How to play
Sic Bo (“precious dice”) is played with three dice. You place chips on any bets you like, the dice are rolled, and every bet that matches the result is paid.
- Pick a chip (10, 50, 100 or 500), then tap bets on the table to place it. Tap again to add more. Undo takes back your last placement, and Clear removes all your bets.
- Press Roll. The three dice are rolled and the total is shown.
- Winning bets are paid; the others are lost. The recent rolls are listed under the dice (newest first). Rebet places the same bets again.
Bets and payouts (this game uses the common Macau pay table):
| Bet | Wins when | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Small | total is 4 to 10, but not a triple | 1 to 1 |
| Big | total is 11 to 17, but not a triple | 1 to 1 |
| Total 4 or 17 | exact total | 60 to 1 |
| Total 5 or 16 | exact total | 30 to 1 |
| Total 6 or 15 | exact total | 17 to 1 |
| Total 7 or 14 | exact total | 12 to 1 |
| Total 8 or 13 | exact total | 8 to 1 |
| Total 9, 10, 11 or 12 | exact total | 6 to 1 |
| Double (two dice showing, e.g. 3-3) | at least two dice show that number | 10 to 1 |
| Triple (e.g. 5-5-5) | all three dice show that number | 180 to 1 |
| Any triple | all three dice match | 30 to 1 |
| Two-dice combination (e.g. 2-6) | both numbers appear | 5 to 1 |
| Single number (1 to 6) | the number appears on 1, 2 or 3 dice | 1, 2 or 3 to 1 |
Each bet is from 10 to 1,000 credits in steps of 10, with up to 5,000 on the table per roll.
Strategy
The dice have no memory, so no betting pattern changes the odds. What differs a lot is the house edge of each bet. Calculated exactly from all 216 ways three dice can land:
| Bet | House edge |
|---|---|
| Small / Big | 2.78% |
| Single number | 7.87% |
| Total 7 or 14 | 9.72% |
| Total 8, 10, 11 or 13 | 12.50% |
| Any triple, total 5 or 16 | 13.89% |
| Total 4 or 17 | 15.28% |
| Specific triple | 16.20% |
| Total 6 or 15, two-dice combination | 16.67% |
| Double | 18.52% |
| Total 9 or 12 | 18.98% |
- Small and Big are by far the best bets. They win about 48.6% of the time each; the house edge comes only from the triples, which make both lose.
- The big payouts cost the most. A specific triple pays 180 to 1 but happens only once in 216 rolls. Totals 9 and 12 pay 6 to 1 but have the worst edge on the table.
- Single numbers look better than they are. A number appears on at least one die 42% of the time, but paying 1 to 1 on one match doesn’t make up for all the rolls where it misses.
- Mixing bets doesn’t lower the house edge. Each bet keeps its own edge; covering more outcomes only makes wins more frequent and smaller.
Another game with three dice. Chuck-a-luck is a simpler cousin of Sic Bo with number bets and a few more. For a wheel game with a lower house edge, try French Roulette.
If you enjoy Sic Bo, try Side Bet 21 or Siebzehn und Vier next.
