"monte carlo night"

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve seen some organizations (churches, fraternal organizations, etc.) run so-called “casino nights” or “Monte Carlo nights” as fund-raisers or just for fun.

My wife and I are thinking of having a small, scaled-down (maybe 20-25 people) casino-night-themed party. Which games are the easiest to play, with the simplest rules, that the most people (even those who aren’t regular casino frequenters) can enjoy?
What other things should we plan on needing to do?

So far, we’ve decided on a blackjack table for sure, and probably poker of some sort. But what kind of poker: draw? stud? three-card? (I’ve seen this last version at casinos, but I’m not clear on how it works.) Should we opt for roulette? Let It Ride? I have found a source that sells (at a really reasonable price, in fact) all sorts of gaming equipment, like the felt card-playing surface for your table, plus things like blackjack shoes, etc. Has anyone on this board ever had a night like this? Which games did you choose? How did it work out?

I’m thinking of having a couple of nieces/nephews work as dealers for this event. I think they’ll have as much fun as the players. And obviously there will be no payout; I just want people to have fun.

So, any advice? Thanks!

2

Remember: Everybody’s gotta watch everybody else. Since the players are looking to beat the casino, the dealers are watching the players. The box men are watching the dealers. The floor men are watching the box men. The pit bosses are watching the floor men. The shift bosses are watching the pit bosses. The casino manager is watching the shift bosses. I’m watching the casino manager. And the eye-in-the-sky is watching us all.

(OK, that’s from Casino. I have no suggestions; sorry.)

3

When I was in college, they would have several casino nights.
Apparently there is a place that specializes in this sort of thing and they will rent out everything you need: roulettes, slots, etc.

They even had a taped horse race so that you could bet on that,too.

Here is a great site where you can buy all sorts of “junk prizes” and stuff like tickets:
http://www.orientaltrading.com/otcweb/application

My college, for a payout, would award the person with the highest ticket count small prizes, such as clock radios and dinner for two. They also awarded “junk prizes” to the biggest gambling junkie and such…funny, people would get so competitive for the silly prizes.

4

No, I’m not really looking for prizes like that (though they are interesting; thanks). I’m just wondering which particular casino games would be the simplest for amateurs to set up, play, and understand.

5

I went to a stag party once where they rented and ran various casino games–there was a blackjack table, a roulette wheel, a Crown-and-Anchor wheel, and the ubiquitous poker table.

It was fun, and while we all knew how to play poker and blackjack, the roulette and Crown-and-Anchor games were easy enough for everybody to understand. The organizers had posted the payoff odds at the roulette wheel, and the Crown-and-Anchor payoff odds are marked, in symbolic form, on the wheel itself.

We played for real money, with a small percentage from each game raked off for the groom. But if you’re playing with your friends at a party just for fun, I’d recommend using play money and using that to “auction” off prizes at the end. One of the drawbacks we faced was that as players, we just weren’t all that anxious to gamble real money and the organizers had to lower the table minimums just to get some action going (this was when we were still students, so we didn’t have a lot of disposable cash).

Besides, these are your friends, and you want them to have fun, not worry that they’re going to lose their shirts. In addition, you don’t want to get any bad feelings happening because they might not understand the rules or the payoffs. You might find that they would have more fun throwing around $10,000 in play money than they would worrying about gambling $50 in real money.

Just my opinion; your mileage may vary.

6

You’re right. That’s why I didn’t want to play for real money. I don’t want any hard feelings, and most of all I don’t want to go broke.

Chips is all we’ll be playing for. By the way, what’s “Crown and Anchor”?

7

Crown and Anchor is a wheel game, much like the Big Six wheels you find in casinos. It is most often played here at carnivals and fairs, although it is more of a gambling game than it is a carnival game. Real money is wagered on the game, and real money is won, instead of typical carnival prizes.

It is like Big Six, like I said, but instead of numbers or bills with denominations on the wheel, you have symbols: hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades, crown, and anchors. Each slot on the wheel has three symbols, in varying combinations–a slot may have two diamonds and a club, or three crowns, or an anchor plus a spade plus a heart. You can imagine all the possibilities.

The six symbols are also laid out on the counter behind which the operator stands, and in front of which are the players. Players put their money on the symbol of their choice, and the operator spins. If the wheel stops on a slot where there is at least one occurrence of the player’s wagered symbol, the player wins. How much he or she wins depends on how many of his or her selected symbols are in the winning slot.

For example, suppose a player bets one dollar on clubs. The wheel is spun and stops on a slot with one club. The player is paid at 1:1 (even money), and is thus paid one dollar.

The player continues to bet one dollar on clubs. The wheel next stops on a slot with three clubs. The player wins three dollars.

The player continues with one dollar on clubs. The wheel stops on a slot with two crowns and a spade. No clubs, in other words. The player loses the wagered dollar.

It’s quite a simple game really, and it offers players a chance to see clearly what the wheel stops on and what the payoff is.

8

I’d stay away from the three-card poker in that case. It’s not the sort of game that everyone would be used to and those that aren’t could take a while to figure it out. YMMV, of course.

9

If you’re looking for a good, easy multiplayer poker game, Texas Hold’em is hard to beat. The travel channel has a show about the World Poker Tour that is pretty fun.

http://travel.discovery.com/fansites/worldpoker/games/texasholdem.html

I also enjoy craps, but if you don’t have many people that know how to play, it might not be worth the effort.

10

When I’ve attended such functions, the only game I liked was the roulette wheel. It’s the only one I had any hope of winning at, and there’s some nice dramatic tension while people wait to see where the ball lands.