Craps Dice History

Did you know that dice have been around for about 2,000 years? It seems that they have helped people make decisions for centuries. Most people leave it to the dice to decide. It is a great way to avoid making a decision yourself and leaving it all to chance. Dice are nowadays known all over the world and are especially used in casinos. You will find a pair of dice in almost every household around the world. They are either used for entertainment or for actual decision making.

During the passing of time dice have had many forms and have been made from various materials. In the primitive days people used plum and peach stones, seeds, buffalo, caribou and moose bone, walnut shells, pebbles, horns, and certain animal teeth to fabricate dice. In the time of the Romans dice were made from bone and ivory, bronze, rock crystal, onyx, marble, porcelain or amber.

Nowadays dice are made from either cellulose or plastic materials. Standard dice have 6 sides and each side is marked with spots. The spots symbolize a number from one to six, and spots on opposite sides of the dice must always total 7.

The casinos use two types of dice: razor edge or feather edge. The razor edge dice are square, while the feather edge dice have slightly rounded edges. Usually these dice are red, or a shade of red, and are transparent. The symbols depicted on them are the concave spot, bird's eye spot, and the flush spot. Casino dice also have a monogram and a serial number marked on them. The casinos do this to prevent cheaters from using crooked craps dice.

The dice on the market nowadays are separated into two large categories:

• Hand made dice that have a 1/5,000 tolerance, known as perfect dice. This type of dice is used in gambling.
• Machine made dice that have little detail, known as drug store dice. This type of dice is used when playing various board games or any other social activity that involves dice.

When playing craps in a casino you must always use two dice. All the numbers on the dice have the same chances of rolling out. If you would like to learn more about the odds of certain numbers coming up just visit our CRAPS ODDS section. You should know that the odds vary from one number to another. Knowing what the odds are can be of great help when deciding what bet to make.