The Inside Scoop on Gaming

If I cannot, in good faith, review Cheepass Games' James Earnst Writes Off Another Trip to Vegas, I can at least explain why I can't review it. I mean, I tried to play it, honestly. It was a constant presence in my game bag, traveling with me to many friends' houses, many gaming locales, but I just couldn't get anyone to play it. And not without reason.

The first time I tried my friends were willing. We opened up the traditional Cheepass envelop packaging and pulled out the contents: 16 waxed paper cards that I suspect are 8 1/2" x 5 1/2". Twelve of them form the playing board, a cluttered little ring representing casinos and various casino games like poker, blackjack, baccarat and the ubiquitous slot machines among others. The other four cards make up the rules to the game. In addition to the afore mentioned cards, the rules say you need to provide a pawn for each player, "several (15?) colored counters" matching each pawn, three 6-sided dice, a poker deck, ,000 in poker chips or play money and "About 2 Hours of precious time."

We didn't get past that point. We could dig up a set of Life which should have had enough money to get us through (though inflation being what it is, maybe not). The cards we could handle easily, I had an old Cosmic Encounter we could cannibalize for the counters... sure, I know that the whole point of Cheapass games is that you provide the parts, I was prepared for that. But spending two hours rolling dice, going around in circles and hoping to randomly win money didn't strike us as fun.

Basically, you roll three dice to move your token around the track. After a player has completed his 5th lap, the game ends. Each space on the board is a table at a casino (specializing in just one game for simplicity's sake). There are mock rules to use cards or dice to approximate the game in a quick manner. For instance, playing poker at "Gambelot" requires you to draw two cards from the deck. If they are a pair, you score three times the wager; a matching suit scores twice the wager; otherwise you lose. As an interesting note, the game includes the House Percentage for the quick rules as well as the percentage on the actual casino game. Playing Vegas's game of Poker the house takes 5.88% (though don't ask me of what), while playing poker in Las Vegas the table gets 5% to 10%. Additionally players may purchase sweepstakes tickets and participate in showdowns. As players progress around the board they have options to get cards for showdowns. During a showdown, all players reveal their cards and whoever has the best poker hand wins what ever is in the pot. And then at the end of the game there are lots of final showdowns where more money can be won by those who bought tickets.

Did that make sense? Maybe I can make it simpler, each turn you roll a die and either get money or lose money without making a choice about it. Then you have an opportunity to buy lottery tickets, which does not strike me as a lot of choices for a two hour game.

I seriously wanted to like this game. I've been a fan and supporter of Cheapass games for years. But many of the games are neat little number problems or combination games with a clever bit of color and humor to make them slightly replayable. Not necessarily very replayable, but they're cheep so that doesn't matter. But the casino games of Vegas are entertaining, and the game play is repetitive with nothing to do and no interest while doing it.

I concede I have not managed to play the game... perhaps I am dead wrong and when you get into it its a fascinating, exciting game. Oh, but I doubt it.

I truly hope that James Ernest did get to write of a trip to Vegas by making this game. Someone should benefit somehow from this. We certainly didn't.

Vegas
Vegas Capsule Review by Robert A. Rodger on 13/07/01 Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse) Las Vegas is fun, this isn't. Of course, it is cheaper than most minimum bets even at a tribal lands casino... Product: Vegas Author: James Ernest Category: Board/Tactical Game Company/Publisher: Cheapass Games Line: Cost: 4 Page count: n/a Year published: 2001 ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Robert A. Rodger on 13/07/01 Genre tags: Modern day	If I cannot, in good faith, review Cheepass Games' James Earnst Writes Off Another Trip to Vegas, I can at least explain why I can't review it. I mean, I tried to play it, honestly. It was a constant presence in my game bag, traveling with me to many friends' houses, many gaming locales, but I just couldn't get anyone to play it. And not without reason. The first time I tried my friends were willing. We opened up the traditional Cheepass envelop packaging and pulled out the contents: 16 waxed paper cards that I suspect are 8 1/2" x 5 1/2". Twelve of them form the playing board, a cluttered little ring representing casinos and various casino games like poker, blackjack, baccarat and the ubiquitous slot machines among others. The other four cards make up the rules to the game. In addition to the afore mentioned cards, the rules say you need to provide a pawn for each player, "several (15?) colored counters" matching each pawn, three 6-sided dice, a poker deck, ,000 in poker chips or play money and "About 2 Hours of precious time." We didn't get past that point. We could dig up a set of Life which should have had enough money to get us through (though inflation being what it is, maybe not). The cards we could handle easily, I had an old Cosmic Encounter we could cannibalize for the counters... sure, I know that the whole point of Cheapass games is that you provide the parts, I was prepared for that. But spending two hours rolling dice, going around in circles and hoping to randomly win money didn't strike us as fun. Basically, you roll three dice to move your token around the track. After a player has completed his 5th lap, the game ends. Each space on the board is a table at a casino (specializing in just one game for simplicity's sake). There are mock rules to use cards or dice to approximate the game in a quick manner. For instance, playing poker at "Gambelot" requires you to draw two cards from the deck. If they are a pair, you score three times the wager; a matching suit scores twice the wager; otherwise you lose. As an interesting note, the game includes the House Percentage for the quick rules as well as the percentage on the actual casino game. Playing Vegas's game of Poker the house takes 5.88% (though don't ask me of what), while playing poker in Las Vegas the table gets 5% to 10%. Additionally players may purchase sweepstakes tickets and participate in showdowns. As players progress around the board they have options to get cards for showdowns. During a showdown, all players reveal their cards and whoever has the best poker hand wins what ever is in the pot. And then at the end of the game there are lots of final showdowns where more money can be won by those who bought tickets. Did that make sense? Maybe I can make it simpler, each turn you roll a die and either get money or lose money without making a choice about it. Then you have an opportunity to buy lottery tickets, which does not strike me as a lot of choices for a two hour game. I seriously wanted to like this game. I've been a fan and supporter of Cheapass games for years. But many of the games are neat little number problems or combination games with a clever bit of color and humor to make them slightly replayable. Not necessarily very replayable, but they're cheep so that doesn't matter. But the casino games of Vegas are entertaining, and the game play is repetitive with nothing to do and no interest while doing it. I concede I have not managed to play the game... perhaps I am dead wrong and when you get into it its a fascinating, exciting game. Oh, but I doubt it. I truly hope that James Ernest did get to write of a trip to Vegas by making this game. Someone should benefit somehow from this. We certainly didn't.