RICOH COVENTRY SHOWCASE

Anyone here attending tomorrow evening's new table game showcase at Grosvenor Ricoh Coventry?

Yes, i'm going.

Yes - also see https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling/other-games/15382-new-games-showcase-uk-grosvenor-casinos-17-10-2013/5/ which follows on from the last one.

One for the Money is being presented there tonight, among other games; preliminary reports are good, but I'd love to hear any specifics any of you have on how it went, interest level, if you played it what you thought, etc. And hope it went well for you, Stephen, too!

Attended last night and, as with all events hosted by Paul Davies, proved to be an excellent evening. My personal favourites on the night were BJ War, Bacabo, and the aforementioned One For The Money.

Hi Babs,

Didnt play One for the Money, as id played it in London and knew i liked it, and there were loads of other games to get through. It seemed to be getting plenty of play every time i passed. There were loads of people with Ipads going round getting feedback.

Quote: THESWEENEY

Attended last night and, as with all events hosted by Paul Davies, proved to be an excellent evening. My personal favourites on the night were BJ War, Bacabo, and the aforementioned One For The Money.

Very enjoyable night. My top 3 were One for the Money, King High Poker and Roulette-18.

It was a good evening and glad to have met up with Geoff, Stephen and many others. It was fun playing at the same table as several high placed people from Maidenhead; had a good chat about how the business is changing and how Grosvenor is willing to give new games a chance.

I didn't manage to get to all the games, some tables were double sided so I also missed a few I'd like to have found.

Several were sidebets, variation on an existing theme or I'd seen them before (probably ICE) - so I didn't look too closely at them:
(1) Big Money Wheel - same as the known game but a nicely lit up wheel.
(4) Super Pairs - very similar to Perfect Pairs with the addition of "Suited Trips". I liked the addition of an even bigger long shot (pays 50/1), but personally would have preferred any Trips and reduce the other payouts, say Suited Pairs to 25/1.
(5) Lucky Win - similar to the Dragon Bet ( http://www.ukcasinotablegames.info/puntoluckywin.html ) in that it pays on a certain unlikely event for either the player or banker.
(9) Roulette-18 - Nice touch by Stephen as uses a dice rather than a wheel - layout has 1-18 and single 0.
(10) Double Hit Split Roulette - another one by Stephen: there is a duplicate small layout, you pick a split - if it comes up once it pays 11/1 and twice pays 125/1. I like the idea that a bet can win something reasonable with an additional chance to win big. There's mileage here!
(11) Puk-A-Luk - a vertical mounted roulette machine using a hoop and 37 pins, where the players can spin it using a fruit-machine like handle. Nice idea, certainly an attraction and different way to select the result.
(12) Prime Time - this was Geoff's only "game" and paid increasing payouts depending on number of consecutive primes. It worked well when in the middle of a run. One of the problem with some of these bets (from the casino's viewpoint) is that the bet pays everyone at the table - but I guess that's similar to Craps when a hot shooter comes along - so has a large variance for the house.
(13) Shark's Predator - sidebet for cash games that pays (similar to 3 card-poker Pair+) based on the first three cards. Personally I wasn't convinced that cash tables would want to distraction.
(18) Vortex - this was an interesting contraption that took 20 pool-like snooker balls and picked them - similar to a lottery draw.

New Games

(3) Action Hold 'Em - A poker game where you see your two-cards initially, fold or CALL, see the dealer's and the flop, optional bet, and win or lose after the river. Your bets are 1 Ante then 2 Call then (optional) 3. A computer reads all the cards and gives you true odds (less house edge) for your call bets and displays it on a screen. In theory the correct strategy is to always call and decide whether to make the optional bet.
What I initially didn't like was you didn't know how to calculate the House Edge (obviously you can check for any given hand whether the computer has given you reasonable value) and there seemed no strategy (subsequent analysis suggests the best House Edge is achieved, due to rounding on heavily odds on bets having to pay 50p, when you make the smallest bet possible - personally it works better using ticket money rather than chips).
However for people who like poker it offered different scenarios varying from when you're favourite to win, to when you're a great underdog - but in all cases giving you appropriate odds.
Summary - interesting but not convinced.

(6a) Solitaire Stud Poker - Similar to High Card Flush both sides receive seen cards but in this game make a straight with alternating colours. Uses Ante Play mechanism and house qualifies with any 2-card run. Nice idea and the sidebet (1% HE) is better than the main game - so worth playing.
Summary - found it more interesting than HCF but slightly annoying to have to remember Ace was low only (I could see myself setting AK).

(6b) One For The Money - this seemed popular and has already gone live in Aspers. Hopefully Grosvenor would have liked this and will pick it up. It's simple, gives players something to do and two easy decisions to make.

(7) Shake 'Em - I never saw this game.

(8) 10 - Spin Blackjack - There's a 10-segment wheel on the layout (12-21) and three of these are picked. You make a Blackjack bet, and Red/Black bet and a Spin Triple bet - there are other sidebets. If your second card is Red/Black you win evens (i.e. Zero HE), and if the total of it and 10 are one of the three on the wheel you win 2-1. Pictures don't count and your first card is used instead, but pays 1-1. Two pictures means standoff.
Summary - you had to make all three bets, the house edge was quite high, it was quite time consuming to deal and personally I couldn't see the advantage over regular BJ.

