How to play Sic Bo

Sic Bo is a Chinese casino game played with three dice, a cup to shake them under and chips or points to bet with. Two to eight players is a good number at home. One player acts as banker, and the role should rotate.

The game is traditionally played for money, but chips work at least as well around the kitchen table. You also need a layout to bet on: draw a simple one on a sheet of paper with the fields small and big, the numbers 1 to 6, and a few totals and triples if you like (see the bets below).

Every round follows the same pattern:

1. The players place chips on the fields they want to bet on. You are free to bet on several fields in the same round.
2. The banker shakes the three dice under the cup and lifts it, so everyone can see the result.
3. The bets are settled: losing bets go to the bank, and winning bets are paid out according to the table in the next section.

Then a new round begins. Keep the dice hidden until all bets have been placed.

These are the most common fields, with the payout on top of your stake:

• Small: the total is 4 to 10. Pays even money, but loses if all three dice match.
• Big: the total is 11 to 17. Same payout and the same exception for triples.
• Single number: pick a number from 1 to 6. If one die shows your number you win even money. Two dice pay double, three pay triple.
• Total: bet on an exact sum from 4 to 17. The rarer the total, the more it pays: 4 and 17 pay around 60 times the stake, while 10 and 11 pay around 6 times.
• Double: at least two dice show a chosen number. Pays around 10 times the stake.
• Specific triple: all three dice show a chosen number. Often pays 180 times the stake.
• Any triple: three of a kind, whatever the number. Pays around 30 times the stake.

Payouts vary a little from casino to casino. At home, pick one table and stick to it.

The bank has the edge in Sic Bo, so swap bankers at regular intervals, for example after every round or every fifth round. Agree in advance how long you play. Whoever has the most chips at the end wins.

The name Sic Bo roughly means precious dice in Cantonese. In Macau, where the game is a fixture, it often goes by dai siu, meaning big-small, after the two most popular bets. The English relative Grand Hazard is built on the same idea of three dice and a betting layout.

Chuck-a-Luck is in effect a simplified Sic Bo where you only bet on single numbers. If you prefer two dice and a shooter at the centre of things, Craps is the natural alternative.

Small and big give the most even chances and are the fields casinos earn the least on. Single numbers and the middle totals also hold up reasonably well, while triples hit rarely and are mostly there for the thrill. At home it evens out anyway, as long as the banker role keeps rotating.

Yes. Three dice, a cup and a hand-drawn layout on a sheet of paper is all it takes. Write small and big at the top, the numbers 1 to 6 at the bottom, and add totals and triples if you want more options. Chips can be replaced with matchsticks or points on a pad.