Roulette

Roulette is a casino game, in which players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even. In Fallout: New Vegas, playing 10 spins of roulette gives you the Little Wheel achievement/trophy.

Gameplay (Fallout: New Vegas)
In the Mojave Wasteland, several casinos run at least one Roulette table, at which the player may win (or lose) a significant amount of money betting on a wide range of outcomes, or one very narrow outcome. To determine the winning number, the Croupier spins the roulette wheel in one direction, and spins a ball in the opposite direction, along a grooved track running the circumfrence of the wheel. When the ball loses momentum and falls into one of the 38 'baskets', the winning number and color is announced, and bets are paid out as appropriate.

The 'house edge' or the 'expected value' is the amount a player is expected to lose, relative to the amount they bet. For American Roulette, the standard played in the Mojave Desert, (numbers 0 to 36, plus 00) the player can expect to lose 5.26% of the chips they bet.

Betting
Betting in Roulette is somewhat more complex than other casino games found throughout the wastes, and is the only real element of strategy involved in the game, since the payout and odds of winning depend on what the player is betting. Bets are divided into two broad categories, based on their likelihood and payout.

Inside bets usually include one number, or a narrow group of numbers, and are statistically more unlikely to come up a winner. However, inside bets have better payouts to make up for their riskier odds.

Outside bets are 'safer', as they usually include a large section of numbers on the roulette wheel. However, the payout for a outside bet is significantly lower, usually only 1-to-1 or 2-to-1.

A bet with a roughly 50-50 chance and a decent payout would consist of putting chips on a color (black or red) and then putting more chips down on the even or odd (but not both) chances.

The bets and corresponding numbers, odds and payouts are shown below. The letters correspond to an example position shown on the Betting Table diagram to the right.

Note that the following table assumes that all outcomes are equally likely; with high or low Luck this assumption doesn't hold, making the table completely useless.



Anti-cheating measure
If loading directly after a losing spin, the player sees the following message: "The croupier is taking a minute to checking the wheel for bias, as an anti-cheating measure". Roulette play is then suspended for one minute.

One can avoid the anti-cheating measure by loading a save after the result of the spin is apparent, but before the wheel has stopped and the result is finalized.

Appearances
Roulette can be played via dialogue in Fallout and Fallout 2. In Fallout: New Vegas it is featured as a minigame.

Bugs
In the PC and PS3 version after the wheel is spun the amount wagered returns to 1 and the player has to repeatedly push a button to raise the bet to the desired amount again. Not so much a bug as a design flaw.