Dice Roulette

My mind was wandering this morning - as it is wont to do so often - and it suddenly struck me that you can roll 36 numbers with a pair of dice. (I've heard that called "a blinding flash of the obvious".) That just happens to be the same number of numbers there are on a roulette table, if you ignore the '0' and '00', which are just there to give the house an advantage, anyway. While that bothered me briefly, I thought it might be fun to pursue how you could play a decent game of roulette using a pair of dice. Here's what I came up with.

NOTE: I've limited myself to two standard six-sided dice, here, which are called 'd6' in the parlance of role playing gamers. If you have some of those funky RPG d8's, d20's, or other weird dice, go make up your own game.

First of all, you'd need a way to generate 36 truly different numbers. Many of the numbers you roll with two dice can be considered duplicates in one of two ways:

First, they can add up to the same number, in which case you have only eleven possible outcomes. For example, rolling 5+2, 2+5, 6+1, 1+6, 4+3, and 3+4 all give you the same total: 7. This is how the game of craps works. So we definitely don't want to add.

Secondly, they can be 'switched pairings', where the two numbers rolled are interchangable. So, for example, 4+2 is the same as 2+4. One way to solve this is to use dice of two different colors. Designate one color as the high number of a pair, and the other color as low. For example, if the white die is 'high' and it rolls a '1' and the green die is 'low' and it rolls a '3', you have rolled '13'. That's the way we'll go. So get your hands on two dice of different colors (or sizes, or whatever, as long as you can easily tell them apart).

Using this scheme, you can roll 36 different numbers, with the digits 1-6 in both the first and second positions. So the lowest number you can roll is '11', and the highest is '66'.

Though these numbers aren't sequential - you can't roll any number ending in a 7, 8, 9, or 0 - they do preserve all of the other attributes that are laid out on a roulette table. You have a 50-50 chance of rolling an even or odd number, a 50-50 chance of throwing a number in the high or low half, and a 1/3 chance of throwing a number in the low, middle, or high 1/3 of the series.

Dice Roulette If you arrange these numbers in a grid (see picture) similar to the one used in roulette, coloring it according to the same scheme as roulette, you also have a 50-50 chance of rolling red or black, and a 1/3 chance of throwing a number in the left, middle, or right-hand column.

If you're bothered by the omission of the '0' and '00', you can add back in a similar house advantage by barring a number on each roll. I suggest one of these possibilities: (a) Roll a number before you begin (or just choose one number to use for all time) and bar it for the duration of the game. This will skew all of the bets on the table in favor of red or black, high or low, etc., for the whole game, so it is probably least desirable. (b) Roll a number to bar before each roll, but roll it AFTER all bets have been placed. I think this one probably simulates the effects of the zeroes best, and spreads out the risk to the players pretty well. or, (c) Bar the last number thrown for the next turn. This will affect how players play the even-money and other combination bets.

Note that players are NOT barred from playing these numbers directly; they can still place a direct bet on the barred number. A barred number is simply excluded from being counted in the combination bets such as odd, red, columns, or groups.

I've playtested this system for awhile and it seems to actually work pretty well. While you probably won't be seeing it in casinos anytime soon, if you're stuck at home or in a bar and are jonesing for a game of roulette, it should get you through without developing the DTs. Have fun!

NOTE: An interesting aside to this system is that you could actually play BOTH roulette and craps using the exact same throws of the dice. I don't recommend this, as craps is traditionally a fast-paced game, whereas roulette tends to run at a more leisurely pace. But you could play it that way, and it might be interesting. Imagine a casino setup with a roulette layout on one side, a craps layout on the other, and a middle area where you simply throw the dice for both! Cool!