Street Craps

Players and equipment

Two to twelve players, two dice, and chips. One player is the shooter: they roll, and they put up a stake on themselves passing. Everybody else bets on the roll — with the shooter, or against them. There is no house and no banker: every bet is covered by the other side of the table and by nobody else.

SquareScores is the chip ledger for the game, and the dice. Before the roll everybody taps which side they are on — the player to the shooter's left is against them before anybody taps — and puts chips on the board if they like; the shooter rolls on their phone and the table sees each throw; when the dice have decided, the app moves the chips and keeps every stack. A table with real dice taps the roll in instead. The host chooses when the dice pass — round the table after every roll, after a seven-out only (the street rule), or after any losing roll.

The deal

Everybody rolls one die for the dice; the highest roll shoots first, and in the app the first seat does. The shooter puts up the stake, which in the app is the table's minimum.

Then the line. Everybody else says for or against: for rides on the shooter to pass, against is the fade. In the app every line bet is one unit, the table's minimum, so the line is a tap and the money goes through the side bets. The player to the shooter's left is put against them for the minimum as the roll opens, so there is always a fade and the dice can always roll; they may tap it off, and anybody else may tap on. What is bet for and what is bet against need not match; the app works out what is covered (see Scoring) and the rest of each bet simply comes back.

Play

The shooter's first roll is the come-out:

7 or 11

The shooter passes and the roll is over

A natural

2, 3 or 12

The shooter misses and the roll is over

Craps

4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10

The shooter rolls on

The point

Once a point is set, the shooter keeps rolling until one of two numbers comes:

The point again

The shooter passes

The point is made

A 7

The shooter misses and the dice pass

Seven out

Nothing else matters on those rolls — not a 2, not an 11 — and there is no limit to how many rolls a point takes.

By the table''s default a shooter who passes keeps the dice and stakes again, and any losing roll — a craps on the come-out or a seven-out — hands them to the next player round. The host may choose instead the street rule, under which a craps loses the stake but keeps the dice and only a seven-out hands them on, or to pass the dice round after every roll, whatever it was, so everybody shoots in turn.

Scoring

Every roll is settled between two sides. The right side is the shooter's stake plus every bet with them; the wrong side is every bet against. What is in play is the smaller of the two: the bigger side risks only that much, split between its bettors in proportion to what each put in, and the uncovered part of every bet comes back untouched. Chips are whole: each share is rounded down, and what a side's shares leave over goes to that side's leader — the shooter on the right side, the first player to bet against on the wrong side — whether the side is collecting or paying.

Natural or point made

Each bet with the shooter, and the stake, takes its share of the wrong side

The right side wins

Craps or seven out

Each bet against takes its share of the right side

The wrong side wins

A roll on which nobody bets against the shooter cannot be settled: there is nothing for the shooter to win. That only happens when the player the app put against the shooter has tapped the fade off and nobody has stepped in.

A worked roll

Alice has the dice and stakes 40. Bo fades her for 30 and Cara for 10; Dan bets 20 with her.

The right side is 40 + 20 = 60. The wrong side is 30 + 10 = 40. So 40 is in play: the wrong side is covered in full, and the right side risks 40 of its 60 — Alice two-thirds of it, Dan one-third.

Alice rolls a 6, then a 9, then a 6

Alice takes 26 and the 1 over, Dan 13; Bo pays 30, Cara 10

The point is made

Had she rolled a 7 before the 6

Bo takes 30 and Cara 10; Alice pays 27 and Dan 13

Seven out

The four lines add up to nothing either way: every chip one player won, another lost. Had the fade matched the right side exactly — 60 against 60 — every chip would have been in play.

Ending

The game ends when the table cashes out. Whoever is up the most chips from their rolls and bets wins; buying back in is not winning.

The line is a tap, the board is the money

In the app the line is one unit a head, so the only choice on it is which side you are on. The money is on the board: pick a chip from the rail under the table — hold one for another amount — and tap a square; a second tap adds another chip. Somebody has to take the bet, so a big bet is a bet somebody else believed in too.

The odds, honestly

The shooter passes a little under half the time: 244 rolls in 495, about 49.3%. So betting against the shooter is very slightly the better side, and nobody at a street game is paying the house for the privilege. The difference is small enough that over a night it is luck, and over a year it is the fader's.

