Bubble Craps and Crapless Craps: How to Play, Odds and Strategy

Bubble craps is electronic craps: two dice tumble inside a clear dome, the machine reads the result, and every player bets on a touchscreen. There is no dealer and no stickman, and the minimum bet is usually far lower than at a live table. The bets and payouts are those of table craps — except on the many machines that run crapless craps, a version where 2, 3, 11 and 12 become points. That one change raises the house edge on the pass line from 1.41% to 5.38%, and it changes which bets are worth making.

This guide covers how a bubble craps machine works, how to play one step by step, the crapless rules, the exact odds of every bet in both versions, and the strategy that keeps the cost lowest.

What is bubble craps?

A bubble craps machine is a round cabinet with a dice dome in the middle and player stations around it. The dice are tumbled inside the dome, the machine reads the totals, and the result appears on every screen. Interblock, one of the makers, describes its craps game running on several cabinets: its Diamond Dice Generator with connected terminals, a Ministar version with 4 to 10 terminals, and bar-top and Starbar units that use either an internal random number generator or a connected dice generator. So on most machines the dice are physical, but on some single units the result comes from an RNG.

On a multi-seat machine the system picks the shooter among the eligible players; on a single-player unit you are always the shooter. A countdown timer shows how long you have to place bets before each roll.

How to play bubble craps

1. Load credits. Insert cash or a ticket; the screen shows your credit and the amount you can bet. Interblock’s machines can show the bet limits over the layout from the options menu.
2. Choose a chip and bet the pass line before the come-out roll. Tap the pass line area to place the chip.
3. Watch the come-out roll. On a standard machine 7 or 11 wins, 2, 3 or 12 loses, and any other total becomes the point. On a crapless machine only 7 decides the come-out; every other total is a point.
4. Take the odds. When a point is set, a pop-up offers odds behind your pass line bet as multiples of it (for example 1x, 2x, 3x), up to the machine’s maximum. Odds pay true odds, so they carry no house edge.
5. Add place or come bets if you want more numbers working. Buttons such as Press (double the place bet on the last point) and Across (a place bet on every point number except the one set) do this in one tap.
6. The round ends when the point repeats (pass line wins) or a 7 rolls (it loses — the “seven-out”). Place bets you leave up stay working until a 7 rolls or you turn them off with the Set bets Off button.
7. Cash out when no bets are on the table; the machine prints a ticket.

Before your first bet, open the help screen: it shows the machine’s pay table, including what the field pays on 12 and how much odds it allows. Some machines display how many rolls it has been since each number came up. That history does not change the next roll — every roll of two dice is independent of the last.

Crapless craps rules

Crapless craps — also called never ever craps — removes the “craps” numbers from the come-out roll. A 7 still wins, but 2, 3, 11 and 12 no longer decide the bet: they become points, like 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10.

Because nothing loses on the come-out, there is no don’t pass or don’t come bet at a crapless table; Interblock’s crapless layout drops both. The layout instead adds place and odds bets on 2, 3, 11 and 12. At Hard Rock’s crapless table in Cincinnati, for example:

• Odds pay true odds: 6 to 1 on 2 or 12, 3 to 1 on 3 or 11, 2 to 1 on 4 or 10, 3 to 2 on 5 or 9, 6 to 5 on 6 or 8.
• Place bets pay 11 to 2 on 2 or 12, 11 to 4 on 3 or 11, 9 to 5 on 4 or 10, 7 to 5 on 5 or 9 and 7 to 6 on 6 or 8.
• The field pays double on 2 and 12 and even money on 3, 4, 9, 10 and 11.

Crapless craps odds and house edge

Every bet is decided by the 36 ways two dice can land. A point is made if it rolls again before a 7, and the chance of that depends on how many ways it can roll:

The pass line wins 47.31% of the time in crapless craps against 49.29% in standard craps, which puts its house edge at 5.38% instead of 1.41%. The trade explains why. Turning 2, 3 and 12 into points rescues some come-out losses — but those points are the hardest to make, so it adds only 2.18 percentage points to your chance of winning. Turning 11 into a point costs 4.17 points, because an automatic win becomes a point that is made only one time in four.

Bubble craps strategy: the bets that cost the least

No betting pattern changes the house edge on a bet, so a strategy here means choosing the bets that cost the least. On a standard machine:

• Pass line or come with odds. The pass line costs 1.41% and odds cost nothing, so the more odds you take, the lower the edge on the total you bet: 0.85% with 1x odds, 0.47% with 3x, 0.18% with 10x.
• Don’t pass or don’t come cost 1.36%, the lowest flat bet on the layout, and can also be backed with odds.
• Place 6 or 8 cost 1.52%.

On a crapless machine the order changes. The flat pass line costs 5.38%, more than a place bet on 5 or 9, and there is no don’t side. The cheapest bets are:

• Place 6 or 8 at 1.52% — the same as in standard craps, and cheaper than the pass line with up to 3x odds.
• Pass line with large odds. The combined edge falls to 2.94% with 1x odds, 1.54% with 3x, 1.24% with 4x and 0.58% with 10x. Odds are what make the crapless pass line worth playing at all.

In both games, the one-roll bets cost the most: the field 5.56% (2.78% on machines that pay triple on 12), hard 6 or 8 at 9 to 1 9.09%, hard 4 or 10 at 7 to 1 11.11%, 3 or 11 at 15 to 1 11.11%, 2 or 12 at 30 to 1 13.89%, and any 7 at 4 to 1 16.67%. The edge on a bet is the same whether a machine or a dealer settles it, but a machine’s betting timer and repeat-bet button keep the rolls coming, so the hourly cost of an expensive bet adds up faster. Our craps payout chart lists every standard bet, and the house edge guide compares craps with other casino games.

Playing craps online

Online craps comes as live-dealer tables and RNG games. 22bet lists three in its casino lobby:

• Craps (Evolution) — live craps from a speakeasy-style studio, with an Easy Mode that shows only the simpler bets, a built-in tutorial, and a “My Numbers” display of the totals you need and what they pay.
• First Person Craps (Evolution) — the RNG version of the same game in 3D, with a button that takes you to the live table.
• Wild Craps (Foxi) — an RNG craps game.

Evolution’s two games use standard rules, with don’t pass and don’t come. As on a machine, open the game’s help screen before you bet to see its pay table and odds limits. For other dice games, our sic bo guide prices every bet on the three-dice table. Play with money you can afford to lose, and set a limit before you start.