Berry, Chuck (Charles Edward Anderson Berry), 1926-, American rock music guitarist, singer, and songwriter, b. San Jose, Calif. He was brought up in St. Louis, Mo., where he still lives. Berry is widely regarded as one of the leading pioneers of rock music, having blended the blues with country music and added a rhythm-and-blues beat, and he is thought by many to be the inventor of the rock music form. His distinctive playing of the electric guitar and his witty lyrics were a major inspiration for the English pop renaissance and for a wide variety of other rock musicians. A dynamic performer, he also became known for his signature crouching and gliding "duck walk." Berry produced a string of hits in the late 1950s, including Maybellene, Rock and Roll Music, Roll Over Beethoven, and Johnny B. Goode. In 1962 he was sentenced to two years in prison on the charge of transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes. His creative output subsequently dwindled and he cut his last record in 1981, butt he continued to be an active and popular performer into the 21st cent. Berry was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

Close, Chuck (Charles Thomas Close), 1940-, American painter, b. Monroe, Wash., grad. Univ. of Washington (B.A., 1962), Yale Univ. (B.F.A., 1963; M.F.A., 1964). After studying in Vienna (1964-65), he moved (1968) to New York City. Since then Close has specialized in huge, coolly expressionless single portraits of his artist friends, himself, or his family, executed from his own photographs in painstaking detail on a grid of small squares. His first works were painted in black and white; he introduced color in the 1970s and 80s. In 1988, Close suffered a collapsed spinal artery, which left him almost completely paralyzed. A brace device on his partially mobile hand, a sophisticated wheelchair, and other aids allowed him to paint again, and in the 1990s his work became freer and more lively. Within the armature of his grids, each tilelike square is filled with swirling, warmly multicolored designs in various forms-X's, O's, concentric rings of ameboid shapes, and others-in closeup resembling tiny abstract paintings, but at a distance coalescing into monumentally frontal portrait heads. From the 1970s to the present, Close has also created a variety of multiple images in such media as mezzotint, aquatint, linoleum cut, woodcut, screen print, paper pulp, and daguerreotype.

Yeager, Chuck (Charles Elwood Yeager), 1923-, American aviator. A fighter pilot during World War II, he was a test pilot during the early postwar years. Among other records, he was the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound (1947) and set a world speed record of 1,650 mph (1953). His obvious bravery, technical skill, and unaffected manner have made him the quintessential American hero. He wrote his autobiography, Yeager (with Leo Janos, 1985).

orig. Charles Elwood Yeager

(born Feb. 13, 1923, Myra, W.Va., U.S.) U.S. test pilot. He served as a fighter pilot in World War II and became a flight instructor and test pilot after the war. Chosen to test-fly the secret experimental X-1 aircraft, on Oct. 14, 1947, he became the first person to break the sound barrier in flight, which was approximately 662 mph (1,066 km/hr) at an altitude of 40,000 ft (12,000 m). A brash and colourful personality, he retired with the rank of brigadier general in 1975 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985.

Learn more about Yeager, Chuck with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born July 5, 1940, Monroe, Wash., U.S.) U.S. artist. After early Abstract Expressionist experiments, in his first solo exhibition Close showed a series of enormous black-and-white portraits that he had painstakingly transformed from small photographs to colossal, Photorealist paintings. Throughout his career, he concentrated on portraits—from the neck up—based on photographs he had taken. In addition to self-portraits, the paintings were usually of friends, many of whom were prominent in the art world. He experimented with a variety of media and techniques, including using fingerprints and colourful tiles that, seen from a distance, combined into an illusionistic whole. In 1988 a spinal blood clot left Close almost completely paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. A brush-holding device strapped to his wrist and forearm, however, allowed him to continue working.

Learn more about Close, Chuck with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Charles Elwood Yeager

(born Feb. 13, 1923, Myra, W.Va., U.S.) U.S. test pilot. He served as a fighter pilot in World War II and became a flight instructor and test pilot after the war. Chosen to test-fly the secret experimental X-1 aircraft, on Oct. 14, 1947, he became the first person to break the sound barrier in flight, which was approximately 662 mph (1,066 km/hr) at an altitude of 40,000 ft (12,000 m). A brash and colourful personality, he retired with the rank of brigadier general in 1975 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985.

Learn more about Yeager, Chuck with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born July 5, 1940, Monroe, Wash., U.S.) U.S. artist. After early Abstract Expressionist experiments, in his first solo exhibition Close showed a series of enormous black-and-white portraits that he had painstakingly transformed from small photographs to colossal, Photorealist paintings. Throughout his career, he concentrated on portraits—from the neck up—based on photographs he had taken. In addition to self-portraits, the paintings were usually of friends, many of whom were prominent in the art world. He experimented with a variety of media and techniques, including using fingerprints and colourful tiles that, seen from a distance, combined into an illusionistic whole. In 1988 a spinal blood clot left Close almost completely paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. A brush-holding device strapped to his wrist and forearm, however, allowed him to continue working.

