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Kitsune Bakuchi (狐博奕) is a dice game from Japan in which a player rolls three dice; if the roll results in a triple, i.e., each die shows the same number, they win four times the amount wagered. The term literally means "fox gambling."
Probability
There are only six triples (winning throws) out of 216 total possible throws, so the winning probability is 6⁄216 = 1⁄36. Thus the house edge with a standard payout of 4× the original bet is 210⁄216 – (4-1)·6⁄216 = 95.8%; a fair game of Kitsune Bakuchi with zero house edge would pay out winnings at 36 for 1, i.e., the winning player would receive their bet back plus a bonus equal to 35 times the original bet.
Similar games
There are several dice games whose names include fox (狐, kitsune, or キツネ), dating from the Edo period:
- Fox Choboichi (狐ちょぼいち, Kitsune Choboichi)
- This is an alternate name for choboichi, which uses a single die. Players wager on a single number, and receive 5× the original bet if the bet matches the number that is rolled. In this case the house edge is 16.7%.
- Fox (狐, Kitsune) / Fox Chobo (狐ちょぼ, Kitsune Chobo)
- This is a subset of sic bo or chuck-a-luck, both of which use three dice. Players wager on a single number, and the payout varies depending on how many dice show that number; if only one die matches, the payout is 1:1; if two match, it is 3:1; and if three match, it is 4:1. In this case the house edge is 40.3%.
- Fox Chobo (キツネチョボ, Kitsune Chobo)
- This is a variant of Bầu cua tôm cá, Crown and Anchor, and Hoo Hey How, each of which uses three dice with special symbols; in Fox Chobo, standard dice are used. Again, players wager on a single number, and the payout is slightly different: 1:1 for one match, 3:1 for two matches, and 5:1 for three matches; this reduces the house edge to 39.8%. There are two special rolls which result in an automatic win for the dealer, which are 4-5-1 and 3-2-6.
- Fox (キツネ, Kitsune)
- Like chō-han, this game uses two dice. Players bet on one number, with a payout of 3:1 for a single match and 4:1 for a pair. However, the dealer selects two numbers before rolling; if both numbers are matched, the dealer wins all bets. The house edge is 2.78%.
Sources
- Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai at Google Books
- Satoshi Arai. "さいころ賭博" [Dice Gambling]. dice.saloon.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 January 2025.
- Satoshi Arai. "ちょぼいち, 狐ちょぼいち" [Choboichi, Fox Choboichi]. dice.saloon.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 January 2025.
- Satoshi Arai. "ちょぼいち, 狐ちょぼいち" [Fox Chobo, Chuck-a-luck, Shrimp and Crab, Crown and Anchor]. dice.saloon.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 January 2025.
- ^ "キツネチョボ" [Fox Chobo]. h-eba.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 January 2025.
External links
- Notes, page 167. Kokichi, Katsu. Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai. Translated: Craig, Teruko. Arizona press: 1988.
- はやおき (January 17, 2019). "『夢酔独言』 百四話 千両博奕" ["Drunken Soliloquy" Story 104: The 1000-ryō gamble]. Hatena Blog (in Japanese). Self-published manga based on the autobiography of Katsu Kokichi.
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