Which points are good

A 6 or an 8 is the best point to have — five ways to roll each against six ways to roll a 7 — and a 4 or a 10 the worst, with three ways each. A player betting after the point is set, where the table allows it, should remember that; a bet against a shooter on a 4 is a strong bet.

Keep it covered

Arguments at a street game are about what was covered. Say every bet out loud, both sides, before the dice leave the shooter's hand, and let the app's line — with, against, in play — be the record. Nobody should be working out who owed what after the roll.

The dice pass after every roll

Some tables hand the dice on after every roll, won or lost, so everybody shoots in turn and nobody holds them through a hot streak; others keep the street rule, where a craps on the come-out loses the stake but not the dice. The host picks at launch or on the Host tab; nothing else about the game changes.

Side bets on the board

With the dice rolling on the phone, the table has a craps board: any seven, any craps, the single numbers, the field, the hard ways and each number before the seven. A side bet is between two players — one puts a chip on a square, another picks it up by laying the odds the table prints (seven at 5 for 1, a hard six at 10 for 1, snake eyes at 30 for 1, the field at even money with a 2 or a 12 paying double) — and the throws from the moment it was picked up decide it. A chip waits on its square, green, until somebody taps it: anyone seated may, the shooter and the host included, so the shooter can take the field against a player who fancies one roll. Tap your own chip to take it back while nobody has picked it up, and until a throw has been made on it either side may still undo a take: the taker lets go and the chip is open again, the bettor takes it back. A bet pays the moment the throws decide it — a field bet on the very next throw — and leaves the board; the list under the table keeps the line. A hard way or a number before the seven that the dice have not decided when the roll ends stays on its square for the next roll, the same bet between the same two players, whoever shoots: a made point ends the roll and not the bet, and only a seven clears the board. There is no house: whoever takes the bet is the house for that one bet. A bet nobody takes is not a bet: a chip still open when the throw it was put down for is made comes back to whoever put it down.

Casino craps

The casino game is the same dice with a bank: the house covers every bet, so the pass line, don't pass, come, place and proposition bets each carry their own odds and their own edge. None of that exists when the other side of every bet is a person.

Hazard

The game craps grew out of. The caster names a main from 5 to 9 before rolling, and which rolls win, lose or set a chance depend on the main. Craps fixed the main at 7, which is why 7 and 11 are naturals.

What does it mean to fade the shooter?

To bet against them: you cover some or all of the shooter's stake, and if the shooter misses — a craps on the come-out or a seven before the point — the part you covered is yours. If the shooter passes, you lose it.

Can I bet with the shooter?

Yes. A bet with the shooter rides on the same outcome as the stake: it wins when the shooter rolls a natural or makes the point, and loses on a craps or a seven-out. It is covered by the bets against, in proportion, like the stake.

What if more is bet against the shooter than with?

Only the smaller side is fully in play. If 40 is staked and bet with the shooter and 60 is bet against, the against bettors are risking 40 between them, each in proportion to what they put in, and the other 20 comes back to them untouched. The app says what is covered before the roll.

Does the shooter lose the dice on a craps?

By the table''s default, yes: any losing roll hands the dice on, and a 2, 3 or 12 on the come-out is a loss. Under the street rule, which the host may set instead, a craps loses the stake and the shooter rolls again with a fresh one; only a seven-out hands the dice on. A shooter who passes keeps the dice under both.

How does SquareScores keep score?

As a chip ledger. Everybody buys in with the table's starting chips; before each roll the stake goes in at the minimum, the player to the shooter's left is against them by default, and everybody else taps for or against and puts chips on the board; the shooter rolls on their phone and the dice decide the roll (a table with real dice taps the outcome in). The app pays the winning side its share of the covered pool, settles every side bet between the two players on it, and keeps every stack. The result at the end is what each player won or lost, not the size of their stack.

Who fades the shooter?

Whoever taps against. Before anybody does, the app puts the player to the shooter's left against them for the minimum, so a roll can always be thrown; that player can tap the fade off, and anyone else can tap on. If the fade is taken off and nobody else steps in, the dice cannot be thrown.

How do I size a side bet?

Pick a chip from the rail under the table — the minimum and its multiples, as far as your stack goes — and tap a square to put it down. Tap the square again to add another chip. Hold a chip to type another amount. The line is always one unit, the table's minimum.

What are the odds of passing?

About 49.3%: 244 in 495. A natural comes up on 8 of the 36 come-out rolls and a craps on 4; the other 24 set a point, and the shooter then makes it less often than not, because there are more ways to roll a 7 than any point.