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Red and White
Introduction
Red and White started as a street game in the Philippines and can now be played at Resorts World in Manila. It is a simple game where three balls are dropped onto a grid of red, white, and yellow squares. There are several bets to choose from according to what colors the balls may land in.
Rules
Following are the rules according to my understanding. Some of them are based on unconfirmed reports, so I welcome correction if any of this is incorrect.
- Three balls are dropped onto a 10 by 10 grid of squares. I assume that no two or more balls can land in the same square.
- The 100 squares are colored as follows:
- Red: 49
- White: 49
- Yellow: 2
- The following bets are available:
- Two reds: Pays 1 to 1 if the balls land in at least two red squares, except loses on two reds and one yellow.
- Two white: Pays 1 to 1 if the balls land in at least two white squares, except loses on two whites and one yellow.
- Three reds: Pays 7 to 1 if the balls land in three red squares.
- Three whites: Pays 7 to 1 if the balls land in three white squares.
- One yellow: Pays 15 to 1 if the balls land in at least one yellow square.
- Two yellows: Pays 250 to 1 if the balls land in the two yellow squares.
Analysis
The following table shows the number of winning combinations (out of a total of 161,700 possible), probability of winning, and expected return of each bet.
Red and White
| Bet | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two red | 1 | 76,048 | 0.470303 | -0.059394 |
| Two white | 1 | 76,048 | 0.470303 | -0.059394 |
| Three red | 7 | 18,424 | 0.113939 | -0.088485 |
| Three white | 7 | 18,424 | 0.113939 | -0.088485 |
| One yellow | 15 | 9,604 | 0.059394 | -0.049697 |
| Two yellow | 250 | 98 | 0.000606 | -0.847879 |
As you can see, there is quite a range in the house edge on this game, from a low of 4.97% on the one yellow to 84.79% on two yellows. In fact, in my 20 years of analyzing casino games, the two yellow bet is among the worst bets I have ever seen.
External Links
- There is a brief explanation and video on Red and White at the Resorts World Manila web site. They don't explain the fine points of the rules very carefully, but at least they have a cute dealer in the video.
- Discussion of Red and White at my forum at Wizard of Vegas.