How to play
Chō-han strips dice betting down to a single coin-flip question: will the two dice add up to an even number or an odd one? The names are Japanese; chō means even and han means odd.
The table has just two betting boxes, Chō · Even and Han · Odd.
- Pick a chip. The tray offers 20, 100, 200 and 1,000.
- Tap a box to put the chip there. Each tap adds another chip of the selected value.
- Tap Roll. Two dice tumble onto the table and the total is shown under them.
- Settle. If the total is even (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12), Chō wins. If it’s odd (3, 5, 7, 9, 11), Han wins. The other box is collected.
Clear takes your chips off the table before a roll, and Rebet lays out the previous round’s bets in one tap. A row of recent rolls sits beside the dice, showing the last eight results.
Bets go in multiples of 20, from 20 up to 1,000 per box, with no more than 5,000 on the table at once.
The payout and commission
A winning bet pays even money minus a 5% commission on the win. In practice the game hands back 1.95 times your stake: a 20 bet returns 39 (your 20 plus 19 profit), and a 1,000 bet returns 1,950.
That is why the smallest chip is 20 rather than 10. With stakes in steps of 20, the 5% cut is always a whole number of credits and nothing needs rounding.
The odds
Two six-sided dice can land 36 ways, all equally likely. Pair each face of the first die with each face of the second and you’ll find exactly 18 even totals and 18 odd ones. The most common total, 7, is odd, but even totals make up the difference with 6 and 8, so the split is a perfect 50/50.
| Box | Wins on | Chance | Returns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chō | Even total | 18 of 36 | 1.95 × stake |
| Han | Odd total | 18 of 36 | 1.95 × stake |
Half the time you get 1.95 back, half the time nothing, which averages 0.975 per credit staked. The house edge is therefore 2.5% on both boxes, and it comes entirely from the commission. Without it the game would be perfectly even.
Strategy
There is very little to decide in Chō-han, and that is its charm. A few things are still worth knowing.
- The boxes are identical. Neither side has better odds, and picking one over the other changes nothing but which result you cheer for.
- Past rolls tell you nothing. Five evens in a row on the history strip doesn’t make odd “due”. Every roll starts fresh.
- Betting both boxes is a guaranteed small loss. One side always wins and pays 1.95, the other loses its stake. With 100 on each box you get 195 back from 200, every roll.
- Stake size sets the pace. Since the edge is fixed at 2.5%, larger bets only make your balance swing faster in both directions.
- Compared with other dice tables, 2.5% is modest. Banca Francesa has a lower edge of about 1.59% on each decided bet, while most bets in Sic Bo cost more.
If you like even-money calls with a quick rhythm, the coin game Two-Up works on a similar heads-or-tails idea.
If you enjoy Chō-han, try Chuck-a-luck or Classic Slots next.
