[I woke up this morning, 10 minutes before my alarm was due. I had woken up during an exciting card game at a casino. While everything seemed perfectly normal about the scene at first, I realised within a few seconds that this game I had been playing doesn’t actually exist — and that I could probably jot down some notes about it while it was still fresh in my memory. I fumbled about for a notebook and a pencil, and took 14 pages of notes while still half asleep under the duvet. I have attached photographs of these 14 pages, along with a transcript I took over lunch. Diagrams have been described based on what was drawn, and what I still remember of the visuals. The text has been copied as faithfully as possible, but I have corrected for spelling, punctuation, and implied words — where necessary. All additions to the text have been marked up with square brackets.]
[Diagram showing schematic of table from above. The table is split into two major components. The largest of the components is divided lengthways into two halves, one for each team. On each team’s side, there is a mat in front of an array of betting slots that are recessed into the table. The betting slots run lengthways against the dividing element. To the left of the major component of the table is a raised platform on which a deck of cards is located. This platform also runs lengthways to the table and is flush with the dividing element of the major component of the table. On either side of the card platform is a recessed bucket in which the player’s chips or money can be deposited for easy access between rounds of play.]
[Diagram showing elevation of table features from angled side view. The dividing element of the major component of the table is seen raised from the betting slots on either side. The card platform can be seen to be raised by a lesser height. The betting slots and chip bucket are seen to be recessed into the table by some considerable depth. The team mats are padded slightly, but otherwise at the same height as the table surface.]
[Diagram showing four seats, one at each corner of the player mats. When a full game of four people is in session, one person sits on each seat. Each side of the table, being two people, comprises one team.]
Game for four players. [There] was some thing about a tradition of wearing brightly coloured clothes. One colour for each corner of the square (table)[.]
[Diagram showing close up of the card platform. There is a deck of cards located in the centre of the platform, and the top card is face up showing the Ace of Hearts. The foreground of the diagram shows a partial depiction of the chip bucket, with coinage deposited inside.]
[An arrow is drawn, pointing to the deck of cards, with the note “one card is shown after the bets are placed[,] and [this] determines the winner.”]
[Another arrow is drawn, pointing to the chip bucket, with the note “inset container for chips[,] or in my case[,] money. I started out using pound coins[,] but then used notes.”]
[I had pile of (possibly red or pink, and hence £50) notes in the chip bucket, and I remember taking them out at one point, and stuffing them into the betting slots. At this point, the croupier seemed embarrassed and remarked that I was increasing the stakes too early for her, and that she’d not had chance to familiarise herself with the game yet.]
[The] money is bet into a single container in the row in front of you.
[Diagram of the betting slots, as seen from the player’s view point. Two wider slots (marked as “wider side container” in both instances) are shown at either side of an array of regular sized slots.]
A bet is allowed to be a “bet or a bluff” / so you can put money down in one of the slots — but it could be money[.] That slot will OR wont correspond to the card shown. Opponent has to guess which you’ve done[.]
If played with other people, each round, you swap turns to make the initial bet or the response bet (bid?)[.] If playing singly against the croupier — it is your turn every round[.]
The odds were about 50/50 of winning any round. If you won you doubled your money, but if you lost[,] you lost your money. Odds presumably stacked slightly towards house’s favour by wider end slots/royals??
Think you might have been able to chain bets — as pretty croupier I had been playing with wasn’t too hot on the rules, and when she realised she’d not been [putting/getting?] her own money [down/back?] — I wanted my last few bets back[,] which were still in the bet slot.
Something about the game usually being played by stupid people — heh — and so I felt I had an advantage. Was building up to betting £100 — and was thinking about the potential £200 prize/win[.]
[I had been in some strange war simulation before this, and had been throwing metal gas canisters from half-demolished houses at the jeeps in the streets bellow. At some point later in the dream, I’d gone to get a drink from an almost empty vending machine in an abandoned canteen of sorts. I noticed that if I hit the buttons in the right order, I could get things out of it, along with twice the money I put into it. I became so obsessed with this idea of making small, easy, wins that I found myself in a casino.]
A rich cowboy type man asked my croupier to fetch him a drink, and I remember being annoyed that I couldn’t continue playing as long as she was gone from the table.
The issue was raised by my croupier that how would she know if my “play” (?) was a bet or a bluff. This had not occurred to me either — and we didn’t resolve the issue[.].
[The] deck could have 1 or 2 jokers in it — and slots could correspond to guesses about the card that comes up[.] So even/odd, or suit. Joker would tip favour to house’s advantage[.]
Croupier might not have been required — she might just have been having a match with me??
[After taking these notes, I left the house for a walk into town. Ace of Spades by Motörhead was the first song my music player decided to put on, selected completely at random. I couldn’t help but grin, and play air guitar, as I walked along the river. I made a quick note on my phone.“Explanation of bet or bluff. Either half of slot board only has one side of a/b bet. Even, red, high... If you're bluffing[,] you mean the opposite. Next player on your side has the opposite [(]in meaning, suite, colour[)] slots to bet with.” After having thought about it some more, it would make sense that the deck of cards had two jokers in it. Similar to a game of roulette, these cards stack the odds agains the player — like the green zero — because the slots are bets against properties of the cards that only exist in the suits. Such as red or black, odd or even, and what have you. Corresponding to this model, the two wider slots on either side might be bets against the jokers, like you can bet on the green zero when playing roulette.]
