Vegas Strip
Designed by: Peter C Hayward
Vegas Strip is a gambling game with a difference – the casinos are rigged!
Over three rounds, each player will bet tokens at casinos of their choice and hope to come out the richest. The twist is that in each round, you and a temporary ally will both know which casino is rigged – it’ll pay only to the biggest bettor – and which is secure, which will pay to everyone apart from the high roller.
Each round, each partnership will have insider knowledge on exactly two (rigged/secure) casinos, and bet accordingly. However, as you might imagine, simply piling all your tokens into the casino you know will pay the winner isn’t a good strategy, as you’re transmitting that information to the rest of the players. So the game is a balance between table reading and many levels of bluff, adding in the fact that your highest token, the 7, cannot be placed in your rigged casino, so where and when this is placed also gives away information. Once all tokens are placed, the rigged casinos are revealed and pay the winners all the cash in them (usually $10k) and the secure casinos pay everyone apart from the highest bettor the monetary equivalent of their bets.
That’s pretty much the game except for the character cards: one is randomly placed with each casino at the start of the game and they add a little extra wrinkle to play: for example, they may increase the value of a casino each round, or gift you money when you place a token there. They’re each easily understood and just nuanced enough to bring some variety to the game without overwhelming.
Sam says
Unlike straightforward casino-themed luck-pushers like Las Vegas, there are additional elements at play here that give the experience more of a contemplative poker-style feel than craps or roulette: you’re playing the players, not the house. That can mean the game often errs toward thinky and it’s not always absent of pauses: lacking the boisterous drama of an out-and-out gambling game or the fast-moving absurdity of a total luckfest. But what it offers in place is an interactive and dastardly vibe, where temporary alliances are formed, bluffs and double-bluffs made and dramatic comebacks (and failures) are always poised at the edge of play. For pure bluff, it doesn’t beat Xe Queo, and for thematic casino-based tomfoolery it doesn’t beat Lords of Vegas. But it nestles between those experiences, occupying its own little curious niche, with a palpable scorn for over-confidence.
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Take That!
There's a constant sense of interaction, but not of the type that can feel targeted or petty
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Fidget Factor!
Low, as long as players aren't given to excessive agonising. Each round is a matter of everyone placing bets.
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Brain Burn!
The rules overhead isn't going to scare many people off. The brain-burning with Vegas Strip is far more weighted on the interaction: who knows what? Is player X bluffing? Has player Y just given me a hint?
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Again Again!
The character cards vary from play to play, but it's otherwise a game where the player dynamics are what keep it feeling fresh - assuming of course that you enjoy them!
