Riverboat Gambler 17+

Game #68 is here and it was added in response to an overwhelming number of requests for “Crapless Craps”! "Overwhelming" is an understatement. There are a lot of folks who love this game!

Craps is only a part of RBG because a long time supporter, Bishop Bryan Ouellette, encouraged me to add that game a few years ago. It was a tough game to create because of the complexities of the wagers and payouts, but it also turned out to be some of my best work and Craps is the game of which I am most proud. It was a lot of work and it had its challenges. Those of you who have supported RBG for a long time can remember when it was added to the iPhone and the issues that occurred with the dice not matching the roll results.

It’s worth noting that Bryan also gets credit for many of the more obscure games like “Sic Bo”, “Fish, Prawn, Crab”, “Faro”, “Pai Gow Tiles”, and “Boule”. He’s still waiting for “Fan-Tan”! What I appreciate most from Bryan is that he has always challenged me to “dig deeper and deliver more”.

Personally, I had never heard of Crapless Craps the first time it was requested. The name sounds satirical. After all, how can you play Craps “without Craps”?!? It is, however, a real game and I am looking forward to visiting Tunica to play it in Live Play.

Of all of the requests that I receive to add a game to RBG, Crapless Craps was, hands down, the most frequently requested. Given the complexity of Craps, I was a bit nervous about undertaking another variant of the game, but I always do my best to support the Player Community that supports me!

The game is the same as standard Craps with the exception that the 2,3,11 and 12 are "Points" so there are no "Darkside Rolls". "Any Craps", "C&E", and "Horn Bets" still exist as one-time rolls, though. Basically, the Shooter shoots until a 7 is rolled. A 7 on the Come Out is a win; any other 7 clears the table. A 2,3,11, or 12 establish the Shooter's point and he will continue to roll in an attempt to hit that number a second time.

Interestingly enough, the House Edge on Crapless Craps is 5.38% which is substantially higher than the 1.41% edge in traditional Craps. However, the payouts for "the Extremes (2,3,11,12)" seem to make the game more attractive to Players. While playing, one does feel like he's being paid more frequently, but there are also a lot more active wagers being placed on the board so the feeling that "you're winning" may be an exaggeration.

Were I to make an educated guess, it would be that removing "The Darkside" aspect of Craps has a substantial impact on the House Edge. From my personal experience, I find that I do better when I'm playing the Don't Pass and tolerating the animosity of the rest of the table.


In addition to the new game, the following fixes are included in this release:

1. While testing Crapless Craps, I discovered that I missed the boards/screens for Craps, Sic Bo, and Roulette on an 11” iPad (M2) that had been configured for “More Space”. That has been addressed in this release. Now, the only screen size that needs to be addressed (for ALL games) is a 13” iPad that has been configured for “Large Text”. Most games will still work on this resolution, but the "coordinates sensitive games like Craps, Roulette, and Sic Bo will not be available.

2. For Sic Bo, the bankroll amount and total of “In Play” wagers was not being properly displayed on some iPads.

~Danny