C-Low "A real Thugs game"
Do you and your boys have lotsa dolla-dolla bills just burning a hole in your pocket? Well, snag some dice and some suckers and lets kick-it. C-Low is sorta the small time gangsta/skater equivilant to Craps. What you need is three 6-sided dice, a fistfull of bills (or quarters for the hobbled), a wall to roll against (your skate deck on its side makes a perfect makeshift wall for playing on the road), some fools to lose your money to, and alcohol (optional).
You can play C-Low with a group of people, but first I'll give you the one-on-one run down:
To start, both players roll one die. The higher roller goes first in the game. If there is a tie, roll again, dumbass. Before you start playing, it should be agreed upon how much money is being bet. You can throw down money if you want, or it can be played as a game of honor: bills being exchanged hand-to-hand after each round of rolling.
The first person rolls all three dice at once. If the player drops a die or rolls his dice off the table or just rolls all whack, it is called "Sloppy-Die" and that player loses and pays up.
So player one rolls proper. He must roll a pair or a three of a kind. If he rolls a pair, his score is the opposite die of the pair. Examples: Roll 4 4 2 and you score a 2. Roll 6 1 6 and you score a 1. Roll 5 2 2 and you score a 5. Got it yet?
Ok, so player one rolls a 3 6 3 and scores a 6. That's a good roll. In order to win you must have the higher score. Now player two rolls. In order for player two to win this round of C-Low he must beat a 6. Sice there is no single die score higher than 6, player two must roll triples to win. Triples beat any single score. A Trip1 (1 1 1) would beat player one's 3 6 3. The higher the triple, the better. So a Trip5 beats a Trip3, duh. But player two doesn't roll triples, he rolls 6 2 6 and scores a 2. Player two loses and forks a dollar over to player one.
If no dice are matching, roll again. Some people play unlimited rolls until you get a triple or a pair, but this is for bitches. You get five rolls and then your out! The winner of the previous round rolls first in the next round. If the stakes are raised, the game starts over and all players roll the one die to decide who rolls first.
But wait,, before you start rolling you should know the special rolls. If you roll a 1 2 3 (in any order, of course), you automatically lose. No need for your oppenent to even roll. Round over, pay up. By the same token, if you roll the 4 5 6 you automatically win, right then, no one else rolls, you collect. Hell yeah!
Once you get the hang of this, you can read the dice quickly and roll fast and money changes hands in a rapid manner (usually back and forth for a while, and finally one person will hit the luck and run his or her opponent broke). Don't forget you can also play many C-Low variations with drinking, and the more drunk everyone gets, the more rowdy and fun the game becomes. More yelling, more "sloppy-die", more crazy, and wild situations.
And crazy shit does come often. Like this: Long-time Nice Guy and founding member of the C-Low Player's Club International BK_warrior is on a visit to the Bay Area wuth JLC during spring break. A late night C-Low session has come to the apex as BK, the once great champion (now a study in mopishness), is down to his last dollar while playing against your humble narrator. BK is the first to roll and in a moment of clarity he proclaims this is the beginning of his big comeback over me. He triumphantly rolls a 1-2-3 and I gleefully snatch his last bill from his hand without even having to roll. In a fit of frustration, BK throws the dice and they come up... you guessed it... 4-5-6. The jovial essence of gambling comes forth in roaring laughter as the spirit of cruel fate clutches BK once again.
A common myth is that the more you hollar and say ridiculous shit, the better you will roll. This isn't true, but it makes the game more entertaining. Nothing looks more bad-ass than calling the Trip6 and then throwin' it down!
What else? Oh yeah, to play with more than two players: the extra players can either bet against one of the players, or the dice can go to all the players and whoever had the highest score takes the pot of money, sorta like poker with dice. Roll and pass the dice to the left.
One last thing: If the players tie, the stakes are then doucled and all those tied for the lead pitch in another bill. Then you roll again and the winner gets twice the cash!
written by Pete Glover in Spring of 1996 for Mr. Nice Guy issue # 13.