(14) King-High Poker - Essentially you bet at your own seat on each round whether the next card was Hi (8-K)/Lo (A-6), 7, S/H/D/C. Each five rounds, the cards are kept to form a poker hand, for the resolution of another sidebet.
Summary - nice to have your own betting position and fairly simple.

(15) War Blackjack - Similar to Hou$e Money but much simpler and pays Evens. Aces are low and if your card beats the dealer's you win and can add the winnings (but not the stake) to your BJ bet [before you get your second card]. Strategy is fairly simple, since you win with a one-point advantage (e.g. 8-10 vs 7) nearly always pays to play (except not against A or 10). Note you win 2-10 vs A, so that's a nice payout as your BJ bet is likely to lose. Unlike hou$e money you don't have to put too much of your own if there's a double or split (and with HM every split will have won).
Summary - the winner by miles - it's simple, a nice variation, easy to understand. Only downside is it takes a space for a sidebet.

(16a) Catch-A-Match
(16b) BaCaBo - Didn't get time to play either of these

(17) Pokerlette - Roulette like layout and payouts using all 52 cards and 2 jokers. Fancy method used to pick five cards. Bets are straight up (pays 9.5 to 1) if any of the five cards are the one selected. Various outside bets, eg. 3-card result, 5-card result.
Summary - interesting alternative to Roulette, but not my cup-of-tea.

Very nice reviews, guys, thanks so much for the feedback. Very exciting to hear that the game was getting good traffic. Yay!

Quote: beachbumbabs

One for the Money is being presented there tonight, among other games; preliminary reports are good, but I'd love to hear any specifics any of you have on how it went, interest level, if you played it what you thought, etc. And hope it went well for you, Stephen, too!

Hi Babs,
Yes, the show went vary well for me.
Your game is one of the best at the show.

Great summary of games, just wondering was that all the games on show or were there others that did not take your interest, and if not why not? My first post so just wondering the type of game that will capture peoples interest (of course everyone wants to know that but interested from the concensus of the games on show).

Quote: MrCasinoGames

Hi Babs,
Yes, the show went vary well for me.
Your game is one of the best at the show.

Stephen,

Glad you had a good show! And that's a high compliment coming from you, thanks very much. Did you show the one with the 20 sided die? That looked like a lot of fun.

Quote: timing

...were there others that did not take your interest...

There's only so much time so I tend to concentrate on card games and leave sidebets and roulette for later (just my personal preference).

btw there's a thread on Blackjack War ( https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling/tables/17421-war-blackjack-is-spreading/7/ ) and a new page ( https://wizardofodds.com/games/war-blackjack/ ). I was unaware of this when reviewing the game.

Thank you for your post. War Blackjack was indeed selected as the Best Table Game and is NOW completing paperwork necessary to place 2 +
tables with Grosvenor Casino, Coventry / elsewhere. When you said 'the winner by miles' YOU WERE CORRECT. I should tell you I am Garry A. Hamud, my email is warblackjack.com@gmail.com. WBJ offers a player a new volatile game experience without the usual, concomitant loss of play time because the player now can raise his BJ wager mid hand, after seeing the dlr up card (actually all up cards on the table), using War winnings, not his own chips . . this is fun and advantageous, far better than having to push out all one’s chips on a BJ wager BEFORE ever seeing a card. WBJ is rapidly becoming the people's choice when compared to ordinary BJ.

Last week there was another showcase and I thought it easier to continue this thread rather than starting another one. Here is a photo showing some tables before it started.


How it works - from a games' designer viewpoint.
Grosvenor hold a regular event where designers can pay a small fee to have their games hosted. Casino managers and a few punters go along and the most popular are trialled in their provincial casinos. The only downside is they don't subsequently advertise which games go where (e.g. this winter Lucky 13 Blackjack went to two casinos).

Some of the games.
There were many games on show - I tend to ignore the roulette side-bets as, from a review point-of-view, I can't add much value - so I concentrate on the games. Also Grosvenor held an in-house competition and showed five games from their employees.

Card games

1 - Higher Or Lower
Seven community cards are gradually played out on the table, similar to "Play Your Cards Right", and you have to make correct (Ties lose) guesses. Two or less loses, three guarantees Evens, five 2/1, six 3/1. There is also a sidebet on "Ties".
It's a deceptively simple game, but the problem I found was everyone would be betting the same rather than you have your own game.

4- Blackjack Duel
Standard Blackjack except each player has their own dealer's cards (thus trying to reduce the effect of other players on your outcome), and your hand is resolved before moving onto the next player. It seems slower to deal but won the competition; so see it appearing soon!

11 Second Hand 21 (Blackjack)
This game uses a mandatory bet to give you some advantages to your Blackjack game. A "half-bet" loses if your initial total is Even otherwise it ties/paid if your BJ hand ties/wins. In this case BJs and 21s win, you can burn 1st 14-17 or double on any #cards. I like the mechanism but don't know whether people prefer this to Push 22-like methods to grab back house edge.

