Chuckluck

Chuck-a-luck, Chuckerluck, Bird Cage, Grand Hazard

History

The original gambling game from which Chuckluck developed was known as Grand Hazard. It is not be confused with the old English and French game of Hazard, from which the modern game of Craps evolved.

In the 1940s the game was a standard in American gambling houses, and in almost no other game does the gambling house reserve to itself so exorbitant an advantage.

The only material difference between Grand Hazard and Chuckluck is in the layout: the Grand Hazard layout is more complex, and provides spaces for wagering on odd or even, high or low, triples (called raffles), and any number the dice may total, from 4 to 17. The percentage in favour of the house, when a player bets on any particular number, varies considerably.

Chuckluck is played on a table like that shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Three dice are enclosed in a wire cage (hence the name Bird Cage), narrowing at the middle, which tumbles the dice as they fall (Figure 2).

The dice could also be held in a cone-shaped chute, called a horn, is made of leather or metal. The phrase "tinhorn gambler" derived from gamblers, who set up games of Chuckluck with little money and a metal chute, which was cheaper than a leather one.

Three large dice are enclosed in a cage having a solid top and bottom, so that the dice may rest flatly at either end of the cage. Bets are placed on the layout shown in Figure 1, after which the cage is turned over, and the dice fall to a new position.

The house pays the bets on the particular number or combination that comes up, and wins all other bets. If all three numbers are the same, it is a raffle, and the house collects all bets, except bets on raffles.

A bet on any of the spaces in region (a) (Figure 1) is a bet that the single number indicated will show on at least one of the three dice, the bettor being paid once for each time it shows.

Some houses pay triple when the number shows three times, so that in 216 bets the bettor will get back 199 chips, making the house percentage 7.9%. Other houses collect, as they do on other raffles, when three of the number show, so that in 216 bets the bettor gets back only 195 chips, and the house percentage in 9.7%.

A bet in region (b) (Figure 1) is on any particular raffle. The actual odds are 215 to 1, and the house pays 180 to 1, making the house percentage 16.2%. If you bet simply that the next cast will be a raffle, the actual odds are 35 to 1, and the house pays 30 to 1, the house percentage being 13.9%.

A raffle should come up six times in 216, which is one in 36. This is a fair percentage to pay to the house. Therefore the best bets are on high (that is, that the numbers on the dice will total some number from 11 to 17), low, odd, or even, any one of which pays even money. The next-best bet is that any one number will come up. When you bet on any given total for the three dice, you have far less chance of winning. (See the odds in Table 1.)

Bets on the various combinations of numbers in region (c) (Figure 1) are: