Where is the Golden Arm Club Wall of Fame?

We were at the California the other day and we were looking for the Golden Arm Wall of Fame, which we've heard about but couldn't find. Can you tell us where it is and how many names are on it?

The vast majority of crapshooters hold the dice for less than 10 minutes. But a select few, who manage to hang onto their roll for 60 minutes or more, are honored with plaques on the pedestrian bridge between the California and Main Street Station in downtown Las Vegas.

The Golden Arm Club was inaugurated in 1992 to celebrate the epic roll of one Stanley Fujitake, who held the dice for three hours and six minutes on May 28, 1989, between 1 and 4:06 a.m. and rolled 118 times. Even at that hour, 30-40 players were trying to place bets at the table, the dealers struggled to keep up with the payouts, chips were stacked so thick that the numbers were no longer visible, the chips disappeared so fast that they had to start issuing scrip, the casino ran completely out of $1,000 cheques, and a crowd of onlookers and cheerleaders was four deep around the table. The casino manager was called every time the losses went up by another $100,000—every 15 minutes.

When the dust settled, the California was out more than $1 million, the biggest single table-game loss in the casino’s history. The largest winner took down $100,000, while Fujitake himself was somewhere “in the middle of the pack,” around $30,000.

Fujitake, who was 77 at the time, went on to hold the dice for more than an hour three more times; his second-best roll lasted an hour and 36 minutes. He became known as “the man with the golden arm,” which gave the Wall of Fame its name.

Every year, a reunion of all the people in the club convenes at the California—and the drop at the tables is second only to Super Bowl weekend. The majority of members are Hawaiians, to whom the Cal and Main Street Station market; on the Wall are a lot of crapshooters from Honolulu and Pearl City, but it’s also a geography lesson in Hawaiian place names: Kailua, Wailuku, Waipahu, Waimanalu, Kapaa, and of course Papahanaumokuakea (just kidding).

The vast majority are men, though several women also grace the Wall, including Margie Masuda from Pearl City (one hour 43 minutes), Dottie Fujimoto from Ewa Beach, who has two plaques from 1997 and 1998, and Amy Lee from Honolulu (one hour 7 minutes).

Today, there are more 300 members of the club; on average, one new member per month earns a spot on the Wall. This year is a little below average; after six months, only four new plaques have gone up on the Wall of Fame, two from the same day, April 23.

A Platinum Arm Club was started in 1999 to honor those who've held the dice for more than 90 minutes or for more than an hour on two separate occasions.

A new world record for craps was set on May 23, 2009, by Patricia Demauro at the Borgata in Atlantic City; she held the dice for four hours and 18 minutes and rolled 154 times. Demauro, a New Jersey grandmother, had played craps only once before. A Stanford University statistics professor calculated the probability of rolling a pair of dice 154 times without throwing a 7: 1 in 1.56 trillion.

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Comments

Flaxx Jul-06-2017

Patricia Demauro

You write: "A Stanford University statistics professor calculated the probability of rolling a pair of dice 154 times without throwing a 7: 1 in 1.56 trillion." But she may well have thrown plenty of sevens on come out rolls. Are you saying she didn't roll a single seven that whole time?

shadow520 Jul-06-2017

re: Flaxx

Exactly what I was logging in to say.  That last quote is so misleading because one can throw many, many 7's during a craps roll and not lose the dice.  As long as they come during a come-out roll, you can roll 7's till the cows come home, they are all winners!  So that statistic is meaningless.

Dave Jul-06-2017

WTF???

I was also enjoying that article, until the last sentence. 

The general public, as well as mainstream media, might not understand the error in the statement, certainly LVA should have know better.

Deke Castleman Jul-06-2017

odds

Thanks to everyone for pointing this out. Thanks especially to Jeff, who sent the following email:

Not rolling a 7 in 154 rolls is just (5/6)^154 ~ 1 in 1.56 trillion…true, but holding the dice for 154 rolls seems to be an entirely different probability since you can throw many 7s on the come out rolls and still hold the dice. 
From the Wiz’s site, https://wizardofodds.com/games/craps/number-of-rolls/, the survival probability 
for 154 rolls is 1.542814E-10, or about 1 in 6.48 Billion.
I think that is the number you really want to include in the QOD.

Dave in Seattle. Jul-06-2017

"Same shooter"

If one "holds the dice" for a long time,that means they do NOT roll a SEVEN.All point numbers including 2 and 12,only. The dice are passed to the next shooter with a 7 after the point is established. Golden arms are people that shoot the dice for a very long time with the same point number without throwing a SEVEN.
I couldn't hold my bladder for 1 1/2 hours!!!!!!
Add a new term "Craps bladder".

Pit Boss Jul-06-2017

Golden Arm

Sorry Dave not true. The Golden Arm contest at the Cal is for dice held until it passes. So all those 7's in the C/O cycle do count as good rolls.
As for Pat. I know her and have spoken with her. There were many 7's in the come out cycle. However, the distinction between 1.56 Trillion or 6.48 Billion, even though duly noted (thank god for math guys, love you guys!) doesn't change the fact that it's a once in a lifetime occurrence.

randyi Jul-06-2017

crapshooters from Honolulu and Pearl City, but it’s also a geography lesson in Hawaiian place names:

No place called Waimanalu. You must mean "Waimanalo"

Jul-06-2017

Don't need a prof

Everything in the article was great and drum-tight until the last sentence.  It doesn't take a Stanford University statistics professor to calculate the odds against rolling the dice 154 times without rolling a 7.  Anybody can do this by using Excel.

Question of the Day - 06 July 2017

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