13 21 or Nothing (Blackjack using a modified deck)
The deck has cards with negative values (using a 5th suit) and also adds 11-cards (removing pictures). The aim is to get to 21 or to 0 (or less); there are also special hands which are treated like "Blackjacks".
It's an interesting twist and similar to Lucky 31 which uses a modified deck, may find difficulty in dealers and players being able to ascertain their totals and this slows the game down.

Dice games

12 Sports Shotz Football (small dice table used)
The concept is that there are three phases of the game, each using a roll of one die. The first roll decides whether it's a Goal, Miss or "Hit Post" (paying 1 2 or 4 to 1); subsequent rolls elaborate (e.g. header, penalty) and pay longer odds.
The pay-table needs tweaking but it's an interesting idea.

20 Dice Ball (small dice tables used)
This is a great idea based Baseball using two dice, the shooter aims to get round four bases and score runs. This is done by not rolling a Seven, four times. The layout has a baseball layout for the shooter's progress and three types of bets.
(a) The shooter will score a run (pays Evens).
(b) The shooter will score three or more runs (pays increasing odds, like a Jackpot or Fire Bet).
(c) Big 6, Big 8 or (2/5) (3/4) ... bets paying Evens (yes not generous odds, but a nice touch to group the numbers in this way).
Probably my favourite game but I'd like to see the place odds tweaked, perhaps paying extra for a double.

Quote: charliepatrick

I tend to ignore the roulette side-bets as, from a review point-of-view, I can't add much value.

Well, that just makes me sad.

That's the part of your report I was most interested in!

FYI: I created a roulette side bet that I hope to showcase at a show like this in the near future.
http://www.davemillergaming.com/
Reading your review of what's out there would be most helpful...

I think the one you would be interested in comes from Galaxy Gaming and is called Trio-Lette : wager that next three spins form a poker hand where 0's are wild. 000:500/1 Trips:20/1 Run (eg 789):8/1 Duo: 4/1.

I've known of poker style bets using 0 as wild for some time, but I think the other one was US based (i.e. 0 or 00) and used five spins so was more complicated (but easy online).

MrCasinoGames also had a bet based on the last digit (of, I'm guessing, two or more spins).

I am guessing DJ may have a comment or two on the similarities between this Galaxy game and his PFR!

So 2nd hand Blackjack is similar to Zap It, but uses a negative expectation mandatory wager for clawing back HE? On an initial 14 & 16, do you lose the 1/2 wager and then get a new hand? I think I like the Change 21 game better than this, where you pay/lose a half wager whenever you elect to invoke the option for changing one of any of your first two cards. That game has the added feature of allowing regular BJ play on the same table as players simply never make the Change 21 side bet to use the option (you invoke the option after seeing your 1st two cards)

Quote: Paradigm

I am guessing DJ may have a comment or two on the similarities between this Galaxy game and his PFR!

I had the same interesting observation - but it seemed easier just to give the facts as I had found them. Of course since we're seeing prototypes they may still be "patent pending" rather than patented.

Yes you lose the side-bet and then get a new hand on 14 or 16 - the first hand I played did this! Usually the same core game designers come along, so it's not unusual to see similar threads in other games - I think MrCasinoGames did both games ( https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling/online/16561-zappit-blackjack/ ) - he also has done quite a few Roulette side-bets.

Quote: charliepatrick

I think the one you would be interested in comes from Galaxy Gaming and is called Trio-Lette : wager that next three spins form a poker hand where 0's are wild. 000:500/1 Trips:20/1 Run (eg 789):8/1 Duo: 4/1.

Quote: Paradigm

I am guessing DJ may have a comment or two on the similarities between this Galaxy game and his PFR!

Ya think?
Except, I'm not entirely sure what to say...

Quote: charliepatrick

I've known of poker style bets using 0 as wild for some time, but I think the other one was US based (i.e. 0 or 00) and used five spins so was more complicated (but easy online).

It's quite possible you're talking about my Poker For Roulette game. It DOES have 0 and 00 wild, and it originally was five spins which was determined to be too complicated, as well as too long to wait for resolution - although neither should be a problem for online implementations.

Plus, Ive been talking about it on WoV for a few years, including this thread when I introduced it 4.5 years ago.


Thanks for the info!

Quote: charliepatrick

20 Dice Ball (small dice tables used)
This is a great idea based Baseball using two dice, the shooter aims to get round four bases and score runs. This is done by not rolling a Seven, four times. The layout has a baseball layout for the shooter's progress and three types of bets.
(a) The shooter will score a run (pays Evens).
(b) The shooter will score three or more runs (pays increasing odds, like a Jackpot or Fire Bet).
(c) Big 6, Big 8 or (2/5) (3/4) ... bets paying Evens (yes not generous odds, but a nice touch to group the numbers in this way).
Probably my favourite game but I'd like to see the place odds tweaked, perhaps paying extra for a double.

