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When people hear the word gambling, their mind quickly races to common casino games such as slot machines, poker, roulette, and blackjack. While these are undeniably entertaining, there are other forms of gambling activities that are not as well-known but very interesting.
Let’s take a look at the not-so-popular gambling games that are also enjoyable and rewarding.
Tic Tac Toe is a Holdem variation of the poker card game, common among the Omaha people and usually played online. Players are confronted with four face-down cards and nine community cards laid in a 3×3 grid face-down.
The quest in Tic Tac Toe Poker is for players to come up with the best five-card hand using two of their hole cards and three cards from the laid grid (one from each row). But only three random cards can be turned up for each round as the general cards face down.
Dreidel is a Jewish game that doesn’t make use of dice or cards. The whole idea is to use a four-sided spinning top. Each side is tagged with a Hebrew letter and a meaning for it.
That is what determines the players’ chances of winning the betting pot. If you get marked with a Nun tag, then you get nothing. If you get Hei, you get half of the pot. If you get Gimel, you get all of the pot. If you get Shin, another bet will be added to the pot.
As stated earlier, poker is a very popular casino game, and it is played everywhere in the world. Some software developers have taken to creating different poker variants, and one of these new variants is the Blind Man’s Bluff.
Typically, the game requires all players to hold one of their face-up cards on their foreheads.
That way, every other person can see these cards except the owner. Then they make guesses as to whether or not they have the highest card after the betting round sessions and bluffing strategies.
Pachinko is a gaming machine that combines the one-armed bandit and vertical pinball. The games originated in Japan during the 1920s. Here’s a rundown of how the game is played.
Metal balls are poured into the machine, and with the help of the lever, the player controls the speed at which the balls are fired on the playing field. Some balls roll down the maze, while others go to waste. If at least one hits the target, it brings a prize, usually a certain number of the same balls.
You can’t technically receive the cash equivalent when you win in Japan since it’s illegal. Instead, you get more rounds to continue the game or exchange for prizes such as a lighter or perfume bottle. Some shops, however, can exchange gifts for money.
Generally speaking, racing attracts bettors from all over the world as people get pumped to see animals compete against one another. However, not many people are familiar with cockroach racing. They’re probably more familiar with racing to kill a cockroach than the game. Well, it is a thing, and people gamble on them.
The giant Madagascar cockroaches, about 6-10 cm long, are usually used in these races. They’re considered one of the fastest among their species and all insects. It is estimated that this exotic game originated in Brisbane, Australia where some students organized insect races.
Pigeons are not also left out from the show. Perhaps it’s because people love to watch competitions, and pigeon racing fits the profile perfectly. In these races, pigeons are first removed from their lofts and taken to the starting point far away and then they need to find their way back home.
The winner is determined by measuring the time travelled and the time taken to make it back. The bird that gets to the original loft fastest is announced as the winner.
The distance is usually anywhere between one hundred to one thousand kilometres. However, much farther distances have been covered in the U.S before, as many as eight hundred kilometres.
Crab races are a delightful and budget-friendly pastime event. These races are such a pleasure to witness. Participants in crab racing choose their crabs and name them. The crabs get name tags and are placed in a bucket to queue until race time.
The buckets are then turned upside down on the course starting point with the crabs being held captive. Then, the buckets are lifted off the crabs. The course the crabs have to get to is a set of circles, and the crabs start in the centre, racing outward. The first one reaching outside the circle is declared the winner.
Who would have thought even those adorable little animals had it in them? Well, if the cockroaches can, the guinea pig can too.
Guinea pig racing is a type of street entertainment in Columbia where people not only watch but also place bets. The rules of the game are pretty straightforward: there will be numbered buckets set on the ground that participants can bet on, and everyone waits to see which bucket the guinea pig chooses.
If the guinea pig runs into the one you’ve placed a bet on, you’ll win the bet. This exotic gambling activity is a tourist attraction in Columbia who are usually curious to see these animals’ competition.
Gambling has always been a part of human lives, and we’ve found countless ways to place wagers on just about anything. Remember that whichever form of gambling you choose, the point is to have fun. So we don’t recommend placing so much attention on winning not to miss the fun.
