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Choboichi

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Choboichi (チョボイチ, Choboichi, also written as チョボ一, ちょぼいち, or 樗蒲一) is a simple gambling game played in Japan using one covered die. The dealer shakes a six-sided die in a cup or rice bowl and then places it upside down, concealing the rolled value; after the players wager for their prediction of what the value will be, the dealer reveals the die by lifting the cup.

Gameplay

Choboichi game board
1 2 3
4 5 6

Players wager by placing money on one of six spaces on the game board. Winning wagers are paid out typically at four-to-one (e.g., a player who places a $10 bet on a winning space would be paid $40) while the dealer keeps the losing bets. The winning payout may vary between 2:1 and 5:1.

The house edge is computed using the relative probabilities of winning and losing along with the winning multiplier, M:

E d g e = ( P l o s e B e t ) ( P w i n M B e t ) B e t = 5 6 1 6 M {\displaystyle Edge={\frac {(P_{lose}\cdot Bet)-(P_{win}\cdot M\cdot Bet)}{Bet}}={\frac {5}{6}}-{\frac {1}{6}}\cdot M}

The house edge varies from 50% (for a multiplier of 2) to 0% (for a multiplier of 5), with the most common multiplier of 4 resulting in a house edge of 16.7%.

There are multiple variations using up to five dice.

History

The game was noted to be so popular by the 18th century that an entire strip of gambling sheds one ri long, 3.75 km (2.33 mi), was dedicated to it.

References

  1. ^ Arai, Satoshi. "さいころ賭博" [Gambling games using dice]. dice.saloon.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 December 2024.
  2. Schreiber, Mark (April 7, 2002). "A dicey history". The Japan Times. Retrieved 24 December 2024.

External links

Dice games
Traditional games
Gambling games
Commercial games
Word games
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