What you’re comparing, exactly
Crypto “originals” are simple, fast games built around transparent randomness and fixed house edges. The three most played are Dice, Crash, and Mines. All use provably fair systems so you can verify each round’s randomness; what changes between them is the shape of risk and how payouts scale.
RTP and house edge in one minute
Return to Player (RTP) is the long-run percentage a game pays back; house edge is 100% minus RTP. Regulators and gambling-math references define house edge as the casino’s average profit per initial bet, and RTP as a long-run average—not a short-term promise.
Dice: fixed edge, adjustable risk
Dice lets you pick a win chance, then pays a matching multiplier with a small haircut for the house. On Stake Originals, Dice is documented at 99% RTP (1% edge), and Primedice’s provably fair pages show the standard server seed + client seed + nonce commitment scheme used to verify every roll. A common payout relation on 1%-edge dice is multiplier ≈ 99 / win-chance.
Because the edge is constant, expected value per bet is the same no matter where you set the slider; what you change is variance. Choosing a high win chance gives frequent tiny wins; a low win chance gives rare big multipliers—still with the same long-run edge. Operator docs and community math illustrate both the fixed 1% edge and the 99/winchance relation in practice.
Crash: survival to a target multiplier
Crash starts at 1.00× and can “bust” any moment. You choose a cash-out target and win if the round survives to that multiplier. Bustabit (the original Crash) states a 1% house edge (≈99% RTP), and its community math gives a rule of thumb: probability the round reaches at least X is about 0.99 / X under a 1% edge. That’s why small targets hit far more often than 10× or 50× outliers.
Not all Crash titles use a 1% edge. Spribe’s Aviator, a mainstream crash-style game, publishes 97% RTP (≈3% edge), showing how odds vary by title and provider even when mechanics feel similar.
On the fairness side, Crash implementations document how server/client seeds and nonces map to multipliers, with verifiable formulas or code snippets you can recompute after each round. Public docs and explainers describe the hashing/HMAC approach used across Crash variants.
Mines: combinatorics you can feel
Mines deals a hidden 5×5 grid with a number of mines you choose. Each safe tile you uncover boosts the multiplier; hitting any mine ends the round. Stake’s guide and Spribe’s game page outline the 5×5 grid flow and list Mines at a 97% RTP—so the house edge is typically around 3% on this title.
The risk curve steepens as you add mines. If there are m mines among 25 tiles, the chance of clearing k safe picks in a row without hitting a mine is
∏i=0k−125−m−i25−i\prod_{i=0}^{k-1}\frac{25-m-i}{25-i}. Many guides note that multipliers roughly track the inverse of success probability (adjusted for the edge), which is why early cash-outs feel modest and long streaks pay sharply more. Always check the game’s own payout table.
Side-by-side: odds, risk profile, and who each game suits
- Dice
- Typical RTP/edge: 99% / 1% on Stake/Primedice.
- Risk knob: your win chance. Lower chance = higher multiplier, same edge.
- Suits: players who want granular control over variance with a transparent, fixed edge.
- Crash
- Typical RTP/edge: 99% / 1% on Bustabit; some branded crash titles publish ~97% RTP.
- Risk knob: your cash-out target X; survival probability scales roughly like RTP/X in 1%-edge models.
- Suits: players comfortable trading frequent small wins for rare big multipliers and timing decisions.
- Mines
- Typical RTP/edge: ~97% / ~3% (Spribe Mines), with risk set by mine count.
- Risk knob: number of mines and how long you continue before cashing out.
- Suits: players who like incremental decisions and visibly escalating risk.
Provably fair: what to look for before you play
Legitimate originals document a commitment scheme: the site shows a hashed server seed before the round, combines it with your client seed and a nonce to generate results, then reveals the server seed so you can verify the hash and recompute outcomes. Stake and Primedice publish these details; many crash explainers show the same pattern and even the math behind multiplier generation. Onchain titles may use Chainlink VRF to publish randomness plus a cryptographic proof onchain.
Practical takeaways
- Edge first, then excitement. Dice at 1% edge is mathematically gentler than a 3%-edge crash title or a ~3%-edge Mines variant, even if the latter feel more exciting. Check the actual game’s RTP page.
- Control variance deliberately. On Dice, sliding win chance changes volatility, not expected value. On Crash, modest targets hit more often (≈RTP/X with 1% edge); on Mines, adding mines or pushing deeper ramps risk quickly.
- Verify rounds. Use each site’s fairness page to check server seed hashes, your client seed, nonce behavior, and a working verifier or code. Onchain games should expose verifiable randomness proofs (e.g., VRF).
FAQ
Is Dice always better because it lists 1% house edge?
Not always. The math is kinder than many alternatives, but your results still depend on variance and staking. If another game you like also runs at 1% edge (some Crash versions do), long-run expectation is similar, but the ride will feel different.
Why do some Crash games say 97% RTP instead of 99%?
Providers set their own models. Bustabit advertises 1% edge, while Spribe’s Aviator publishes 97% RTP. Same genre, different parameters.
How do I know a round was fair?
After each round, compare the revealed server seed against the pre-round hash and recompute the result with your client seed and nonce. Well-documented sites like Stake and Primedice show how to do this; some games provide code or in-app verifiers.
Do onchain games change anything about fairness?
They can. Randomness solutions such as Chainlink VRF generate a random value plus a proof that’s verified onchain before use, so anyone can audit the randomness pipeline.
Responsible play note
These games are entertainment with negative expected value. Set limits, take breaks, and use self-exclusion tools where available. If gambling is affecting your wellbeing, seek help through your local support organization.
