I am looking for some dice games to compile for myself as my characters approach a carnival section of the world, and I am adapting them to incorporate the character stats. Ideally I need these games to be:

1: Heavily weighted against the players.

2: Not obviously so - no weighted dice, just statistics which seem fair, and actually aren't

3: Quick to play!

I know that there are a few of these out there. I am considering a simple "beat my roll to win" approach where they have to beat the house roll to win (a draw is a loss). This is pretty heavily weighted to the house, but also fairly boring.

I have a few games I've made or translated already, but nothing that's a real losing game - something to drain the pockets of an unsuspecting player. A con-mans dice game.

Does anyone know of anything good for this?

Craps

Quote from IamSposta >>

Craps

I second this. 

I mean, they ain’t kidding. Craps is the single most unfair game in casinos, lol.

not opinion, btw.

Now, you could use some interesting tools…

https://www.callysto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/unfair-dice-handson.pdf

It’s better to be one of the bystanders betting against the roller than the person rolling the dice in craps.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

I mean, they ain’t kidding. Craps is the single most unfair game in casinos, lol.

not opinion, btw.

Now, a casino is a great way to lose money no matter where you are standing, I'll give you that. However, pass line odds are typically the safest bet in the house for the players. (For a bit of support: https://www.mypokercoaching.com/craps-strategy/#:~:text=What are the best craps,to as low as 0.01%.)

If your in-game craps game is that complicated, you're probably doing something wrong. Straight-up street craps is simple enough to run, but is still a great way to part the PCs from their hard-won (or stolen) gp. My advice is to keep it simple. 

Every real-world casino gambling game where you play against the house is a loser for the player (games like poker are losers for the players in aggregate but not necessarily for individual players), though in some cases it will take a quite large number of games to efficiently separate the PCs from their loot. The main trick is making it so the players don't immediately recognize the game.

Dice games use small cubes marked with pips to represent 0 to 5. Again, six is considered an unlucky number.

Hilo

Each player bets on the number of the next roll of a single die. They can choose to also bet the number will be Low (0, 1, or 2) or High (3, 4, or 5). After bets, one person rolls. That person cannot bet, and usually serves as the Hole. Winnings are divided by both exact number sharing half, and high/low sharing half. Some variations do not allow a high low, but this mostly in poor places and with unskilled players. After each roll, the Hole moves to the right.

Kasina Hilo

In gambling houses, they roll multiple dice, with each die getting a bet – and the Hole winning whenever the total of the rolled dice is 6. This variant is called Kasina.

Bidbet

Two dice are used here, with the Hole allowed to bet alongside everyone on the first die, but not on the second die which is done in a second roll. The Hole passes to the right after every second roll.

Sevenses

In this game, two, four, or six dice are used, in three colors. Bets are placed on the Hole rolling one, two, or three Sevens on matching dice. One can also bet on how many sevens will be rolled, including none. The Hole gets to roll Seven Times, then it passes to the right.

 Stolen straight out of my Wyrlde Book. From myself, no less, but I am assured I won’t mind.

If you want a simple d20 based system, just assign numbers to each result, making sure that the sum is less than 20x the bid. For example, if it's a 1 gp bet, you might have:

• 13-19: win 2; 20: win 5 (total 19)
• 15-16: win 2; 17-18: win 3; 19: win 4; 20: win 5 (total 19)

Another one, possibly more appealing to greed, though the house edge is actually much larger:

Roll 5d6. If you get no 6s, you go bust and lose your bet. If you get one six, you get your bet back. Each additional six doubles your bet, so if you get all 6s you multiply your bet by 16 (this has a house edge of around 12%, but most people won't be able to figure out exact numbers without a computer).

Thanks all for the suggestions! Definitely adding a simplified game of Craps into the list, that's definitely the sort of thing I was looking for!

Hilo sounds like a good basis for a game, I am going to avoid other people betting and instead go for straight player vs house for the most part, as I want things to quickly resolve and not get overly bogged down - I've already added Liars Dice so I have a long game to play if people want something to take a little longer!

Also considering making my own games based on the world of D&D. I already made a game called Dragon Dice which is D&D themed. Now throwing together a wizard duel game as well!

You don’t really have to simplify craps, it’s pretty simple as is. You roll 2d6 and try to repeat that number without rolling a 7 or an 11, and people get to either bet that you’ll succeed or fail. That’s essentially it in a nutshell.

I actually ended up making a different game based off Craps, which I D&D-ified and called "Nine Hells", where you roll 2d8 and aim to get a 9, or if you roll anything other than a 9, you have to repeat the roll before rolling a 9. Basically Craps but with 2d8 rather than 2d6. You also may or may not lose your soul. 

There was a recent thread around here about odd-shaped dice. I wonder if this might be a good use for such dice. Many people know some basic craps rules, and I like the 2d8 idea, but what about something like 1d13+1d7?  Nobody knows the odds there when it's first laid in front of them. One can immediately catch the PCs and the players off guard. It certainly adds mystery, a little "Devil's got your soul" air.