Catchword: cee-lo

Gloss: A type of the dice game craps.

Filed under: English, Entertainment

Part of speech: n.

Quotation: He says the game pads his income substantially—he said he won $1,000 playing cee-lo in July alone. The game, played with a trio of dice for stakes that can range from a few dollars to a few thousand, steps out of living rooms and illegal gambling dens when the warm weather arrives. Outside, uneven sidewalks make the dice bounce in unpredictable ways, and passers-by add their skills—and cash—to impromptu games. Someone usually serves as a lookout for patrolling police officers. The rules tend to be somewhat fluid, varying from corner to corner, but in one popular version players bet against one or a pair of players who hold the money. The best rolls are called “headcracks,” the highest of which is a “cee-lo”: a roll of a four, a five and a six. Other good rolls are three of a kind, known as triples or “trips,” or a pair of any number plus a six. If one die ends up at the number one, that player “craps out”—an automatic loss.

Article or document title:
“Rolling the Dice on a Warm Night” (URL)

Author:
Sarah Maslin Nir

Article, document, publication, web site:
New York Times

Date of publication:
Aug. 16, 2009

This catchword has yet to be researched.