Craps is the most popular dice game at most casinos, whether land-based, online or mobile. The attraction lies in the speed of play, as well as the variety of bets players can place, for or against the shooter.

Here are three more dice games found in casinos that craps fans may want to try. They share their more famous cousin’s advantages: fast gameplay and a variety of betting options that allow skilled players to adopt a profitable strategy.

Sic Bo: The Chinese Trio

Apart from the fact that it is played with three dice, not two, Sic Bo is quite like craps. In fact, this ancient Chinese game was the forerunner of the English dice game Grand Hazard, also played with three dice. The English then invented a two-dice version, known as Hazard, which was in turn the inspiration for craps.

Sic Bo offers 13 different types of bets, some of which depend on the total of all three dice, like big/small, odd/even or specific triples. Players can also bet on single numbers, doubles and trios to appear on a throw, plus a few more variations. Sic Bo games have a betting table on hand, listing winning combinations and their payouts, to help novice players find their feet.

Yahtzee: Five Of The Best

Yahtzee, given its current brand name in 1956 by US game innovator Edwin Lowe, is the youngest game on this list. However, earlier dice games on which it is based like Poker Dice date to the second half of the 19th Century.

Yahtzee is played with five dice and a scorecard divided into 13 categories. Each category names a specific dice combination: the upper section has six categories, corresponding to the numbers on the dice; players need to amass as many of each number as they can. The lower section demands various Poker combinations like three of a kind, full house, etc. in seven categories.

In a similar way to when you play online Blackjack games and cards are awarded points, in Yahtzee players win points according to a scoring table for each combination they make, and can have up to three throws per round, saving any dice they like along the way towards a specific combination. The player only decides which category to log the score in at the end of each round, so there is room to apply tactical strategy to the random dice totals.

Backgammon: For The Brainy

Backgammon is the oldest game on the list; a version was being played at least 5 000 years ago in Persia. The game uses a board containing 24 points and starts with each player’s 15 pieces in a set pattern on four of these points. Players throw two dice to move their pieces along the points, trying to get all 15 off the board before their opponent can do the same. Sometimes, they can actively hinder the opponent’s progress.

There are more rules that can be complicated, so novices should use free gaming versions for practice to get the hang of all the intricacies before they wager real money. However, using the two numbers on each throw to move the pieces most effectively is a skill that can be learnt. So, Backgammon is probably the best game for betting fans with quick maths brains: the luck of the dice is not as important as the ability to use the moves they allow.