This appears to be the same main concept as "Four The Money," a dice game from about 20 years ago. WoO has a page on it:
https://wizardofodds.com/games/four-the-money/
From personal experience, the USPTO is fond of citing the Four The Money patent in relation to any new dice games that show up:
https://www.google.com/patents/US5964463

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Ya think?

I see many games so I only remember sketchy details of some. I only saw the Coventry version at the table walking round over an hour before the evening started and it did seem familiar. I can see your version, albeit with 0 and 00, in math_pay is substantially similar except for the values in the pay-table and use of flushes.

You may not be familiar with a UK issue over Perfect Pairs ( http://www.ukcasinotablegames.info/blackjackperfectpairs.html ) and Bonus Pairs ( http://www.ukcasinotablegames.info/blackjackbonuspairs.html ). I don't know the full facts but the latter was brought out by Grosvenor by leaving the payout for Pairs (Blackjack player's first two cards) asis and adding a bonus for Trips using the dealer's upcard. As grown-ups I guess they sorted out a solution fairly easily.

fwiw it's only my personal opinion (since many years ago I looked at multi-spin bets, we have many Roulette terminals so such a bet is possible and I also asked friends) but I couldn't see a multi-spin bet succeeding unless it's only uses two spins, although I know MrCasinoGames has developed many novel ideas featuring 2+ spins. There was a double-wheel concept, but that's totally different.

Edit after Four For The Money comment
Several of the games being shown were included at the last minute, some with un-finalised pay-tables etc. One of the nice things, I guess, about the Showcase is being able to get a reaction and possible trial before forking out the sums required for a US trade show. Thus it seems possible that a few could be patent pending and haven't got to the stage where they might come up against existing games. The patent you quote covers a lot of the bases, which would be a shame if it were to stop any other dice games being developed.

Quote: charliepatrick

Last week there was another showcase and I thought it easier to continue this thread rather than starting another one. Here is a photo showing some tables before it started.


How it works - from a games' designer viewpoint.
Grosvenor hold a regular event where designers can pay a small fee to have their games hosted. Casino managers and a few punters go along and the most popular are trialled in their provincial casinos. The only downside is they don't subsequently advertise which games go where (e.g. this winter Lucky 13 Blackjack went to two casinos).

Some of the games.
There were many games on show - I tend to ignore the roulette side-bets as, from a review point-of-view, I can't add much value - so I concentrate on the games. Also Grosvenor held an in-house competition and showed five games from their employees.

Card games

1 - Higher Or Lower
Seven community cards are gradually played out on the table, similar to "Play Your Cards Right", and you have to make correct (Ties lose) guesses. Two or less loses, three guarantees Evens, five 2/1, six 3/1. There is also a sidebet on "Ties".
It's a deceptively simple game, but the problem I found was everyone would be betting the same rather than you have your own game.

4- Blackjack Duel
Standard Blackjack except each player has their own dealer's cards (thus trying to reduce the effect of other players on your outcome), and your hand is resolved before moving onto the next player. It seems slower to deal but won the competition; so see it appearing soon!

11 Second Hand 21 (Blackjack)
This game uses a mandatory bet to give you some advantages to your Blackjack game. A "half-bet" loses if your initial total is Even otherwise it ties/paid if your BJ hand ties/wins. In this case BJs and 21s win, you can burn 1st 14-17 or double on any #cards. I like the mechanism but don't know whether people prefer this to Push 22-like methods to grab back house edge.

13 21 or Nothing (Blackjack using a modified deck)
The deck has cards with negative values (using a 5th suit) and also adds 11-cards (removing pictures). The aim is to get to 21 or to 0 (or less); there are also special hands which are treated like "Blackjacks".
It's an interesting twist and similar to Lucky 31 which uses a modified deck, may find difficulty in dealers and players being able to ascertain their totals and this slows the game down.

Dice games

12 Sports Shotz Football (small dice table used)
The concept is that there are three phases of the game, each using a roll of one die. The first roll decides whether it's a Goal, Miss or "Hit Post" (paying 1 2 or 4 to 1); subsequent rolls elaborate (e.g. header, penalty) and pay longer odds.
The pay-table needs tweaking but it's an interesting idea.

20 Dice Ball (small dice tables used)
This is a great idea based Baseball using two dice, the shooter aims to get round four bases and score runs. This is done by not rolling a Seven, four times. The layout has a baseball layout for the shooter's progress and three types of bets.
(a) The shooter will score a run (pays Evens).
(b) The shooter will score three or more runs (pays increasing odds, like a Jackpot or Fire Bet).
(c) Big 6, Big 8 or (2/5) (3/4) ... bets paying Evens (yes not generous odds, but a nice touch to group the numbers in this way).
Probably my favourite game but I'd like to see the place odds tweaked, perhaps paying extra for a double.

Good thorough reviews again charliepatrick, and good also to meet you there.

I didn't get to play many of the games, too busy exhibiting our own game. I did play Dice Ball, and really liked it.

Although I didn't play it, i'm surprised at the winner of the competition, as it seems to me all it does is really slow the game down.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Quote: charliepatrick

I think the one you would be interested in comes from Galaxy Gaming and is called Trio-Lette : wager that next three spins form a poker hand where 0's are wild. 000:500/1 Trips:20/1 Run (eg 789):8/1 Duo: 4/1.

