Start with the wheel, because the felt follows it
Most people begin a roulette diagram by sketching the long betting grid, then squeeze the wheel in somewhere beside it. That produces a drawing that looks right at a glance but breaks down the moment you try to place a bet on it. The wheel dictates the numbers on the felt, so build your layout from the wheel outward.
You are drawing a European wheel with 37 pockets, numbered 0 through 36, or an American wheel with 38 pockets that adds a double zero. Decide which one before you draw anything else, because the number sequence on the wheel and the shape of the betting grid both change with that choice.
Lay out the wheel circle first
Draw a large circle and mark its centre. The wheel has alternating red and black pockets, with the zero pockets in green. If you are drawing the European version, place the single zero at the top of the circle as your reference point. For the American version, the zero and double zero sit opposite each other.
The numbers are not arranged in numerical order around the wheel. They follow a fixed sequence designed so that high and low numbers, odd and even numbers, and red and black pockets are distributed around the circle. Rather than inventing a sequence, copy the standard order for the wheel type you chose. A quick search for the published wheel sequence for European or American roulette will give you the exact order to write in, pocket by pocket.
Colour each pocket as you go. The red and black assignment is fixed for each number, not alternating around the wheel. Marking the colours correctly matters if you plan to use the drawing to follow a real game.
Sketch the betting felt as a grid
The felt is a long rectangle, wider than it is tall, usually drawn to the right or left of the wheel. It contains three main zones: the number grid, the outside bets, and the French-language call bets if you want the full European layout.
The number grid is three columns wide and twelve rows deep. Write the numbers 1 through 36 in three columns, reading left to right and top to bottom: 1, 2, 3 on the first row, 4, 5, 6 on the second, and so on down to 34, 35, 36. The zero sits at the top of the grid, above the three columns. On an American layout, the double zero sits beside the zero above the same columns.
Each number sits inside its own box. The boxes alternate red and black to match the wheel, and the zero boxes are green. Draw the boxes large enough to hold chips, because on a real table players place chips directly on these squares.
Add the outside bet areas
Around the number grid, draw the outside betting boxes. Along one long side, place the dozens and column bets. The three dozen boxes cover 1-12, 13-24, and 25-36. The three column boxes sit at the bottom of each number column, marked simply as the column bet.
Along the other long side, draw the even-money bets: red, black, odd, even, 1-18, and 19-36. These are usually six boxes arranged in two rows of three. On a European layout, the even-money bets may appear on both long sides, with the French labels noir, rouge, impair, pair, manque, and passe.
The outside bets do not sit on individual numbers. They cover groups of numbers, and a chip placed in one of these boxes is a single wager on every number in that group.
Compare the two wheel layouts before you finalise
| Feature | European wheel | American wheel |
|---|---|---|
| Pockets | 37 | 38 |
| Zero pockets | Single zero only | Single zero and double zero |
| Zero position on felt | One green box above the grid | Two green boxes above the grid |
| Wheel sequence | Fixed European order | Fixed American order, different from European |
| Outside bet labels | Often French on European tables | Usually English |
The extra pocket on the American wheel is not just a drawing detail. It changes the arithmetic of every bet on the table, because the house edge on an American layout is higher than on a European layout for the same wager. If your drawing is meant to teach someone the game, the wheel type you choose changes what the diagram teaches.
Mark the bet types on your diagram
Inside the number grid, roulette allows bets that cover more than one number at a time. A split bet sits on the line between two adjacent numbers. A street bet sits at the end of a row of three numbers. A corner bet sits on the intersection of four numbers. A six-line bet sits at the junction of two adjacent rows, covering six numbers.
Draw these boundaries clearly, because the lines themselves are betting positions. On a real felt, a chip placed on a line is a different wager from a chip placed inside a number box. Your diagram should make that distinction visible.
The outside bets each cover a fixed group of numbers and pay at fixed odds. A straight-up bet on a single number pays at longer odds than an even-money bet on red or black, but the chance of winning changes in proportion. No bet on the layout changes the built-in edge; the edge comes from the wheel type and the rule set, not from which box you choose.
Sequence a round on your finished drawing
Once the layout is complete, walk through a round to check that the drawing works. A player buys in at the table and receives chips. The dealer opens betting. Players place chips on the felt, either on individual numbers, on the lines between them, or in the outside boxes. The dealer spins the wheel and launches the ball. When the ball lands, the dealer marks the winning number on the felt and settles bets: winning wagers are paid, losing wagers are collected.
Your drawing should let someone place every bet type without ambiguity. If a chip on a corner intersection could be read as two different bets, redraw the lines until it cannot.
Common drawing mistakes that confuse the game
The first mistake is putting the numbers in numerical order around the wheel. A roulette wheel never runs 1, 2, 3 around the circle. If your wheel does, the diagram is decorative but not functional.
The second is colouring the pockets by alternating red and black around the circle. The colours follow the fixed wheel sequence, not an alternating pattern. A wheel with alternating colours will not match any real table.
The third is drawing the zero at the bottom of the number grid or omitting it entirely. The zero is a betting position like any other number, and on an American layout there are two zero positions. A layout without the zero cannot show the full set of wagers.
FAQ
Do I need to draw the wheel and the felt to the same scale?
No. The wheel and the felt are separate surfaces on a real table, and your drawing can show them at different scales. What matters is that the number sequence on the wheel matches the number grid on the felt, and that every betting position is labelled clearly enough to place a chip on it.
Can I draw a simplified layout with just the number grid?
You can, but it will not show the full game. The outside bets cover roughly half the felt on a real table and are the most common wagers new players make. Leaving them off produces a diagram that only explains straight-up and inside bets, which is a partial picture of how roulette works.
Why does the wheel sequence matter if I only care about the betting grid?
The wheel sequence determines which numbers are red and which are black, and that colour assignment is copied onto the felt. If your wheel sequence is wrong, your colouring will be wrong, and anyone using your diagram to follow a real spin will misread the result.
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