How to play roulette — the five-minute version

You buy chips, place them on the felt before the dealer calls “no more bets”, the ball drops into one of 37–38 pockets, winning bets are paid by fixed ratios (full chart). That’s the whole game — there is no skill in the spin. The three numbers worth learning before your first chip: the wheel’s price (2.70% EU / 5.26% US / 1.35% French even-money), your table minimum, and your exit.⚙ computed

A round, step by step

1. Exchange cash for table chips (they’re colored per player). 2. Place bets anywhere on the layout — inside numbers, outside groups, or ask the dealer for announced bets (the French lives in the glossary). 3. Dealer spins, then waves off bets. 4. Ball lands; dealer marks the number, clears losers, pays winners at the fixed ratios. 5. Repeat — or, per the honest strategy, don’t.

Reading the felt

Full map with every zone — inside grid, outside ring, racetrack — lives on the table layout page; the short version:

The grid is numbers 1–36 in three columns plus the zero(s) up top; everything around it is group bets — dozens, columns, red/black, odd/even, high/low. The felt’s order is not the wheel’s order — that story here. Minimums differ: inside bets can usually be split across numbers to reach the minimum; outside bets each need the full minimum.

What beginners get wrong

Believing streaks change the next spin (they don’t) · buying a “system” (we tested fourteen — same price every time) · sitting at the wrong wheel (the variant choice moves your cost up to 5.7×) · playing the five-number basket. Practice free first: the simulator with the honest meter → — then the rest of the honest curriculum.

Frequently asked

Is roulette easy to learn?

Yes — one round takes a minute to understand and there’s no play skill afterward. The learning that matters is prices: wheel variant, bet volatility, and session length are the only real decisions.

What should a beginner bet on in roulette?

Even-money (red/black etc.) on the cheapest wheel available — French if you can find it. Same house edge as any bet on that wheel, smallest swings, simplest reads.

How much money do you need to play roulette?

Table minimum × the spins you plan, plus swing room — at $10 even-money, $200–300 comfortably covers a 100-spin evening at typical volatility. Expected cost of that evening: about $27 on a European wheel.