Electronic Craps Table
Electronic Craps Table
Objective
Design a system to incorporate electronics into the game
of craps to track bets and payouts while maintaining the
interactive appeal of the game.
Electronic Craps Table
Background
Craps is a dice game played in casinos all over the world.
In this game the players place bets against the casino on
the outcome of the roll of two dice. The game is
operated by three highly trained casino employees; two
dealers and one stickman. A full table may have up to 16
players at one time.
Electronic Craps Table
Background
With a large amount of players,
tracking every bet can be difficult
and mistakes can occur. The pace
of the game also slows down as
bets are placed, paid out or
collected.
Electronic Craps Table
Electronic Craps Machines
Currently there are electronic
versions of craps used in casinos,
but these machines are completely
automated and play more like a
slot machine than the traditional
game of craps.
Electronic Craps Table
Design
This project is designed around two input stations and a
main computer to track player action, the roll of the dice
and automatically payout or collect bets. This design will
be operated by only one dealer, increase the pace of the
game and eliminate errors in over or under payments on
placed bets.
Electronic Craps Table
Electronic Craps Table
Player Station
The player station consists of an LCD
screen and 11 input buttons. The six
input buttons on the left navigate
through the player menu and select
bets displayed on the LCD. The three
input buttons on the right are chip
denominations used to enter the
amount of the bets. The two input
buttons on the bottom are used to
clear and enter the player’s bets.
Electronic Craps Table
Dealer Station
The dealer station consists of an LCD
screen and eight input buttons. The
LCD displays the value inputted for
each die by the dealer. The six input
buttons to the left are used to input
each die value after the roll of the
dice. The two input buttons on the
bottom are used to clear or enter
the value of each die.
Electronic Craps Table
Main Computer
A Raspberry Pi computer is used as
the main CPU for the system. The
player and dealer stations are
connected through the General
Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) pins
and the composite video port on the
Raspberry Pi.
Electronic Craps Table
Software
The software operating the game was developed using the C
programming language. The program is split into four sections:
gameplay, player bets, player payouts and hardware input. The
gameplay section controls the flow of the game according to roll of
the dice and calls the other portions of the program at the
appropriate times. The player bets section controls the player betting
stages of the game. The player payout section checks every bet after
each roll of the dice and determines which bets are to be paid out or
collected. The hardware input section integrates the input signals
from the dealer and player stations with the rest of the program. This
program utilizes the WiringPi library developed and copyrighted for
use by Gordon Henderson.
Electronic Craps Table
Electrical Circuitry
The electrical circuit for the player
and dealer station consists of a pullup resistor switch for each input
switch. A 5.1 kW resistor is used to
limit the current to the input pin to
0.65 mA and is placed between the
3.3 volt voltage source and the input
pin of the Raspberry Pi. A tactile
switch is connected in parallel to the
input signal and then to ground and
used for player/dealer input.
Electronic Craps Table
Electrical Circuitry
The circuit provides an input high
signal to the input pin while the
switch is open and an input low
signal to the input pin while the
switch is pressed closed. To address
the natural switch debouncing that
occurs within mechanical switches, a
function was written to only input a
low signal once as the switch is
closed using conditional if else
statements to check the previous
and current state of the switch
input.
Electronic Craps Table
System Testing
• The completed software program was tested by comparing its
results with several online craps games.
• The pull-up resistor switch was tested with an oscilloscope and
digitally with a written test program.
• The entire system was tested two different ways.
• The first method was similar to the software program testing
with the assistance of an online craps game.
• The second method involved another person with experience
playing craps and myself taking turns playing the game at
both stations and checking the actual outcomes with the
expected results.
Electronic Craps Table
Project Results
The system as a whole achieved the main goals of my project. It
integrates an electronic system with the game of craps while keeping
the player interaction of rolling the dice. The gameplay runs
smoothly within the programmed software, while the hardware of
the dealer and player stations provides the selected inputs for the
system.
There were a couple unsuccessful portions of the project.
The magnetic stripe card reader was not able to be integrated with
the software and the player station graphical user interface was not
able to be successfully implemented in the system because of time
constraints.
Electronic Craps Table
Electronic Craps Table
Electronic Craps Table
I would like to thank Dr. Stanislaw Legowski, Dr. Jerry
Hamann, Vic Bershinsky and George Janack for their help
and guidance with this project.
Questions?