What Is

What is “card craps?”

Card craps (sometimes called “craps with cards”) is a table game designed to simulate the action of traditional craps, only it uses playing cards instead of dice. The layout looks like the regular dice game, but the randomness comes from drawing cards rather than rolling bones.

The cards are used as a legal workaround in jurisdictions where dice games are restricted.

From the player’s perspective, it plays almost exactly like regular craps. The numerical values of the cards are added together to produce a total from 2 to 12, just like dice.

On the come-out, the dealer draws two cards. Again, just like regular craps, totals of 7 or 11 are wins for the pass line; 2 or 3 are wins on the don't pass; 12 is a push; and any other total (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) becomes the point.

Once the point is established, cards continue to be drawn. Point wins, 7 loses. Place and field bets, hardways, etc. all resolve exactly as they do in dice craps — just triggered by card totals instead of dice.

Anyone who knows how to play traditional craps can play card craps, pretending that the card draw is the dice roll.

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Bob Mar-22-2026

Assuming

They just use cards A-6?

VegasVic Mar-22-2026

They Use Dice Too

In CA card craps also uses dice.  The cards are laid out, face down and the dice are rolled, just as in regular craps.  Then the corresponding cards are turned over and what the cards show are the actual result.  CA law prohibits the FINAL OUTCOME to be determined by dice but dice can be used to help determine the outcome.

Tim Soldan Mar-22-2026

Haven't seen it

Where is the game available?

That Don Guy Mar-22-2026

re: Bob and Tim

Bob: yes - Ace through 6

Tim: as VegasVic pointed out, it's in California tribal casinos, but they almost always use dice as well - there are six spots on the table marked 1-6, and cards Ace through 6 are dealt into them; the numbers that are rolled are "converted" to the card values (e.g. if there is an Ace in the 3 spot, rolling a 3 counts as a 1). This is a workaround to California's state Constitution only allowing "card games" as table games. There is a similar "card roulette" that uses a special deck of cards with numbers 1-36 plus 0 and 00 (but in this case, only two spaces - black and red - and the wheel itself does not have numbers); Palms had this at one point (called "Mystery Card Roulette"), but they may have removed it.

Craig Hosey Mar-22-2026

Mr.

dice are still used to determine which cards are turned.  Roller rolls the bones and what comes up determines which preplaced cards are turned over

Question of the Day - 22 March 2026

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