Quote: Paradigm

I am guessing DJ may have a comment or two on the similarities between this Galaxy game and his PFR!

Ya think?
Except, I'm not entirely sure what to say...

The veil of secrecy / non-disclosure has been lifted.

Galaxy's Trio-lette IS my Poker For Roulette game, with a new name.

Now that I can talk about it, I DO know what to say. And I say a lot, here.

Quote: charliepatrick

How it works - from a games' designer viewpoint.
Grosvenor hold a regular event where designers can pay a small fee to have their games hosted. Casino managers and a few punters go along and the most popular are trialled in their provincial casinos.

Hi,

Another showcase will held at the Coventry Grosvenor Casino on Thursday October 22nd 2015.

Having exhibited at the previous event with my enhanced roulette table game - 'Rollorpoker', I can categorically say that it is a great opportunity to get feedback from industry professionals & gamblers. I refined this table layout on the basis of observing play interaction & from comments made by participants. Along with my own wheel configuration, I will be showing again together with another of my table games called 'Rushin Roulette' - the fastest version of roulette around!

Those that are attending please give all exhibitors a minute or two of your time - as constructive criticism is better than nothing at all.

See you there.

Quote:

...showcase ... at the Coventry Grosvenor Casino on Thursday October 22nd 2015

A wide range of games, it seems Dice was the flavour of the month. Here are some pictures of the various game layouts. I'm hoping to write them up later this week.

Long report hopefully coming later - but my favourite game was Six Shooter. Also I've tried to work out the game and, if my numbers are correct, have a suggestion for easier odds.


The objective is for the Player to knock out every Dealer’s dice as quickly as possible by rolling dice whose faces match. The odds stated were 12/1 for the first roll, 8/5 for the second, and Evens for needing three rolls. I'd like to offer a suggestion to change these.

The Dealer rolls six (red) dice and sets them aside in numerical order (1 to 6). The shooter has three rolls, with three (green) dice, in an attempt to match every number that has been rolled. A Player dice knocks out all Dealer dice whose faces have the same value; the Player wins if there are no Dealer’s dice left.

If the Dealer rolled 1 2 3 3 4 6 and the Player first rolled 2 4 5 (see picture) then the Dealer would be left with 1 3 3 6. On the next roll a 2 3 4 would take out the two 3’s leaving 1 6. A third roll of 1 5 6 would win.


My suggestion is to alter the odds to 10/1 2/1 1/1 and I get the following figures. Many thanks if anyone agrees with these numbers.

Win 1st roll	Win 2nd roll	Win 3rd roll	Lose	Total
4 350 485 376	61 771 746 960	112 684 244 190	291 378 508 050	470 184 984 576
10	2	1
47 855 339 136	185 315 240 880	225 368 488 380	0	97.523%

Are all players at the table betting on the one shooter like craps?

Quote: charliepatrick

Long report hopefully coming later - but my favourite game was Six Shooter. Also I've tried to work out the game and, if my numbers are correct, have a suggestion for easier odds.


The objective is for the Player to knock out every Dealer’s dice as quickly as possible by rolling dice whose faces match. The odds stated were 12/1 for the first roll, 8/5 for the second, and Evens for needing three rolls. I'd like to offer a suggestion to change these.

The Dealer rolls six (red) dice and sets them aside in numerical order (1 to 6). The shooter has three rolls, with three (green) dice, in an attempt to match every number that has been rolled. A Player dice knocks out all Dealer dice whose faces have the same value; the Player wins if there are no Dealer’s dice left.

If the Dealer rolled 1 2 3 3 4 6 and the Player first rolled 2 4 5 (see picture) then the Dealer would be left with 1 3 3 6. On the next roll a 2 3 4 would take out the two 3’s leaving 1 6. A third roll of 1 5 6 would win.




My suggestion is to alter the odds to 10/1 2/1 1/1 and I get the following figures. Many thanks if anyone agrees with these numbers.

Win 1st roll	Win 2nd roll	Win 3rd roll	Lose	Total
4 350 485 376	61 771 746 960	112 684 244 190	291 378 508 050	470 184 984 576
10	2	1
47 855 339 136	185 315 240 880	225 368 488 380	0	97.523%

How do they handle the "sets them aside in numerical order" part? I get a mind picture of, every once in a while, a die face being turned to the casino's advantage (on purpose or inadvertently) while the dice are being positioned. Is there a device they use, like a craps stick, or are they just using their fingers? I can really see that becoming a point of contention unless maybe the dice are only allowed to be slid by an open device, not picked up or fingered in any way.

Quote: charliepatrick

My suggestion is to alter the odds to 10/1 2/1 1/1 and I get the following figures. Many thanks if anyone agrees with these numbers.

I agree with these numbers, but it does cut the house edge by more than half from 5.881% to 2.477%. It does look like a fun game.

Many thanks for all the help especially miplet for confirming my figures - I shall suggest these as an improvement, as they seem easier to deal and 5+% was too high.

