Casino video games

This actually came up in another thread, about the iPhone app Baccarat Supreme, but I thought that it might be interesting to open a separate thread on the subject, since I hadn't seen it discussed on here. I've tried various software casino games over the years, and wondered whether anyone else on here had spent any time playing with these.

Aside from the Flash casino programs provided for free by online casinos, I feel like the best casino game out there right now is Hoyle Casino 2011. I've been following the Hoyle Casino games for the last few years, and the latest edition blows all of their prior entries out of the water. As the name suggests, it is a Hoyle product, so the game leans heavily towards card games, but does a damn fine job with them. Baccarat is dealt from a six-deck shoe; like with most online casinos, you can tell when the shoe is changed because they go back and forth between red and blue cardbacks. It does force you to create and play dress up with a digital avatar before playing, which is kind of annoying, but can be rushed through. The bots that sit at tables with you are consistently annoying, but their voices can be turned off. They exist mostly for the purpose of beating in tournaments.

Speaking of tournaments, while they're fun, the computer blatantly cheats. While the human player is forced to sit at seat number 3 (of four), the human must always place bets prior to the AI bots at seats 1, 2, and 4 deciding how much they are willing to stake. You can change your bet amount, but the bots will then do the same. In real-life Baccarat tournaments, you're at given the option of making a secret bet by writing down your bet amount and handing it to the dealers, to prevent other players from basing their betting on how much you stand to win or lose. This option does not exist in Hoyle Casino because the computer cheats. The AI is not particularly strong, but, based on what I've seen in real life, accurately depicts Baccarat tournament participant behavior, possibly as a direct result of its strategic weakness.

The Reel Deal family of casino games are a Shufflemaster product. There is very little difference between the various titles (Imperial Fortune, Millionaire's Club, Gold Rush), except that Gold Rush has an Old West setting and includes Faro. I got Gold Rush only because it included Faro. They are graphically inferior to the Hoyle line, yet require a bafflingly large amount of HD space (not a huge problem today, but still puzzling). The Reel Deal games have an enormous problem in that they don't properly understand the betting rules for Baccarat. In both their Baccarat and Dragon Bonus Baccarat games, they only allow you to bet on Banker or Player or Tie, never Player or Banker and Tie -- in their version of Baccarat, you can only place one bet on the layout at a time, so forget about using the Tie bet as a hedge. Obviously, in a real casino, if you wanted to simultaneously bet all three it would be fine.

Unlike the Hoyle games, the Reel Deal games include something that purports to be Sic bo. It is played on a Craps table, with three dice being thrown down the table like in Craps rather than being vibrated under a covered glass dome as in Sic bo. Betting options and payouts are the same as in Sic bo, though. Winning bets do light up on the layout, but not in any different manner than they do in, say, Roulette or Craps. Neither the Hoyle games nor the Reel Deal games include Pai Gow tiles.

Something that is nice about Reel Deal is that its games provide stats in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, showing your number of hands played, won, and lost, amounts of money wagered, won, and lost, and percentage return on bets. I really wish that the superior Hoyle casino games included this feature. It would be so much more useful than the box Hoyle provides in that space, which tells you when the bots are thinking. Not what, but when. Seriously. That’s all it does.

Reel Deal includes a Big Six Wheel if you want to pretend like you're playing a game with a really steep HE. Both the Hoyle and the Reel Deal games include large assortments of slots, slots being the main reason why there is a family of Reel Deal games instead of just one. I have never played the slots on either. Playing slots for pretend money strikes is an endeavor whose appeal I fail to grasp. With table games I can at least experiment with systems that I'd never risk real money on, or practice basic strategy in Blackjack.

Anyhow, I was just curious as to whether anyone else had tried these, or any others that they could suggest, or even thought they were interesting. Thanks for reading such a long and rambling post!

I have to agree that I like the Hoyle games too. What I noticed is that Hoyle 2011 and 2010 are basically the same only that the 2010 version has much more table games than the 2011 version. The 2010 version includes games such Royal Match, Caribbean Stud and Let it ride. My best guess is that they didn't get the licenses for the 2011 version.

Hoyle Casino 2012 is available for download now. Not sure what games are included, though.

Thanks for the reviews. I'm a tightwad by nature, so for my table game computer cravings, I'll mostly stick with the Wiz's versions and the free downloadable version of Blackjack Switch.

Slots are another story. I've been a big fan of Masque Publishing's IGT Slot series. They're up to three now, each featuring about 10 video slots and about the same number of psuedo-reels. Why play? Because it's fun. The bonus rounds are fun to watch and it's fun to watch the pretend money rack up without the downside risk of real games.

I hadn't thought about getting to see all the bonus rounds. I guess because I'm not a slot player in real life, either. There are probably more software slot games out there to choose from than there are casino games that include table games. Something nice about any of them (slots or full casino) is that they're dirt cheap. I think I picked up most of mine in bargain software bins.

Also (FWIW), Hoyle includes a 50% off coupon for any of their software with every deck of Hoyle playing cards. You get the same coupon any time you register a piece of their software (I have Hoyle Card Games and Hoyle Board Games, too).

Quote: cardshark

Hoyle Casino 2012 is available for download now. Not sure what games are included, though.

I hadn't realized that it was out already -- I just got 2011 like six months ago! They've got some of the games listed on their website, but annoyingly tag on "And many more!" rather than providing a complete list. Based on the screenshots, they've taken a step backward graphically. 2011 had 3D table games rather than the 2D top-down (online casino style) views they're showing here. A disappointment, since strong graphics were one of the things Hoyle had going for them.

For comparison, this is my screenshot of Baccarat in Hoyle Casino 2011:



And here is Hoyle's screenshot of Baccarat in Hoyle Casino 2012:



See what I mean about them appearing to have taken a step backwards?

Although Hoyle makes quality software, it still doesn't have the "tools" that give the true baccarat player a way to strategize on gameplay. I've been searching for decades on baccarat software that would actually help me improve (via practicing) my strategies and methodologies to no avail until Baccarat Supreme for iPhone hit the market. I'm not saying that it has every feature that I had dreamed for, but it at least has some really helpful features so far (namely the "pattern configurator" for the lack of a better term) to give me another angle at figuring out a fun way to play the game. I've been playing it for several days already and have had no complaints yet. However, I do wish they will someday build in a "money management configurator" along with automated betting according to a customized "bet selection configurator." Yes, I know I'm asking for a lot here, but it doesn't hurt to ask. :) As for the screen shots you posted up for Hoyle 2010 vs 2011, I agree that they are definitely going backwards!! Until next time, be safe!