Decatur, A square pair like mom and dad, Ozzie and Harriet, the windows |
| NINE | Center field, Railroad Nine, center of the garden, ocean liner niner, Nina from Pasadena, what shot Jesse James? –a forty-five |
| TEN | Pair of roses, pair of sunflowers, Puppy paws, the big one on the end |
| ELEVEN | Yo, Yo-leven, yo levine the dancing queen, six five no jive |
| TWELVE | Craps, boxcars, midnight, atomic craps, triple dipple in the lucky ducky, all the spots we got, outstanding in your field, double saw on boxcars |
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Important Things You Should Know
Now that you have down these basics for how to play craps, you’ll find quickly that none of these terms are necessary when learning how to play online craps or how to win craps (but they certainly intimidate people from playing at casinos!). So, if you’re planning on playing craps at an online casino, you’d better read up on all of the craps rules of making bets at an online craps game. And it can’t hurt to read craps tips, too. So take a look at these other pages, and soon you’ll be playing one of the most exciting games available at a casino, land-based or online!
