Chuck-a-luck

Chuck-a-luck is played with three standard six-sided, numbered dice that are kept in a device shaped somewhat like an hourglass which resembles a wire-frame bird cage and pivots about its centre.

In the simplest variant, bettors place stakes on a board with six numbered spaces, labelled 1 through 6, inclusive.

According to John Scarne, "habitual gamblers stay away from Chuck-a-Luck because they know how little chance they have against such a high [house edge].

In Fritz Lang's 1952 film, Rancho Notorious, chuck-a-luck is the name of the ranch run by Altar Keane (played by Marlene Dietrich) where outlaws hide from the law.

In Dragonfly in Amber the character Claire Randall describes the activity inside of an inn as having several soldiers playing chuck-a-luck on the floor along with a dog sleeping by the fire and smelling strongly of hops.