Initially the shooter has to bet on the “Pass” line or the “Don’t Pass” line. They are sometimes called the “Win” and “Don’t Win” or “Right” and “Wrong” bets. The game is always played in rounds and these two bets are done at the outcome of one round. The shooter is sometimes replaced at the end of each round or when he loses a round getting a seven. The chance of dice is moved in a clockwise direction around the table as with every change of the shooter.

Each round has two stages specifically known as the “come-out” and “point”. To initially start the round, the shooter has to make one or more “come-out” rolls from the dice.

If the come-out roll is of 2, 3 or 12 he loses and is referred to as “craps”. Also the players who have betted on the Pass line lose. As is customary a come-out roll of 7 or 11 often called as the “natural” wins and the outcome is the payout for players betting on the “pass line” bets. The other outcome can be numbers such as point numbers: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10. If the shooter gets any one of these as outcome then this is called the “point” which means the number which must be rolled till getting a seven. The dealer then activates a button towards the “On” side and then moves it to a number which signifies the second stage of the round. If the shooter gets a seven before getting that number i.e. a “seven-out” then the Pass line loses and also the round ends.

If any player wants to join the game in between a game then he or she has to wait till the dealer sets the “ON” button. If the button is in “OFF” state then he has to wait as the table is in come out round. As a player joins it is regarded a new game and finally a new shooter is recognized and the same rules follow. Then the next thing to understand is the rolling of dice. The better combination one gets the better are the chances of winning. Although, they have to be understood thoroughly.

Since two dice are thrown the collective number of it is considered. The minimum can be 2 and maximum can be 12. Every roll has specific meaning. There are betting variants also. They depend upon the casino and the table.

• 11 is a point number: Rolling 11 as outcome makes the point 3:1 i.e. on Pass/Come odds bets (1:3 on Don’t Pass/Come odds) also all line bets are still even money. The house edge in this jumps dramatically to 9.75%
• 12 pays 3:1 on the field.
•  11 pays 2:1 on the field.
• Big 6/8 are unavailable: Big 6 or 8 are unavailable in small casinos as the payout for them is better and casino simply omit them so as to increase their edge in  casinos.