The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-03-06

Come seven"
Newer make four"
He passed again."
Its my shoot
A Lady passing along the street with her
best young man turned to him and in
quired:
What are they doing, Charlie, dear?"
Shooting craps" he replied, with mas
culine sagacity.
But what kind of game is craps ?" she
persisted.
''Oh, you throw two dice down and then
you win or lose. / don't know exactly
how it is done"
Everybody in Chicago, nearly, knows
what the word craps means, but very
few Of them would be competent to deliver
lecture on the subject.
Craps was first originated by the negro
deck b ands on Mississippi steamboats,,
who took the game up as means of be-
quilting the time between landings. From
this humble beginning it gradually worked
ats way among the bootblacks. newsboys
and tin-horn gamblers. and has now
reached the gilded gambling halls of Chi
cago.
But to describe the game in detail.
The man Who 4shoots'' takes the two
ordinary dice in his right hand and throws
them from him on some smooth surface
The spots on the upper sides Of the two
dice are counted together. 1.-THE first shot
is either pair Of aces, ace-deuce or pair of
skies, aggregafing two, three or twelve, the
player loses, these combinations being
called Acraps." On the other hand, if he
scores either seven oHeleven he is said to
have made pass and wins Should
the result be four, i've, six. eight, nine
or ten he neither wins nor loses, but
makes his point, as it is termed, and
shoots again. After the first throw the
game narrows down to this: If the PLAYER
throws his point, or first score, again be-
fore throwing seven he wins, but If seven
comes up first he loses. On the first throw
the player has q decided advantage. Of
the twelve sides OF the two cubes there are
six combinations forming the magical
seven and two making up the other win
ming number eleven, while the losing
points two, three and twelve, can result
from only four combinations. Thus, on
the first shot. the player has two chances
to win as against one to lose. This adj
vantage is more apparent than real. how
ever. Two dice may combine in thirty-six
different ways, eight of which win and
four lose. the remaining twenty -four being
neutral, giving the player his point.
which he must throw again in order TO
win. In other words. the chances are ex-
actly two to one that the irs1 throw will
throw the advantage changes and goes
against the shooter. Out of the thirty-six
possible positions into which the pair of
dice may fall three will make ND ten and
three other four; four will produce nine
and an equal number five while two sets
of i've each viii score eight and six respec-
lively. In the meantime, seven, 10 throw
which Is TO lose now, has six chances out
of the thirty-sixs Six and eight are the
best points for the player TO make. and four
and ten the poorest, the percentage against
MIN alter the nrst throw varying from six
to i've to two TO one, and averaging three
to two. Taking the entire game together,
the shooter is at disadvantage to the ex-
tent of q little over Az per cent
Newsboys and negroes are the chief ma
irons of the game in Chicago, and the pas
sionate Interestingly take in the proceed
1ngs Is most amusing TO an Unconditional
looker-on. They howl and laugh over
every point of the game, and viii spend
their last cent endeavoring TO win back
their lost luck. oftentimes the affair
winds up IN tight, especially when
crooked dice are used Then. If the affair
be colored entertainment, razors are
drawn and trouble commences
There are two kinds Of crooked dice
loaded dice and marked dice The hrs;
are weighted on one side generally with
small pieces OF shot, which cause them to
Marked dice are not marked with q differ
ent number on each face Is is the case
with straight dice Instead of that, one
cube VIII have all hyes or all skies which
makes the lucky man certain of scoring a
pass" on the first throw. Only persons
experienced with their hands can expecr
TO be successful in such practices. for the
players are generally on the lookout for
trickery. But one day this week central
detail men arrested Eve men for shooting
craps Every one Of them had crooked
dice IN his possession. and the grand total
amounted 20 eighteen cubes.
The police have strict orders to break IN
all games on the street. and the result IS
that newsnoys generally post lookout be-
fore they sat down 10 gamble But in
spite OF their vigilance they are oftentimes
caught, taken through the street In =
patrol wagon, and get q lecture in the
morning. However. as soon as they cef
out they return at once TO rattle the
bones
Its 6 seductive game, is craps. and num-
bers many supposedly good people among
its victims