Sic Bo is an ancient Chinese dice game that is growing in popularity around the world – especially in online casinos. It’s high risk, tricky to master, but immensely enjoyable for fans of roulette and craps.
Sic Bo (“precious dice”) has a long and storied history. First played thousands of years in ancient China, some believe that it was the first true casino game every invented.
Whether this is fact or not, the game has been around for a very long time – often mentioned around the time karate and tai quan do first appeared on the scene – and has undergone many name changes during this time like dai siu, tai sai and hi-lo.
Sic Bo is immensely popular in Asia and, with the growth of Macau into the world’s biggest gambling destination and the millions who visit there every year, is fast spreading out across the rest of the globe.
For fans of craps and roulette, Sic Bo offers a new take on games of pure chance, where strategy definitely takes a back seat to the power of Lady Luck in influencing the outcome. At first glance the game may seem hugely complicated but, if you have ever navigated the inside and outside of a roulette table, you’ll quickly pick up how to go about playing this amazing game.
Like roulette, the live version and the online version of Sic Bo are pretty much identical.
The gameplay is the same. The table is the same. The only difference is that you’re playing against a computer programme rather than a dealer (unless you’re playing Live Dealer online Sic Bo which is another level of awesome!).
Sic Bo is a game of three dice and a betting table. Once again, like roulette except that you have three dice instead of the wheel.
Players bet on their predicted outcome of the dice roll, place their bets on the bet table, the dealer shakes the box that contains the dice, opens it to reveal the result, and the players who got it right collect their winnings.
Sounds simple, right? That’s because it is. All you as a player need to do is decide what you think the dice will land on and place your bets.
Where it does get complicated is just how to place your
The Sic Bo bet table is made up of a bunch of different permutations of how the three dice could land. You can bet on all sorts of combinations from a simple bet on the total of the three dice, whether they’ll land on Small (a total from 4 to 10) or Big (a total of 11 to 17), on whether a single number will come up, whether there will be doubles or triples, and a few others.
Yes, it looks complicated but it’s no different to odds/evens, black/red, columns, streets, and straights in roulette.
As you can see in the layout, all the bet possibilities are clearly laid out along with the payout if you bet correctly.
Choose your preferred bet amount. Choose where you want to place your bet. Hope Lady Luck agrees with you.
Simple.
There are different bet options that will come up when three dice are shaken. At the very least would be 3x ones. You could bet on any trip for a 1 to 30 payout or bet on trip 1s for a 1 pays out 180 win, or you could bet on a single 1 with combinations of other dice for 1 to 1 payout, or any of a number of combos.
The most basic Sic Bo bet, similar to Odds/Evens in roulette. The Small bet is betting on a combined total for all three dice less from 4 to 10. The Big bet is betting on a combined total for all three dice less from 11 to 17.
Small/Big usually pays out 1 to 1.
Sum bets are bets on the overall total of all three dice. Each of these bets pays out at a different ratio.
Bet | Payout | Bet | Payout | Bet | Payout | Bet | Payout | ||||||
4 | 1 wins 60 | 8 | 1 wins 8 | 12 | 1 wins 6 | 16 | 1 wins 30 | ||||||
5 | 1 wins 30 | 9 | 1 wins 6 | 13 | 1 wins 8 | 17 | 1 wins 60 | ||||||
6 | 1 wins 17 | 10 | 1 wins 6 | 14 | 1 wins 12 |
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7 | 1 wins 12 | 11 | 1 wins 6 | 15 | 1 wins 17 |
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Single dice bets are bets that a specific number will come up on at least one of the three dice. If your selected number comes up on one die you get a 1 to 1 payout, if it comes up on two dice you get a 2 to 1 payout, if it comes up on three dice you get a 3 to 1 payout.
You can bet on doubles and triples coming up on the dice roll with a double bet paying 10 to 1 and a triple bet paying 30 to 1.
Like going all in on a single number at roulette, you can choose specific combinations as well. This option relies on two of your chosen values coming up on the three dice shaken and pays out at 5 to 1.
We have shown you the basics of the most popular version of Sic Bo but there are other variations. We suggest you check the rules of any Sic Bo game you choose as well as taking a quick look at the betting table to see if there appear to be any different options to those we have shown.
One of the most popular variations is Sic Bo Macau and it works exactly like normal Sic Bo, except for the addition of an extra layer of betting. In Sic Bo Macau you can bet on guessing the exact combination of all three dice for a nice juicy payout of either 30 to 1 or 50 to 1. But, remember, these big payout are because the odds are heavily against you choosing the exact three value on the three dice shaken!
Sic Bo is rising in popularity among South African online gamblers and there are a number of online and mobile casinos offering great versions of the game.
We recommend you play at YesPlay.bet, Play.co.za (especially if you want to try a Live Dealer version)