Learn more about Close, Chuck with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Charles Edward Anderson Berry

(born Oct. 18, 1926, St. Louis, Mo., U.S. ) U.S. singer-songwriter. Though first interested in country music, in the early 1950s Berry led a blues trio that played in black nightclubs around St. Louis. In 1955 he traveled to Chicago and made his first hit record, “Maybellene,” which was soon followed by “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Rock and Roll Music,” and “Roll Over, Beethoven.” He was one of the first to shape big-beat blues into what came to be called rock and roll (see rock music) and to achieve widespread popularity with white audiences. After two trials tainted by racist overtones, in 1959 he began a five-year prison sentence for immoral behaviour. In 1972 he achieved his first number one hit, “My Ding-A-Ling.” He continued to perform into the 1990s. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were among the many rock bands greatly influenced by Berry.

Learn more about Berry, Chuck with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Charles Edward Anderson Berry

(born Oct. 18, 1926, St. Louis, Mo., U.S. ) U.S. singer-songwriter. Though first interested in country music, in the early 1950s Berry led a blues trio that played in black nightclubs around St. Louis. In 1955 he traveled to Chicago and made his first hit record, “Maybellene,” which was soon followed by “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Rock and Roll Music,” and “Roll Over, Beethoven.” He was one of the first to shape big-beat blues into what came to be called rock and roll (see rock music) and to achieve widespread popularity with white audiences. After two trials tainted by racist overtones, in 1959 he began a five-year prison sentence for immoral behaviour. In 1972 he achieved his first number one hit, “My Ding-A-Ling.” He continued to perform into the 1990s. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were among the many rock bands greatly influenced by Berry.

Learn more about Berry, Chuck with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Chuck-a-luck, also known as birdcage, is an unequal game of chance played with three dice. It is derived from grand hazard, and both can be considered a variant of sic bo, a popular casino game, although chuck-a-luck is more of a carnival game than a true casino game. The game is sometimes used as a fundraiser for charity.

Rules

Chuck-a-luck is played with three standard dice that are kept in a device shaped somewhat like an hourglass that resembles a wire-frame bird cage and that pivots about its centre. The dealer rotates the cage end over end, with the dice landing on the bottom.

Wagers are placed based on possible combinations that can appear on the three dice. The possible wagers are usually fewer than the wagers that are possible in sic bo and, in that sense, chuck-a-luck can be considered to be a simpler game.

The wagers, and their associated odds, that are typically available are set out in the table below.

Type	Wager	Odds
Single Dice Bet	A specific number will appear	1 die, 1 to 1; 2 dice, 2 to 1; 3 dice, 10 to 1 (sometimes 3 to 1)
Any Triple (sometimes offered)	Any of the triples (all three dice show the same number) will appear	30 to 1
Big (sometimes offered)	The total score will be 11 (sometimes 12) or higher with the exception of a triple	1 to 1
Small (sometimes offered)	The total score will be 10 (sometimes 9) or lower with the exception of a triple	1 to 1
Field (sometimes offered)	The total score will be outside the range of 8 to 12 (inclusive)	1 to 1

House Advantage or Edge

Chuck-a-luck is an unequal game of chance. That is, on average, even if the dice are not loaded, the players are expected to lose more than they win. The casino's advantage (house advantage or house edge) is greater than most other casino games and can be much greater.

For example, there are 216 (6 x 6 x 6) possible outcomes for a single throw of three dice. For a specific number:

• there are 75 possible outcomes, where one die only will match the number;
• there are 15 possible outcomes, where two dice only will match; and
• there is one possible outcome, where all three dice will match.

At odds of 1 to 1, 2 to 1 and 10 to 1 respectively for each of these types of outcome, the expected loss as a percentage of the stake wagered is:

1 - [(75/216) * 2 + (15/216) * 3 + (1/216) * 11] = 4.6%

At worse odds of 1 to 1, 2 to 1 and 3 to 1, the expected loss as a percentage of the stake wagered is:

1 - [(75/216) * 2 + (15/216) * 3 + (1/216) * 4] = 7.9%

Variants

• A version of the Big Six wheel is loosely based on chuck-a-luck, with various combinations of three dice appearing in 54 slots on a spinning wheel. Because of the distribution of the combinations, the house advantage or edge for this wheel is greater than for chuck-a-luck.
• Chuck-a-luck is essentially identical to the traditional Vietnamese game Bau cua ca cop.
• The games C 3; Chuck A Luck and C 9; Chuck A Luck use the numbers 1-3 and 1-9 (respectively) as the computer does not know how many faces a die has.

External links

• Chuck-a-Luck page
• Chuck-a-Luck Game Rule
• Chuck A Luck game variants C_3 and C_9.