Very Concerned Craps Guru

Ive been playing craps on a weekly basis for over 25 years. To me, it is the greatest table game ever created. My concern is that the way we need to play the game will change for at least a year due to the CoronaVirus . Social distancing on the craps table? Doesnt seem possible. What are the whispers on how the game will be played?

I will not play the bubble craps or electronic craps.

I will , however, play in a stadium craps style game. This is how I envision the best possible scenario. If any game inventors are here, I will give you advice on what will work and what players would like..

Live craps table with each roll recorded by video and fed to each player electronic station.... similar to how they do roulette, etc. But the craps table needs to be a real table with new shooters after a roll has ended. This way everyone gets a turn in line... that could be fun. Just like a batter who is up to the plate.. on stage! The dice need to be legitimate and the rolls need to be just like on the craps table. The feed could have 50, 100, 200 player stations playing that roller at once. Shhhiii@@@ttt, you could have people at home playing on their computer via live shooter. You could have 100,000 players on a roller.

And that , my friend, is a million dollar winning game! PM me to discuss my royalties!

I think the appeal of craps for a casino is you can play craps, but you can't get to the table. My gut is they won't open a craps table.

Quote: WatchMeWin

...Social distancing on the craps table? Doesnt seem possible...

Social distancing for entertainment venues will be a general problem. It applies to casinos as well as restaurants, theatres, pubs.

I suspect many people won't even think about going out for a while, in the UK several pubs are very worried and possibly a few good ones will fall by the wayside.

I'm guessing that when the restrictions are lifted, it is impractical to keep people apart. They might minimise people touching things (like cards, salt and pepper pots at tables, etc.) but I can't see how they'd work without using chips. (Perhaps all dealers will use gloves.) Dice seems easy, just swap them (and wash them) after each shooter.

Limiting three players to a side takes care of social distancing. The real issue is about using chips or replacing chips with electronic betting. That's been discussed in other threads.

Quote: AlanMendelson

Limiting three players to a side takes care of social distancing. The real issue is about using chips or replacing chips with electronic betting. That's been discussed in other threads.

It depends on if they mean real social distancing, or social distancing just there to look like they are using social distancing. If you use 6 feet between players, that would mean 6 feet BETWEEN players. So If there is 13 feet of rail space, as an example, you could not fit 3 people there, as people are not 0 feet wide. And not having a buffer over the 6 feet is of course not realistic, because real people move a little to their left, then a little to their right..... Will the aisle behind the table be one way, more than 13 feet wide? If not, people walking to and fro will get into the magic 6 foot zone.

They will enforce some bastardization of social distancing, with some faux cleaning measures,

I wonder if this would work...

"We at Casino X are happily opening for the general public tomorrow. Other than more hand sanitizer being available than before, and allowing patrons who want to wear masks to do so, nothing will be different from before the shutdown. There are public health experts who say that this will put you, the patron, at some increased risk of getting COVID-19. Please enter at your own risk."

Quote: SOOPOO

It depends on if they mean real social distancing, or social distancing just there to look like they are using social distancing. If you use 6 feet between players, that would mean 6 feet BETWEEN players. So If there is 13 feet of rail space, as an example, you could not fit 3 people there, as people are not 0 feet wide. And not having a buffer over the 6 feet is of course not realistic, because real people move a little to their left, then a little to their right..... Will the aisle behind the table be one way, more than 13 feet wide? If not, people walking to and fro will get into the magic 6 foot zone.

Yeah, I don't know the exact dimensions of a craps table, but is there anywhere a player can stand at the rail that is at least 6 ft from the stickman or a base dealer? Maybe in the hook, but even that would mean a max of 2 players per table to maintain 6' of separation.

Personally, I would be more wary of touching the dice and chips that everyone and their grandmas have handled than having some dude standing 3' away from me.

Quote: AlanMendelson

Limiting three players to a side takes care of social distancing. The real issue is about using chips or replacing chips with electronic betting. That's been discussed in other threads.

If handling chips is an issue, then wouldn't handling dice have the same issue?

Quote: WatchMeWin

...
Live craps table with each roll recorded by video and fed to each player electronic station.... similar to how they do roulette, etc. But the craps table needs to be a real table with new shooters after a roll has ended.
...

This already exists. I don’t know what casino, and it might have been a field trial. But it was mentioned on a thread here a year or so ago.

If I recall correctly, when it’s your turn to shoot, the credits from your terminal transfers to the terminal up front next to the craps table. At the same time, your old terminal becomes locked out for you to return to when you’re done shooting.

The entire thing will be a cluster flunk. I’m less worried about handling chips or money or dice or having someone closer to me than 6 feet and more concerned about someone vaping or smoking and blowing diseased fog/smoke into my “zone”.

So long as casinos offer the opportunity to make bets, it is almost certain they will offer the opportunity to make good bets.