Paradigm: Yes - the shooter throws the dice and, like Craps, everyone is on the "Pass Line". One of the things the game needs is some side-bets, and personally I think the game will work as there are lots of easy bets on three dice (i.e. each time the shooter throws) that can be added.

BBB: The Coventry Showcase is an opportunity for designers to show their games, so some of the security and dealing details will not have been ironed out. I did, jokily suggest, the dice were kept under a plastic chip tray, but it was a hassle. Perhaps the easiest way is to have a tray where the dice fit tightly and can't be knocked out.

I can't help myself Dark side bet:

Outcome	Ways	Probability	Pays	Return
1st Roll	4,350,485,376	0.00925271	-1	-0.00925271
2nd Roll	61,771,746,960	0.131377541	-1	-0.131377541
3rd Roll	112,684,244,190	0.239659385	-1	-0.239659385
1 Left	223,486,317,810	0.475315727	0	0
2 Left	63,563,470,320	0.135188218	2	0.270376437
3 Left	4,283,622,000	0.009110504	5	0.045552518
4 Left	45,082,800	9.58831E-05	10	0.000958831
5 Left	15,120	3.21576E-08	10	3.21576E-07
Total	470,184,984,576	1		-0.06340

Just found out (using google search) Six Shooter is on a few websites (for instance you can play it for free here http://www.1x2gaming.com/products/six%20shooter ) and they advertise 12/1. fwiw using 12/1 2/1 1/1 gives a House Edge of 0.626%, so this seems fairly low for a casino unless it adds the side-bets.

I like the Miss bet idea especially as it has a high payout possibility. Perhaps "Miss By 1" paying Evens and "Miss by 2+" paying lots might also work.

Another idea is to add simple one-roll bets, as the casino would like to make money on every roll, such as
(i) one-roll bets on 1 2 ... 6 appearing (payouts such as 1/1 2/1 10/1)
(ii) Any double [or trips] (say 1/1 or 4/1).

Oops I had a serious brain fart in my dark side spreadsheet. Just ignore it.

Quote: miplet

Oops I had a serious brain fart in my dark side spreadsheet. Just ignore it.

I agree with the figures. Here's my ideas - although I prefer a lower House Edge if possible, there's little that can be done about it.

Win	Lose by 1	Lose by 2	Lose by 3	Lose by 4	Lose by 5	Totals
178 806 476 526	223 486 317 810	63 563 470 320	4 283 622 000	45 082 800	15 120	470 184 984 576
- 1	1	- 1	- 1	- 1	- 1
	446 972 635 620					95.063 145%
						4.936 855%
178 806 476 526	223 486 317 810	63 563 470 320	4 283 622 000	45 082 800	15 120	470 184 984 576
- 1	- 1	5	15	50	50
		381 380 821 920	68 537 952 000	2 299 222 800	771 120	96.178 905%
						3.821 095%

Quote: charliepatrick

I agree with the figures. Here's my ideas - although I prefer a lower House Edge if possible, there's little that can be done about it.

Those are for the numbers need to roll, but not the number of dice left to match. If there are two 4s left we are counting as needing just one number but there are two dice left.

Quote: miplet

...numbers need to roll, but not the number of dice left to match...

Working on the assumption that (say) the dealer's roll is 1 2 2 2 2 2 then it would be 50:50, if you had one number to get, to be one die or five dice; if you had two numbers then it must be all six dice. Since I have all the perms 6 51 42 411 .... 111111 it was fairly easy to change the numbers. It's getting late so I haven't double checked them.

Win	Lose by 1	Lose by 2	Lose by 3	Lose by 4	Lose by 5	Lose by 6
178 806 476 526	129 804 130 980	94 319 455 050	46 526 019 000	16 704 983 250	3 543 839 100	480 080 670	470 184 984 576
- 1	1	1	- 1	- 1	- 1	- 1
	259 608 261 960	188 638 910 100					95.334 217%
							4.665 783%
178 806 476 526	129 804 130 980	94 319 455 050	46 526 019 000	16 704 983 250	3 543 839 100	480 080 670	470 184 984 576
- 1	- 1	- 1	5	5	12	50
			279 156 114 000	100 229 899 500	46 069 908 300	24 484 114 170	95.694 259%
							4.305 741%

Part 1 - sorry for the delay - here is my report ...
Summary

*** Shoot The Loot – 4-dice, one-rolls bets.
* Above Or Below – higher or lower than 13.
*** 18 – war with dice, standoff 6-6 feature
** Rollor – four Hi-Lo guesses.
** Criss Cross Poker – 5-card poker variant.
* Quikker – two cards, bet on their suit / rank
** RollorPoker – Roulette with cards instead
*** Dice Blaze – 3-dice, avoid the “Dark Side”.
** Tic Card Toe – which Noughts and Crosses line will win.
** Ballsy – 3 ping pong balls, 3 colours.
**** Two For The Show – Ante/Raise using pair from 7 cards.
* Blackjack Envy – Blackjack side-bet.
** Roulette Double Hit – roulette game two 20-sided dice
** Trip Cards Second Hand – 3-card poker with player options
**** Pai Jack – make two Blackjack Hands
* Field – Blackjack side-bet
** Three Dice Football – American Football touchdown
* Bonzo PUP – 5-card poker against a pay table
*** Three Card Poker Double Play – 2 x 3CP vs Dealer’s 5
**** Six Shooter – Dice: knock out the dealer’s one game
* Foot Bo– Sic Bo with goals

