How to Play Craps at Home: Rules for Beginners
Nov 9, 2026 · The Editors
How to play craps at home with two dice: the come-out roll, naturals and craps, the point, pass and don't pass, odds bets and payouts, and the dice probabilities behind them.
A casino craps table looks like an accountant's nightmare, but almost all of it is optional side bets. The game underneath needs two dice and a few minutes to learn, and it plays beautifully at home for chips.
What you need
Two six-sided dice, chips, and somewhere for the dice to land. At home a dice tray does the job of the casino table's padded walls: the dice bounce, settle and stay where everyone can read them. One player is the shooter; everyone else bets on the shooter's rolls, and the role passes to the left when the shooter's turn ends.
The come-out roll
Before the first roll, players bet on the pass line (betting with the shooter) or the don't pass line (betting against). Then the shooter rolls.
| Come-out roll | Pass line | Don't pass |
|---|---|---|
| 7 or 11 (a "natural") | wins | loses |
| 2, 3 or 12 ("craps") | loses | wins on 2 or 3; 12 is a tie |
| 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 | becomes the point | becomes the point |
The tie on 12 for don't pass is called "barring the 12", and it is what stops the don't pass bet from being a sure profit for the players.
Rolling for the point
Once a point is set, the shooter keeps rolling until one of two things happens:
- The point comes up again. Pass line wins; don't pass loses.
- A 7 comes up. That is a seven-out. Pass line loses, don't pass wins, and the dice go to the next shooter.
Every other number is ignored for these two bets. Then a new come-out roll begins.
The odds behind craps
With two dice there are 36 equally likely combinations. Seven is the most common total because six of them make it.
| Total | Ways to roll it | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| 2 or 12 | 1 | 2.8% each |
| 3 or 11 | 2 | 5.6% each |
| 4 or 10 | 3 | 8.3% each |
| 5 or 9 | 4 | 11.1% each |
| 6 or 8 | 5 | 13.9% each |
| 7 | 6 | 16.7% |
That is why a point of 6 or 8 is the shooter's friend, and 4 or 10 the hardest to make before a seven.
The odds bet
Once a point is set, a pass line player may add an odds bet behind their line bet. It pays at true odds, so it is the only bet in craps with no house edge.
| Point | Odds bet pays |
|---|---|
| 4 or 10 | 2 to 1 |
| 5 or 9 | 3 to 2 |
| 6 or 8 | 6 to 5 |
The pass line itself pays even money. Over the long run it gives the house an edge of about 1.4% — among the smallest in a casino.
Come and don't come
A come bet is a pass line bet made after the point is set: the next roll acts as its own come-out roll. Don't come is the opposite. They let you have several numbers working at once, and they follow exactly the same rules as above.
House rules for a home game
- Who is the bank? Either rotate the bank with the dice, or have one player run it for the evening and swap halfway.
- Both dice must hit a wall. Casinos insist on it; at home, the tray's sides do the work.
- Play for chips. Give everyone the same stack and see who has the most at the end of the night.
Craps sits well alongside roulette at home for a casino night. For a bar dice game with more decisions in it, try Farkle or liar's dice.
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