When you step into a casino, more often than not, you know what games to expect to find and have an idea of the ones you want to play: Slots, Poker, Roulette, Blackjack and Baccarat to name but a few. When visiting an online casino, you can expect to find all of these and more, with plenty of choice and variations of the classic games readily available.
However, around the world, there are plenty of weird games that you wouldn’t expect to see – and in some cases, ever consider playing. Strangely, a lot of them involve animals. Read on if you’d like to find out more about these weird games.
Rodent Roulette (Worldwide)
So, you’ve heard of and played American Roulette or European Roulette (maybe even at Paddy Power roulette) – but what about Rodent Roulette? Yeah, we didn’t think so either… It’s much the same as the traditional table game, the only difference is, it involves a rodent.
The Roulette wheel in this case contains a number of boxes, all numbered as they would be in standard Roulette. Players then bet on what they think will be the winning number. The wheel is spun and the gerbil (or whatever kind of rodent is used) will decide which box to hide in. The box it chooses is the winning number and the game begins again.
The Chicken Challenge (USA)
The Chicken Challenge is played in Atlantic City at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino. As the name suggests, there is a chicken involved and you have to challenge it. Challenge to what, I hear you ask? A game of tic-tac-toe (or noughts and crosses as it’s known in the UK). Your opponent, Ginger, is quite the expert at the popular childhood game – so much so, the casino offers up to $10,000 for the winner.
But how does it work? As the player, you start by choosing where to place the X or Y (dependent on which you are assigned) and then you wait for Ginger to move. By pecking in her cage, she will eventually press a button which will determine her move. Simple enough!
Pachinko (Japan)
Pachinko is a crazy hybrid of Pinball and Slots, so expect bright lights and lots of sounds. Japan only legalised gambling as recently as 2016, but Pachinko is incredibly popular – so much so, there are over 10,000 Pachinko parlours in Japan and $200 billion is spent a year on the pastime.
The aim of the game is to drop as many silver balls into the middle scoring hole, by turning a wheel. Winnings take the form of additional balls, which can then be used to keep playing, or they can be exchanged for prizes.
Dreidel (Worldwide)
Dreidel is a game that is often played in homes, particularly amongst the Jewish community during Hanukkah. However, it’s made its way to casinos – where cash prizes are involved, rather than raisins.
Dreidel is played using a four-sided spinning top. Depending on what side the top lands on, a different action takes place: ‘nun’ means nothing (the player will receive nothing), ‘gimel’ means everything (the player will receive everything in the pot), ‘hey’ means half (the player will receive half of the pot), ‘shin’ means put in (the player will put an additional wager in the pot). The game ends when one player wins everything in the pot – and then the next round begins.