Craps
A dice game in which players bet on the outcome of rolls of two dice, structured around a 'come-out' roll and, if no immediate decision, a 'point' number that must be repeated before a 7 appears.
Definition
In craps, a designated shooter rolls two dice. The opening 'come-out' roll resolves the core Pass Line bet immediately on a 7 or 11 (win) or 2, 3 or 12 (loss, called craps); any other number (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) becomes the 'point'. The shooter keeps rolling until either the point is repeated (Pass Line wins) or a 7 appears first (Pass Line loses, and the dice pass to a new shooter). The table offers a wide spread of additional bets with very different house edges, from the low-edge Pass/Don't Pass and Odds bets to high-edge proposition and hardway bets. The game is fast and social, but as with all casino games the paytables are set so the long-run maths favours the operator.
Worked example
A shooter's come-out roll is a 6, so 6 becomes the point. They roll a 9, then an 8, then a 6 before any 7 appears, so the point is made and Pass Line bets win even money. Had a 7 come before the second 6, Pass Line would have lost and the round would end.
Why it matters
For learners, craps is the clearest example of a single table offering both some of the best-value bets and some of the worst, so bet choice dominates outcomes. For professionals, its bet variety makes it a useful teaching tool for how identical dice can carry wildly different house edges.