Aruze’s New Shoot To Win Craps

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love slot machines. But sometimes there is nothing better than a good craps night. A good craps night can be had with another shooter but when you’re the shooter and you hold the dice for a long time, rolling number after number, ahhhhh – it’s just perfect. The feeling of making money for yourself and others and the camaraderie of everyone smiling, cheering and then finally thanking you when your roll comes to a close. That’s a good craps night.

Octagon Format for 8 Players

So, imagine my excitement when I ran across an Aruze Shoot To Win electronic craps machine the other night. I have never seen this before, but it seemed to offer the lure of craps with a video slot feel. I couldn’t wait to play it! I lovingly nicknamed it robo-craps. It’s a large octagon shaped contraption with two glass enclosed oversized dice in the middle. Up to eight players sit around it with individual video screens and the shooter presses a big red button to shoot, or more accurately pop, the dice.

Each player has a video screen that allows all the traditional craps bets to be made: pass/don’t pass, numbers, hardways, come/don’t come, big 6/big 8, field, horn, etc. It is a dollar machine that can pay fractional payouts so if you place the 6 or 8 for $1 the payout is $1.16 if the number hits. I believe it also offers 5x odds. The other players didn’t seem to have the same excitement as you would find at a traditional craps table but for $1 minimum bet and a seat, it’s a small price to pay. Also, I may just have been sitting with a group of duds!

Player Video Screen for Betting

I played for a while but it just kept sevening out – 2/3 rolls max then a seven. But then finally, the magic began. The player sitting on my right had a great roll. He was rolling lots of numbers and I believe he hit the point 3 times. This was starting to shape-up as a good craps night. Then it was my turn to shoot and shoot I did. I think I “shot” (or pressed a button, at least) those dice for an hour, no kidding. Number after number, I kept rolling a 4 as the point so it was a little harder to make but who cares, the numbers just kept rolling. After it was finally over the lack-luster crowd managed some excitement with one player exclaiming “I don’t think you could of had a roll that good if they took the sevens out.” And that was that, it was over and it was a good craps night. No, it was a great craps night and on a robo-craps machine to boot.

Looking to play craps online? Check out our review of OpenBet’s Craps. It is available to play online at MeccaBingo (no US resident players accepted).