BUNCO: aka Small-town-hen-party-gambling-ring…

Yes, I play Bunco, and I am not ashamed. Confession is always the first step in… Wait, it is NOT an addiction! I’m confessing nothing. So, for all you non-knowing people, Bunco is simply a dice game. …with a little bit of money involved to make it fun. Gather up 12 or 16 people (multiples of four), get dice, have good food, and with great company, get those lucky juices flowing!

Huh? you say? How does that work?

Well, the game consists of one table per four people – normally three tables for 12 players. A ‘Head’ table, a ‘2nd’ table, and a ‘Losers’ table. The four people at each table have a partner and you roll the dice. First round you try to roll for ‘1’s’, second round are ‘2’s’, and so on, this is your target number. The goal is to roll all three dice with the target number as the round you are on. If you roll three of the same target number you get tick-marks, if you roll one of the target number, you get tick-marks. Once the head table reaches 21 tick-marks, a bell is rung and the teams at each table with the most tallied tick-marks are declared the winners of the round and tally their wins on their individual score cards. Then the winners rotate to the next highest table and the next round begins. If you roll all three dice with your target number, then you call that a ‘Bunco’ and automatically get 21 tick-marks to add to the score for that round – and in our play group, you get to wear the fuzzy red dice (think rear-view mirror type) until the next person gets a Bunco. For every Bunco you roll, you tally that on your individual score card as well.

The game ends after three or four long rounds comprised of 6 individual rounds for each number on the dice. The individual wins are tallied, the Buncos are tallied. The person with the most wins gets money, the person with the most Buncos gets money. To make it fun, the last person wearing the fuzzy red dice gets money. And as a pity-party favor, the person with the least amount of wins gets their entry money back.

I started playing with women from work and have had a great time socializing with them. Mom now comes as well to the games. And last night we even BOTH came home with a little bit of money!