Dice are one of the world’s oldest types of games. Antecedents to dice have been discovered in ancient Egypt and India, but it was in Rome where people began to play it as we do today. It’s really quite simple; you just place bets on which numbers will appear facing up after the dice are thrown. Although dice throwing is purely a game of chance, many people think they can control the results.
Don’t tell them that the possibility of snake eyes, dogs, or boxcars happening is purely chance!
So, how did all those strange names become associated with different dice throws?
In most dice games, such as craps, a one on each die represents the lowest throw you can make. The two ones definitely look like eyes, but how they became associated with snakes probably goes back to the Bible. As dice throwing became more popular and rules were made within official gambling halls in the 1800s, the double ones began to be called “snake eyes”—probably because of the negative association of serpents with treachery. The Romans called it a “dog throw” for somewhat similar reasons.
Although the Romans kept dogs as pets (which is where the name “Fido” comes from), they often referred to people they didn’t like or respect as dogs. As a result, a double one dice throw simply became known as a dog throw.
The opposite of snake eyes, double sixes, is usually referred to in dice games as “boxcars.” The reasons for this term are a little murkier. Some gaming experts have said that the name is derived from the six’s resemblance to a train’s boxcar. But I’m not so sure.