Casino Roach II

Over the weekend the house was transformed into Casino Roach for the 2nd time in history.  The 1st transformation occurred about 2 yrs ago when we introduced the event to 20+ guests.  This 1st event holds an historical footnote:  It was during that night when Sonia and I announced to the ‘outside’ world that we were pregnant with OG.

Our initial offering of Casino Roach consisted of 3 types of tables:  Blackjack, Craps and Pai Gow Poker.  The idea of the evening was to provide each guest with a stack of chips that they were to bet with at each table throughout the evening.  People were split into 3 groups and rotated around to each table playing for approximately 1hr.  The goal was to have the most amount of chips by the end of the evening to win prizes and respect. 

We were not sure how the chips would accumulate or how quickly people would bust out and not have anything to play with so we had put maximum bets on each table.  This seemed to work fine until near the end of the night when people were chasing the leaders and had no way to make up the distance.  At any rate it worked out fine and everyone (both seasoned gamblers and newbies alike) had a blast.  The most popular feedback was that they were glad to have had a chance to learn how to play craps in a non-threatening environment.  If you’ve ever been to a Vegas casino and tried to place some bets down at a busy craps table you’ll know how intimidating that can be especially if you don’t have the rules at your fingertips.

This year we took what we learnt from the last event and offered and new and improved Casino Roach.  With 14 guests this time around we had the luxury of having either 2 or 3 offerings this year.  At the last minute we added Roulette to the menu along with BlackJack and the ever popular Craps. 

We split the groups into 2 this time so that 1 table would be idle per session.  This allowed the dealers to be able to get in on some of the action this time around.  We also changed up the house rules regarding betting: this time there was no-limit betting and a ‘free’ reload of chips if the player went broke.  But we would record the reload against their overall chip count in the end. 

The no-limit introduced and fervour of excitement.  Most of the time the betting was throttled by the players’ conservative natures.  But there would be the odd bet early on that would raise the excitement level as the player attempted to separate himself from the field (e.g. Dave L on the craps table). 

As the night progressed, so did the drinking and so did the level of betting.  Hmm, I wonder if the real casinos have noticed this trend?  I was running the craps table and it was this table that gave a true indication of how loose people were getting as the night went on.  The first couple of rounds provided a very ‘clean’ craps table with the majority of bets being made on the pass line.  When it was time for the ‘free for all’ last round the table was messy with chips.  I’ve never seen so much action on the prop bets in my life.  And so when the crowd turned into craps pros they were all over the Come line and were backing all their bets to the max (which was up to 2 times the bet).  Except for the odd person who still hadn’t caught on to the value of the odds bets.  There were some extremely hot rollers at the end of the night (I think our last roller rolled about 25 consecutive rolls before rolling the 7 on the point roll).  With the chip leader way out in front there were huge bets on odds and on prop bets, some of them paying off when the hard ways were rolled (which was more often than I’ve ever seen).  The only downfall for these big spenders was that they were not taking some of their bets down and were leaving way too much on the table so when that seven was eventually rolled it was a tragedy.

The craps fever is hot now and I’m sure the next trips to Vegas for everyone will have them shooting craps with confidence instead of looking at it with perplexion.  I know I’m geared up for some craps during my poker breaks the next time I’m down.

When most patrons left the Casino feeling better than ever, the ‘afterparty’ began.  David and Sneebort brought in their new Nintend Wii gear and introduced me to the hot new sensation.  A new experience in playing video games, the Wii controller requires you to make the physical motions you want the character on the screen to perform.  The introductory sports games were excellent in demonstrating the power of this new approach to home gaming.  The tennis and bowling in particular were true to the actual motions of the games.  The other games such as golf and baseball were close but not quite the real thing.  Overall I was impressed with the new approach but can’t help but think that this way of playing could become annoying in the long run when playing more involved games like a SuperMario or any RPG type game.  The sheer effort to move the character could become tedious and prevent you from playing hours on end.  Maybe that’s a good thing?  But I would prefer to be able to choose the method of play where I can make the motions myself or simply use a standard joystick interface. 

I’m on the fence at this point as to whether I want a Wii myself.  I praise Nintendo for the risk they’ve taken and it appears they’ve done a great job.  Past efforts by other vendors have been more gimicky then anything and have ultimately led to a negative gaming experience.  This time around Nintend has certainly made it a benefit to their system.   Only time will tell if gamers are ready for it and/or whether this is the way gaming should be moving towards.