What is the hardest craps variant?
'Hardest' can mean hardest to learn, hardest to bet well, or hardest to double your bankroll in. Different variants top each list.
Hardest to learn: Hazard
Hazard, the medieval ancestor of craps, makes you call a main from 5 to 9 before you roll - and every rule shifts with your choice. The main wins instantly, 2 and 3 always lose, but 12 wins only when your main is 6 or 8, and 11 loses on every main we offer. Then a chance number turns the game into point-before-main. It's craps with the training wheels removed, which is exactly why it humbled tavern gamblers for 500 years.
Sneakiest odds: Crapless Craps
Crapless Craps sounds like a gift - you cannot lose the come-out roll, because 2, 3, 11 and 12 all become points instead. The catch: you also give up the automatic win on 11, and the 'extra' points are brutal to make (2 or 12 wins just 1 time in 7 against a seven-out). The pass edge nearly quadruples, from 1.41% to about 5.38%. It's a masterclass in how a friendlier-feeling rule can be a worse bet.
Deepest game: full bank craps
The classic casino table is the hardest to play well, simply because it offers the most decisions: pass and don't pass, come bets, odds, place bets, the field, hardways and one-roll props, with house edges from 0% to 16.67%. Mastering it means knowing which nine-tenths of the layout to ignore. See every bet's edge for the map.
Related questions
What is Hazard, the dice game?
Hazard is the medieval English dice game that craps descends from, played in taverns since the 14th century and mentioned by Chaucer. You call a 'main' from 5 to 9, then roll: hitting the main wins instantly, 2 or 3 loses, and other totals set a 'chance' you must repeat before the main.
What is Crapless Craps?
Crapless Craps is a variant where you can't lose the come-out roll: a 7 still wins, but 2, 3, 11 and 12 become points instead of instant wins or losses. The comfort has a price - giving up the automatic 11 win raises the pass edge to about 5.38%.
What is New York Craps?
New York Craps is the no-frills East Coast variant with no pass line, no come bets and no place bets. You bet directly on the box numbers - 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 - to roll before a 7, paid at true odds minus a 5% commission on wins.
How many craps variants are there?
Dozens have existed across 700 years of dice history. Craps.now offers 8 playable variants in three families: the casino classics (Craps, Crapless, New York), modern simplifications (High Point, Simplified, Die Rich) and the street and historical games (Street Craps and medieval Hazard).