the six and eight.
But still, when the game gets electric, the communal
consciousness of the players leads to a table of
whooping, rooting and apprehensive participants.
This creates a game that both confuses and overwhelms.
Now add your complaint: A dealer (stickman) with
a rattan rake in hand moving the game pace along
at high speeds, yelling calls that only someone
in the industry might understand. Your best bet
is to learn the lingo. By no means, Ralph, is the
language eloquent, but it is expressive and the
best way to learn is by putting the dice in your
hands. So shooter, you’re coming out, hands
up, feet off the table, let’em loose and I’ll
make the calls.
TWO: “Craps,”
“two aces,” “rats eyes,” “snake
eyes,” “push the don’t,” “eleven
in a shoe store,” “twice in the rice,”
“two craps two, two bad boys from Illinois.”
THREE: “Craps,”
“ace-deuce,” “ace caught a deuce,”
“winner on the dark side,” “three
craps three, the indicator,” “small ace
deuce, can’t produce,” “the other
side of eleven’s tummy.” (Here’s
an example of an old-time crap dealer, Judd, who
invents a call that made its way across Nevada to
a carpet joint that I’ve worked in. It doesn’t
make sense, like many of the calls, so your confusion
is fitting.)
FOUR: “Little
Joe,” “little Joe from Kokomo,” “hit
us in the tu tu,” “ace trey, the country
way.”
FIVE: “After five,
the field’s alive,” “thirty-two juice
roll” (OJ’s jersey number), “little
Phoebe,” “fiver, fiver, racetrack driver,”
“we got the fever.”
SIX: “Big Red,
catch’em in the corner,” “like a
blue chip stock,” “pair-o-treys, waiter’s
roll,” “the national average,” “sixie
from Dixie.”
SEVEN: “Seven
out, line away,” “grab the money,”
“five two, you’re all through,” “six
ace, end of the race,” “front line winner,
back line skinner,” “six one, you’re
all done,” “seven’s a bruiser, the
front line’s a loser,” “up pops the
devil,” “Benny Blue, you’re all through.”
EIGHT: “A square
pair, like mom and dad,” “Ozzie and Harriet,”
“the windows,” “eighter from Decatur.”
NINE: “Center
field,” “center of the garden,” “ocean
liner niner,” “Nina from Pasadena,”
“What shot Jesse James? A forty-five.”
TEN: “Puppy paws,”
“pair-a-roses,” “pair of sunflowers,”
“the big one on the end.”
ELEVEN: “Yo leven,”
“yo levine the dancing queen,” “six
five, no jive.”
TWELVE: “Craps,”
“boxcars,” “atomic craps,” “all
the spots we got,” “outstanding in your
field,” “triple dipple, in the lucky ducky,”
“double saw on boxcars.”
Look there, Ralph,
you just rolled a seven. Column’s over. Cinco
dos, adios.
Good
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