Coming out on top at Krawps

     "Underneath the Golden Dubloon restaurant is a dingy, small little room used solely for gambling. Only one game is played - Krawps, possibly the most confusing game ever to hit the shores of Krawk Island, or, well.. the whole of Neopia for that matter.

     There simply aren't enough Dubloons around to play this game, so the pirates gladly accept Neopoints :) Krawps is a dice game where you place different bets on different areas of the table, and hope the dice are in your favour!"

     As the game description says, Krawps is an incredibly confusing game of chance. Not many people play it because not a lot of people understand exactly how to play it, but I'm here to help you with that so you can become a Krawps master and possibly even break even on your gambling trips!

     If you try to jump into the game without taking a few minutes to learn how it works then you will be greeted by tons of errors telling you that you can't do that move, and you won't know why certain things happen on different dice rolls. I'm here to break it down for you as much as I can.

     First things first: the game is essentially a game of chance, where you place bets on different parts of the game board based on what numbers you think the dice will turn up. Different numbers have different rewards and different penalties, and all parts of the game board have different win ratios.

     You can bet as low as 5 NP per chip, and up to 300 NP per chip, with the ability to place a maximize of five chips on each section of the game board. This means the maximum you can possibly bet in one area is 1500 NP. However, you can place multiple 1500 NP bets in different areas of the board.

     The first place you want to go is the BILGELINE.

          The BILGELINE is where you'll place your first bet before you roll. If you roll a 7 or 11, you automatically win and double your bet. If you roll a 2, 3, or 12 then you will automatically lose. At any point in the game, now or during any of the following bets, rolling a 7 will end the game and clear the board.

     That sounds simple enough. But what if you roll something else?

     If you roll a number that doesn't trigger an instant win or loss, then that number becomes something known as a "skull number". For example: if you roll a total of 8, that becomes the skull number. At the top of the board, you'll see a few numbers like this:

     The skull will appear on the 8. In order to win now, you must roll an 8 to clear the skull before you can roll a 7 to win. If you roll a 7 before clearing the skull, you lose everything.

          Once the skull is established, you can make a bet on the ODDS board. Here you can place a bet up to double the amount on your BILGELINE bet. So if you've wagered 300 NP on your BILGELINE, you can wager up to 600 NP on your ODDS bet. The goal now is to roll the number that the skull is sitting on, in which case you'll win the ODDS bet and the BILGELINE bet.

     If the skull is on 4 or 10 it pays 9 to 5 odds

     If the skull is on 5 or 9 it pays 7 to 5 odds

     If the skull is on 6 or 8 it pays 6 to 5 odds

          Betting gets a little more advanced with the ANCHOR. Unlike the bets placed above, this will only last one roll and you only have one chance to win it before you lose your bet. If you roll a 3, 4, 9, 10, or 11 you win the same amount you bet. If you roll the rarer options of a 2 or 12, you win double the amount you bet. Any other number and you lose.

          To win higher amounts, you will want to look into the ARDWAY bets. You can win 8-10 times your bet this way. You are gambling on the specific dice combinations shown in the image. So if you bet on an Ardway 6, you are saying that you believe the next roll will total 6, with both dice showing a 3 on each. This is a risky bet because of how improbably the combination is, but if you get lucky it could be a big win. If you win, you will get the NP and your chips will stay on the table.

          Hi / Lo bets are possibly the riskiest bets of all, but they come with the greatest reward. Reward you 30:1 the amount you originally bet. To win on the "HI" side, you must roll a 12 on the next roll, for the "LO" side you must roll a 2. If you win, you will get the NP and your chips will stay on the table.

          Finally we have the number bets. These are the numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 at the top of the board. After a SKULL NUMBER has been set, you can set a bet on one of these numbers. To win, you must roll one of these numbers before you roll a 7 which will reset the board.

     Now that you've got the rules down, let's talk about how to win!

     My personal strategy is to take calculated risks. Betting on the HI / LO is so risky, but it can yield a massive reward. If you bet 1500 NP worth of chips on HI and roll a 12, your reward will come out to 43,500 NP. I personally bet high and bank on this. So for all my rolls I max out my chips on both HI and LO, as well as BILGELINE. When the skull pops up, I don't bet on ODDs. Very rarely will I bet on ANCHOR. I tend to just play with BILGELINE, HI, and LO all maxed out. ARDWAY is rarely ever worth it, you have the same odds on that as you do on HI or LO but with a much lower payout.

     I like to toss my chips on ANCHOR as well because you have a decent chance at winning some of your money back, and if you hit a HI or LO while also betting on Anchor, you will win a lot of your NP back, close to 50,000 NP. This giant chunk of winning can make up for a lot of losing (and you will be doing a lot of losing with this game). Enjoy!