Your Ultimate Newbie Craps Guide

Craps is without a doubt one of the most exciting casino games around. However, beginners are often intimidated by all of the numbers and the large number of different bets available. Despite the complicated appearance, playing Craps is easy. This beginner’s guide to playing Craps will teach you all you need to know about this wonderful game. In fact, all it takes is three minutes to learn how to play this fantastic game.

Learn How To Play Craps in 3 Minutes

My first experience of Craps came when watching Detective Carter win thousands of dollars in the film Rush Hour 2. I knew nothing about the game apart from that it involved a table with two dice and that rolling a 7 or an 11 meant that you won! Or at least, I thought I knew nothing about the game. As it turns out, those are the basic rules of Craps! Detective Carter was playing the role of the ‘shooter’ and his dice rolls are called ‘come-out rolls.’

  • The come-out roll - the first roll of the dice after the previous betting round has finished.
  • The Shooter - this is the player who throws the dice

When playing online Craps for the first time, if you are the shooter, all you have to do is press the ‘roll’ button when prompted to do so. Once the dice has been rolled, there are three possible outcomes:

  • Natural - This is how to win! When a ‘Natural’ has been rolled, it means that you have either rolle a 7 or an 11. When this happens you win and you get to roll the dice again.
  • Craps - This is how you lose. Roll a 2, 3 or 12 and you loser - this is called craps.
  • Point - If you roll a 4,5,6,8,9 or 10, this is called ‘Point’. When you play Craps online, a Point roll will trigger a small white button on your screen which says ‘On’. When you roll ‘Point’ you need to roll again, if you manage to roll the same number again, you win!


Craps Betting Rules

Good news, you now know how to shoot craps! We will now teach you how to bet in a game of Craps. One of the reasons Craps is so much fun is because up to 22 players can play and bet at the same time.


Pass or Don’t Pass Bets

You can either place a bet on the ‘Pass Line’ or the ‘Don’t Pass Line’. Betting on the Pass line means betting on the Shooter to win by rolling a Natural or by winning the Point.
The Don’t Pass Line bet means that you are betting that the Shooter will lose. This will happen if the shooter rolls Craps or if the Shooter fails the Point roll.
However, if the Shooter rolls a Point, you will be allowed to place another bet before they roll again.


Come or Don’t Come Bets

Come bets payout if a natural is rolled out and loses if Craps is rolled
Don’t Come bets are the opposite, you get paid if Craps is rolled and lose if a natural is rolled out.


Proposition Bets

These are bets based on one roll of the dice, we have outlined all of the Craps proposition bets for you below:


BetWins If:
Any SevenThe shooter rolls a 7
Any CrapsThe shooter rolls a2, 3 or 12
Ace DeuceThe shooter rolls a 3
AcesThe shooter rolls a 2
BoxcarsThe shooter rolls a 12
HornThe shooter rolls a 2, 3, 11 or 12


Play Craps Today

So there you have it! You now know all of the basic rules and bets for playing Craps! But the fun doesn’t stop here, you can play Craps for free or for real money right here at SlotsandCasino.