Nine interesting alternative online casino games
Whether you’re a bit burned out on the traditional slots ‘n’ stuff available at LiveCasinoDirect’s gaming partner ‘sites or you’re finally giving into that tempting-sounding “specialty games” category at your favorite online casino, you’re finding yourself craving something a little different but nothing too insane on the budget.
Congratulations for taking the plunge into the unusual! Please allow the Os Man, that purveyor of many things unusual, to pass on a few recommendations from the more infrequently-visited areas of the online casino.
Dazzling Dice (Online Vegas Casino). An exemplar of online casinos’ recent attempts to refashion the well-worn video slots formula. Here, the player rolls 25 virtual dice bearing the A-K-Q-J-10-9 on their faces; the chance cubes fall neatly onto a 5x5 grid with 12 paylines. Bingo Bucks is similar, but with archetypical slot machine characters filling die sides.
European Slot Poker (Planet 7 Casino). Suffice to stay this is one of the more colorful, more addictive variations on the slot. Wrote this review in between deals, in fact. Just kidding. Not really.
Oklahoma (Rummy Royal). Including any variant of rummy at all – particularly one of the most popular versions – feels strange as, like adherents will happily inform that the game is the world’s third-most popular. Though one has to wonder which of the following make up the top two: poker, solitaire, bridge, blackjack and pinochle, rummy fans are as widespread as poker’s and may even outnumber them in Europe. In any case, Oklahoma is an excellent version of rummy that can be played by two to four players. No jokers are involved as in Kalooki variants, but there is a knock. The kick in Oklahoma comes in the “scare card,” which determines the conditions of a possible knock. Oklahoma’s more than OK.
Red Dog (Cool Cat). Maybe you know this as High-Low or Acey-Deucey, but the Os Man knows it as that game invariably called about five hours into a friendly poker night that has already run the gamut through five-card stud high-low, baseball, night baseball, Texas Hold ‘em, and Follow The Queen. In “Red Dog,” the player is given two cards and, concomitantly, odds for payout on a third card hitting between the dealt duo. All players should be relatively blasted, as to make the game as challenging as possible. Also hilarious.
Rock-Paper-Scissors (Casino Tropez). Inevitable now that ESPN has turned the game into a nationwide-televised competition, replete with finals in Vegas. Love the disembodied hands!
Tequila Poker (Casino Tropez). How did the Os Man break his recent addiction to European Slot Poker? With Tequila! Tequila Poker, that is, an interesting variation on America’s favorite card game. In what is essentially six-card stud, the player may bet on the poker hand or play “Tequila Poker,” a guess that the sum of the denominations in the top five cards of the hand totals greater than 46. Beware: This becomes way more compelling way more quickly than the Os Man may be making it sound.
Vegas Three-Card Rummy (Cool Cat). Really more rummyesque than straight-up rummy, this three-card variant has the dealer and player each play three cards, with player attempting to undercut the dealer. Cards are given their face value, while aces are scored as ones and face cards as tens. Pairing up, tripling up or creating a suited run a la traditional rummy is worth zero points.
War (Planet 7). The greatest card game ever made better by online gambling. ‘Nuff said.
Wild Viking (Casino Tropez). The first part of this game’s name is certainly descriptive – Would you believe a combination of poker and roulette together with a dash of progressive slots? Before the dealer reveals five cards, the player may bet on a poker-hand being drawn and/or roulette-type bets on the last card’s denomination, suit or color. The hugest payout possible on the table: Bet (and win) that jokers are drawn on the first and fifth cards to win a 1,250x prize. Finally, ante up a buck in the slot at the top of the virtual table to try and land the progressive jackpot, wherein turning up a “Wild Viking royal flush,” that is a royal flush which includes both jokers, bags a killing of up to $1,000,000.