How to play
Barbudi comes from the coffee houses of Greece and the wider Eastern Mediterranean, where it was played between two people: one throws the dice (the shooter) and the other bets against them (the fader). On this table there is no opponent to find. You pick a side, or one of the four bets on how the duel ends, and the computer throws for both.
You start with 1,000 virtual credits.
- Choose a chip: 20, 100, 200 or 1,000.
- Tap a betting spot to put the chip there. Tap again to stack more. Each spot takes 20 to 1,000 credits in steps of 20, and everything on the layout together can’t go over 5,000.
- Undo takes back the last chip, Clear empties the layout, and Rebet puts back the bets from your previous round.
- Press Roll.
The two dice are then thrown over and over until one throw settles the duel. A counter shows each throw, and the result line names the deciding pair, the winning side and the throw count.
Only these pairs settle anything:
| Shooter wins on | Fader wins on |
|---|---|
| 3-3, 5-5, 6-6, 6-5 | 1-1, 2-2, 4-4, 1-2 |
The other 26 of the 36 possible throws (a 4-1, a 3-4, every 7 and so on) count for nothing, and the dice go again. There is no point to establish and no target number, which is what separates Barbudi from Craps and Hazard: the winning and losing pairs never change during a round.
Bets and payouts
The layout has two wide spots on top and four smaller ones below.
| Bet | Wins when | Pays | Return to player |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shooter | a shooter pair comes before a fader pair | 0.95 to 1 | 97.5% |
| Fader | a fader pair comes first | 0.95 to 1 | 97.5% |
| Double | the deciding throw is any double | 0.6 to 1 | 96.0% |
| Ends on 6-5 | the deciding throw is 6-5 | 3.8 to 1 | 96.0% |
| Ends on 1-2 | the deciding throw is 1-2 | 3.8 to 1 | 96.0% |
| 1st throw | the very first throw decides, either way | 2.45 to 1 | 95.83% |
The odd-looking 0.95 to 1 is why chips come in multiples of 20: a winning 20 on the shooter brings back 39, so the payout is always a whole number.
The odds, worked out
Every figure in the table above comes from counting the 36 ordered ways two dice can land.
- Shooter pairs: 3-3, 5-5 and 6-6 are one way each, 6-5 is two ways (6 then 5, or 5 then 6). That’s 5.
- Fader pairs: 1-1, 2-2, 4-4 one way each, 1-2 two ways. Also 5.
Since repeats change nothing, all that matters is which of those 10 outcomes shows up first, and each one is equally likely. So the shooter and the fader each win exactly half the time. Pay 0.95 to 1 on a coin toss and you get a 97.5% return, a house edge of 2.5% on both sides.
The ending bets follow the same logic. Six of the ten deciding outcomes are doubles, so Double wins 60% of rounds; 1.6 back times 0.6 is 0.96. A 6-5 finish is 2 of 10, or 20%; 4.8 back times 0.2 is 0.96 again, and 1-2 is the mirror image. For 1st throw, the chance the opening throw is one of the ten is 10/36, about 27.8%, and 3.45 times that is 0.9583.
On average a round runs 3.6 throws. About one round in five is still going after five throws, so the long, tense sequences are normal and say nothing about what comes next.
Strategy
There is no choice inside a round: once you press Roll, the dice do everything. Your only decisions are which spots to cover and how much, so the useful advice is about cost.
- The two sides are the cheapest bets on the table. At 2.5% they lose less per credit staked than any of the four ending bets.
- Don’t cover both sides. Shooter plus fader means one always wins and the other always loses. You get 1.95 back on every 2 staked, a guaranteed small loss each round.
- Ending bets are for variety, not value. They cost about 4% per credit. 6-5 and 1-2 pay well and land one round in five, so expect dry spells; Double wins more often but pays little.
- Size bets against your credits, not your last result. Raising after a loss to “win it back” doesn’t touch the edge, it just makes the losing streaks deeper. A flat bet of 20 or 100 lets you play far longer on 1,000 credits.
If you enjoy Barbudi, try Basketball Shot or Big Ball Lotto next.
