Casino dominoes game

Thanks to everyone who chimed in on how to spell "dominoes". I posted a few days ago in my blog about how I'm going to be in Las Vegas for the next two weeks meeting with casinos and demonstrating various games. Most of them are side bets, but one is an entirely new game played with dominoes that I call "Twist'em". I'll need a field trial for that, and I'm open to suggestions for where to look first. My initial idea is that a casino with a reasonable amount of Pai Gow tiles play might be good because they're already used to dealing tile games, and the non-Pai Gow players there are already used to walking past the Pai Gow table and not having a clue what's going on. My game fixes that problem as well as the problem of not having enough qualified dealers. (I once asked the Pai Gow tiles dealer at the TI where he learned the game, and he said "at home".)

Please try out the demo of Twist'em and let me know what you think.

Cheers!

Edit: I accidentally hit "enter" before filling out the rest of the poll choices. I was going to add
"I'm ambivalent",
"A casino dominoes game, are you nuts?!", and
"Dominoes are only for playing on rickety metal tables on the sidewalk of La Rambla in Barcelona while drinking sangria and playing guitar."

Stace -
I like it - fun!
And easy.
Very Pai Gow-ish in nature: a high hand, a low hand, and you get to set your hand.
Can be done with three sets of cards - a la Blackjack Switch.

Try Mike Patterson/Brian Doerr at the Barona.

Has Theresa gotten back to you?

Quote: Paigowdan

Stace -
I like it - fun!
And easy.
Very Pai Gow-ish in nature: a high hand, a low hand, and you get to set your hand.
Can be done with three sets of cards - a la Blackjack Switch.

Try Mike Patterson/Brian Doerr at the Barona.

Has Theresa gotten back to you?

Thanks, and yes- we're on for Saturday.

The rules on the demo page say the top hand has to be smaller then the bottom hand, but they can actually be the same, right?

The bonus bet doesn't get a lot of action. I find it a little lame.

Quote: dwheatley

The rules on the demo page say the top hand has to be smaller then the bottom hand, but they can actually be the same, right?

The bonus bet doesn't get a lot of action. I find it a little lame.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll change the wording for the top/bottom to reflect that the top hand can't be greater.

The current bonus hits about 1 in 15 hands. There are lots of ways to do a bonus bet, really - I had another one where it was just based on the player's hand and it paid if you got 9/9, 8/9, 7/9 or 8/8. That happens about 1 in 6 hands, but the payouts were much smaller.

One of the benefits of the current bonus structure (paying on either/both hands getting 9/9) is that if you get a lousy set of tiles, you can still root for the dealer to get the 9/9 and pay the bonus to cover your loss. But there are many other possibilities and options. I could expand the hands to 8/9 and lower the payouts. I could do a "bad beat" side bet where the side bet wins if the player has maybe a 6/9 or better and loses to the dealer. I could even do a side bet based on just the top (or bottom) player score, but that wouldn't pay very much. I was really going for a high-payout bet more than just a mid-range frequent hitter. Do you think something else would work better?

Thanks again for the input.

I'll go look at the demo shortly.
I never look at a thread that is about spelling.
I did return from Miami awhile ago and I can tell you that just about every hardware store sells these card table sized things that are for dominoes. In Miami alot had maps of Cuba inlaid on them alot had beer slogans on them but the tables were ALL over the place so atleast amongst those mile-a-minute Spanish speakers there is a market for dominoes.

I happened to come across a twitter page several weeks ago wherein the Eastside Cannery tweets were all in Spanish so they have a possible market interest for you in that you could suggest that those customers already in their casino will be interested.

Quote: FleaStiff

I happened to come across a twitter page several weeks ago wherein the Eastside Cannery tweets were all in Spanish so they have a possible market interest for you in that you could suggest that those customers already in their casino will be interested.

Thanks for the tip. I'll give them a call next week.

Hey, I just won 585 or something pressing house way.

I don't know how to play real dominoes so I don't know if this is better or not.

I soon figured out the computer was adding up the scores of the top half of the domino and the lower half laterally.

That Player Wins should appear near the players hand though not near the house hand which I figured out had to be the top hand but wasn't designated as such. Instead of 'Bet' perhaps 'Main Bet'. Different shaped area for the Bonus Bet?

Good luck with it.

Hey Stacey,
Been playing your game - and I GOT DEALT 6/6, 3/3, and 1/1 PAIRS. LAUGH OUT LOUD, spelt out! I shat my pants - all I could make was 0 and 0!

IDEA?! - A DOMINO INSURANCE BET!! Best hand = 0/0, 0/1, 0/2, 1/1, 1/2 all totals <= 3

or Single 0/0 = 10:1, double 0/0 = 150:1, flip slip of the 9/9 bet.

Quote: Paigowdan

Hey Stacey,
Been playing your game - and I GOT DEALT 6/6, 3/3, and 1/1 PAIRS. LAUGH OUT LOUD, spelt out! I shat my pants - all I could make was 0 and 0!

IDEA?! - A DOMINO INSURANCE BET!! Best hand = 0/0, 0/1, 0/2, 1/1, 1/2 all totals <= 3

or Single 0/0 = 10:1, double 0/0 = 150:1, flip slip of the 9/9 bet.

Good thought, but there's only 4 ways that the best hand can be 0/0 and you got one of them. The others are
1/1 4/4 5/5
0/0 4/4 6/6
2/2 3/3 5/5

That means there's only two ways for you and the dealer to both have 0/0 hands: either you have 0/0 4/4 6/6 and he has 2/2 3/3 5/5, or vice versa.