My favourites
1st Six Shooter
2nd Two for the Show
3rd Pai Jack

Part 2
The four Grosvenor entries
G1 – Shoot The Loot This game won the Grosvenor section
This is a nice simple “one-roll” dice game with the added feature that the shooter throws two red and two black dice.
There are various one-roll bets. Some on specific 3-straight, Trips, 4-straight or Quads. The shooters’ bet covering Trips+ is technically the best bet, whereas the House Edge on the others can be fairly high. There is a Red vs Black bet paying evens.

G2 – Above Or Below
The player and dealer will each receive two cards, the bets are simple whether the total will be higher or lower than 13, with a special pay-out that pays on both with certain K3’s.

G3 – 18
The player rolls a die and then the dealer rolls one. The first part is you win or lose depending on whose die is higher. The fun starts if they’re equal: if they are 1-1 to 5-5 then you lose half your bet. With a 6-6 (i) you win 2/1 (ii) you then have a chance to roll “the golden die” and either lose the lot of win 18/1 if you roll a 6.
I actually found the game fun, but essentially it only has one bet and little scope for adding side-bets.

G4 – Rollor
There will be up to four 50:50 games (in this case rolling a 20-sided dice) and four equal bets (1) (2) (3) (4) which pay out if you can correctly predict a series of games. If you win the first game bet 1 is paid 1/1, if you then win the second bet 2 pays 2/1… etc.
An interesting idea (cf. 18) is the player predicts the winner rather than rolling their own die – this means there is only one roll of dice (albeit eight boxes).

Part 3
5 – Criss Cross Poker - covered in https://wizardofodds.com/games/criss-cross-poker/ .

6 – Quikker
Two cards are drawn and there are various bets on ranks, suits and which one will win. Seems too simple.

7 – Rollorpoker Roulette
8 – Rushin Roulette
Both of these games use a modified roulette wheel that has a Joker (instead of Zero), and 36 cards from a deck of cards (the black 2 4 6 8’s and red 3 5 7 9’s have been removed). Using this method allows new bets:
– rank based dozens
– suit or rank based even money bets
– a layout with all 13 ranks.
The idea means the “roulette” table would be different from others, but does it make it nice enough to justify the licence?

9 – Dice Blaze
This game is based on the rolls of three dice and incorporates a “7-out” concept (called the “Dark Side”).
There are several one-roll bets (triples and “mixed field”) and a grid of doubles – with every combination of the pair and the odd die.
The one-roll bets pay according to the next roll, whereas the doubles bets (a 6x5 grid on the layout) remain in play until the “Dark Side” (either 111, 666 or 11+2-5).

10 – Tic Card Toe
This is a novel concept and is based on drawing cards from a shoe, using their ranks to make one of nine hands before drawing six duplicates. The layout has a 3x3 grid for A,2..8,9 creating eight lines (e.g. A47), a box with KQJT, and a place for six duplicates. As cards are drawn they cover the layout until one combination is completed (a la bingo).
Essentially players bet which combination is made first.

11 – Ballsy (formerly A Game With No Name)
Three ping-pong balls are put into a plastic contraption with sixteen squares at the bottom. Six are red, six are black, and four are white. The bets are “one-roll” based on which colours appear. A truly novelty game, although possibly not random enough to be casino-strength.

Part 4
12 – Two For The Show ( https://www.shufflemaster.com/Table-Products/Table-Games/Specialty-Games/Two-for-the-Show )
This is an Ante / Raise x1 game with a side-bet on your hand.
Essentially, from a single deck, you get seven cards and the only thing that matters is your best Pair (which may be part of a Trips or Quads). Trips, straights, flushes etc only count towards the side-bet.
The dealer qualifies with any pair and, as in three-card poker, only pays the Ante if not qualifying. There is also a bonus for winning with a Pair of Aces (where Ante is paid 2/1).
It was a very simple game to play but can be quite annoying, since the odds favour getting higher pairs, and you have to play most low pairs.

14 – Blackjack Envy
This is a side-bet that pays if any player (and I think the dealer as well) has a Blackjack and pays odds depending on how many players there are.

15 – Roulette Double Hit
This is a follow-up and uses two 20-sided dice (0 00 1-18) on a roulette-style layout. Each bet has two chances to win and also a chance of a double win for a big pay-out.
It does seem interesting to allow players to roll the dice, whilst offering the chances of long odds.

16 – Trip Cards Second-Hand Poker
Nice idea and uses a mandatory side-bet mechanism to allow the player more options for their Three-Card Poker game.
There is no Ante/Raise and the Dealer always “Qualifies”, thus there’s always a chance for a bad hand to win. The other nice feature is you can swap your first two cards if both are Jacks or lower – obviously you don’t have to with (say) suited connectors.

Part 5
17 – Pai Jack

I like Pai Gow style games so was looking forward to seeing this in action. Also the layout, with its dragon, is very appealing.

