The festival dice

At Lunar New Year many families play a three-dice game, bầu cua cá cọp — gourd, crab, fish, tiger — with six pictures instead of numbers. You put a coin on a picture and three dice are rolled. If your picture shows on one die, you win your coin back plus one more; on two dice, plus two; on three dice, plus three. If it shows on none, the banker takes your coin.

It feels close to fair. There are three dice and each has a one-in-six chance, so a picture turns up about half the time. But count every way the dice can land: 6 × 6 × 6 = 216. Your picture is missing from 125 of them, shows once in 75, twice in 15 and three times in just 1.

Bet $1 each time across all 216. You lose $125 and win back $75 + $30 + $3 = $108. That is $17 lost for every $216 staked, about 8 cents of every dollar, kept by the banker. The extra prize for doubles and triples never quite makes up for the times your picture misses. It is a family game, played for small coins, and the numbers belong on the table where everyone can see them.