Dice Gambling Games of the Old West

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When you think of the old West, cowboys, horses, folks settling new towns on the prairies and small dusty towns emerging out of sod or clay come to mind. One of the buildings many of those towns had back then was a saloon. For many men, the saloon, even if they didn’t partake of the liquor, held other social activities. The saloon was where men might meet to discuss a business deal, relax and visit friends, catch up on the news, or gather around for a game, always hoping to win some coin. 

Chances are really good that right now, you are imagining some of these men sitting around a table, cards in hand and playing some sort of game like Faro or Brag. While it’s true that many a man won and lost at the card table, just as popular were those games with dice. Who knows, it might have even been easier to pull out dice and play a few rounds of a game, since there were no cards to worry about losing or getting wet, if they were in your pocket and it started to rain. 

 

Two popular dice games in the 1800s were Chuck-a-luck and Hazard. 

Chuck-a-luck originated in English pubs, and also called Crown and Anchor. There are a few other names for it, such as Sweat, Chicker Luck, and just plain Chuck. The game is placed with three six sided dice inscribed with clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, a crown, and an anchor, and then a small cup. It’s a simple game. Players wagers on the possible combination outcomes of the dice roll in order to win. Later, to prevent cheating, the cup was replaced with a small cage and the game’s name eventually started being called Birdcage. In the James Bond Movie, The Man with the Golden Gun, you can see the character Lazar playing this game. 

When it comes to Hazard, It’s a very old game placed with two standard six-sided numbered dice. In fact, the game is mentioned in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in the 14th century. For only having two dice, the game was rather complicated. Any number of people may play, but only one player at a time has the dice. In the rounds, the person with the dice specifies a number. The other playes place their wagers on the outcome of those dice rolls. Does that sound familiar? If you said the came of Craps, you are right! Eventually, the complicated rules were modified, and turned into the casino game that many of us are familiar with. 

Can I introduce you to a fictional (reformed) gambler? 

 

Kody Hall lives life on a roll of the dice, betting on everything except love. He’s learned the hard way that women don’t mix well with gambling men. But he’s willing to wager everything he has on a chance to change lives at the orphanage he secretly founded. He’s also hoping the woman he’s been corresponding with might be interested in taking a chance on a mail-order husband. He’d like to settle down.

Susan Louden, the orphanage’s teacher, is fiercely protective of her charges. When she spots Kody, the town’s notorious gambler, lurking around the grounds, she chases him off. In her eyes, gambling and innocence don’t mix. Why can’t more men be like the one she’s been writing to?

But a surprise revelation about Kody’s true intentions, and his identity, throws Susan’s world into disarray. Could she have been wrong about him? The more she learns, the more she questions her own place in the orphanage, especially as she starts to develop feelings for him. Can a woman dedicate her life to children while being associated with a gambler?

It’s something Kody’s willing to gamble on.

You can find his story in ebook, paperback, and by searching for large print.

One person who answers my question will win an ebook copy of Mail-Order Gambler! 

Just tell me, have you played any dice games yourself? I was always a fan of Yahtzee! 

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Sarah is wife to an amazing teacher and mom to two boys who are growing up just a little too fast. She spends her days working and writing in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

61 thoughts on “Dice Gambling Games of the Old West”

  2. Yahtzee is the only dice game I like to play! Of course, lots of board games use dice to determine how far to move one’s game piece.

  4. I’ve played Yatzee and my family plays a game we call 10,000. I know it has other names but I’m not sure what they are.

  5. Good morning Sarah! How interesting! I’ve heard some of those games mentioned on Gunsmoke. Heh. My brothers and I loved to play cards. But, when Yatzee came out, we were hooked! We loved that game! I remember my kids loving Uno. They played that a lot.

    I’ve read some of this series Sarah, but I’m not sure I read the gambler yet. Did you write some of the others? Seems like I read some of yours, but it might be another series.

    Best wishes to you and your books!

    • I did write two others! Mail-Order Teacher, and Mail-Order Tailor. This one, Mail-Order Gambler was my second of the three, but each is a standalone.

  8. I have played Yahtzee. Also Bunco. I seem to remember playing another dice game but don’t remember what it was.

  10. When I read your post, my mind went immediately to Gunsmoke. I could see the tables, the men and the “ladies”. The only game that we played that had dice was Monopoly.

  16. Sarah, my family loved to play a game called Aggravation that was later renamed to Sorry. It’s played with dice and my mom dearly loved it. She would really get into it and I can still hear her laughing when she sent someone back home to start over. I’ve played Yahtzee, Backgammon, and a few others. I think men are born with a gambling gene. Almost all seem to love to gamble at something, even if it’s just life. Look at all those who picked up and went west just to take a chance on finding gold. I will love your new book and can’t wait to read it. Sounds like lots of conflict.

  17. We used to play Yahtzee. Now I used to participate in a reading game based on Yahtzee. What you roll determined what you read. For example, is you rolled ones, you read the first book in a series.

  18. I have played many board games that have dice. I have played Yahtzee and LeftCenterRight. That is a real fun dice game

  21. Yahtzee is the only one I remember playing other than games where you rolled the dice to see how many spaces to move. Your book sounds great. Can’t wait to read it.

  24. I played Yahtzee!, Monopoly, ‘Star of Africa’ (https: // en. wikipedia .org/ wiki/ Afrikan _t%C3%A4hti), Go For Broke…

  25. Yahtzee for sure. Many board games that have dice. One of my favorite was scattergories (played with dice with letters).

  26. I’ve played lots of Yahtzee and still do an online version occasionally. I also used to play a lot of board games, and many of them used dice: Monopoly, Risk, Sorry, Parcheesi, and others.

  27. I love Yahtzee and of course there is Trouble and then all the games you roll the dice to play the game like Sorry, Monopoly, Parcheesi, Clue, etc…

  29. Pingback: Sarah Lamb has a giveaway winner! - Petticoats & Pistols

  31. Yahtzee is one. Many of the games we use use dice to determine how we move: from Chutes And Ladders, to Monopoly, to Backgammon.

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