The basic idea is to create a Hi and Lo Blackjack hand, except you have to put three cards in the High hand and two in the Low hand. As in Pai Gow (i) the Low hand cannot outrank the High hand; (ii) House wins all ties; (iii) only pays out when both hands win; (iv) Player loses when both hands lose/tie.

Like other games there is a House Way, in this case to set the best High hand, and let the Low hand be what’s left. A Player Ace-X-X (X=KQJ or 10) is an automatic winner (this happens 13% of the time), but considered 21 for the Dealer.

It’s an interesting game, but like Lucky 13’s Blackjack has the downside that you can bust if you cannot set your High hand to a total of 21 or less (e.g. Q Q 9 7 6). Of course the Dealer may bust as well and pays out everyone still in the game. However I prefer to still be in the game with a 1/2 (PGT) or Queen-high (PGP) and sometimes escape with the occasional standoff, rather than be bust out of the game.

I enjoyed the game a lot, but my feeling is there seems to be too much in the Banker’s favour where Ties win and the Player busts first – I was told the House Edge is fairly high.

Mathematically in Pai Gow games a simpler House Way gives some advantage to the Player (who can adopt a different strategy), but this usually less than ¾%. However here the Ties-Win gives a large advantage especially as the dealer makes 21 over 48% of the time, and I’m guessing unless you can’t make 18+ you make Best High as well.

Part 6
18 – Field
This was a simple side-bet for Blackjack that paid if your total was 12-16 and included a picture.
There are so many side-bets for Blackjack that new ones have to be interesting or original. I can see that it’s trying to be insurance, since it pays when you have a bad Blackjack hand, but my personal opinion is that this isn’t a show stopper.

19 – Three Dice Football
This is American Football (so in the UK there will be few people who understand it, especially as it’s no longer shown weekly on free TV!) My first impression was that it looked complicated, I guess rather like a Craps table might to a novice, with the field of play and various prop bets.
I watched a few rolls, understood the concept of three downs to make 10 yards (20 in total to make the touchdown) but it wasn’t immediately obvious why yards were gained or lost. It transpires the two green ones add positive yards and the red one subtracts them – thus 1 1 -6 or 1 2 -6 is bad news!
There were two types of bets (i) the result of the game and (ii) one-roll bets. However my feeling is it might take on but seems complicated compared to the other dice games being shown.

20 – Bonza Pup
On the surface you make two bets and are paid based on the Poker hand your two cards and the three community cards will make. However when you play it, basically it’s a method to allow a pay-out of 1 to 2 for a Pair, and higher pay-outs for better hands.

21 – Three Card Double Play
This game concept has actually been around for a while (or perhaps something very similar) and is based on Players making two three-card poker hands from six cards. Initially Players make two bets, on the High and Low hands. You can optionally raise both (or none). The Dealer then makes one hand from five-cards and the hands are compared and win or lose. The money is made if your Low hand wins with a good hand, then you can get some nice bonuses.
- http://www.gamingfloor.com/pressrel2008/RavingConsulting_2008TableGameWinners.pdf
- http://www.wsgc.wa.gov/activities/game-rules/3-card-double-play-poker.pdf

Part 7
22 – Six Shooter

This is a very social game and a great idea; with some tweaking and addition of side-bets I think this game will work very well.

The objective is for the Player to knock out every Dealer’s dice as quickly as possible by rolling dice whose faces match. The odds are 12/1 for the first roll, 8/5 for the second, and Evens for needing three rolls.

The Dealer rolls six (red) dice and sets them aside in numerical order (1 to 6). The shooter has three rolls, with three (green) dice, in an attempt to match every number that has been rolled. A Player dice knocks out all Dealer dice whose faces have the same value; the Player wins if there are no Dealer’s dice left.

If the Dealer rolled 1 2 3 3 4 6 and the Player first rolled 2 4 5 (see picture) then the Dealer would be left with 1 3 3 6. On the next roll a 2 3 4 would take out the two 3’s leaving 1 6. A third roll of 1 5 6 would win.

This game works because of the various tensions that are set up. The 3rd roll can be exciting: sometimes there’s only one number left to get so one feels good; or there’s now only a slim chance of getting the remaining points.

From a casino perspective it as a high variance as everyone is on the same side – at present that’s the only bet on the table (which is why side-bets are needed).

Since initially writing the report the game has been discussed earlier in this thread.

23 – Foot Bo
This is Sic Bo (totals of three dice) with a few additional bets.
At a previous showcase there was a game that used a “Goal” idea where a total of (say) 8-13 was a score, and others were hit the post or miss. As such that one had a simple idea without all the SicBo bets.
This game uses a similar idea but has also kept the 4-17 bets and a few others.

Hi charliepatrick,

Very nice report. You have done a great job.

Just to update you, one of my game has made it to the next stage of the trial process.

That's good news - one of the sad things is not hearing enough about which ones get trialled where - it's nice to see how things are going in a live environment. See you at the next one and thanks for the dice.

Quote: charliepatrick

See you at the next one and thanks for the dice.

Yes, see you in the next one, and you are welcome.