New Thing #36 - Big Bunco!!

Tonight I played Bunco for the first time. My friend Natalie gets together with a big group of her friends once a month to have a bunco tourney, and this week they were short a few players. So Betsy and I subbed in and had a lot of fun. Betsy has played before, but I was a newbie.

It's actually really cool the way they do it. It takes 12 people to play and each person takes a turn hosting the party at their house. They make dinner, provide drinks and pick up the prizes. Natalie's sister-in-law hosted this month and since it's March, she had a St. Patty's day theme. Corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and green beans were on the menu. For those of us who practice Lent, she had some fish fillets to keep us happy. :) A green cake, some shamrock cookies and plenty of wine to go around, and we were a happy bunch.

Once the food was packed away, it was on like Donkey Kong. The rules are incredibly simple, which is why it's such a fun game. No need to worry about rules and regulations when there's alcohol involved. Just the roll of the dice and away you go. You break up into three tables of four people. The person sitting across from you is your partner for the first round. There are a total of 12 rounds, and you're supposed to switch partners each round by moving from table to table. The goal is to play with every person once, and one person twice. Depending on how much you drink, that could vary.

Okay, so it's round one, and the first person at each table rolls the dice. You have three die and the goal is to get to 21 by rolling 6's. If you roll one 6, you get one point, if you roll two 6's, you get five points, and if you get 3 6's, it's BIG BUNCO! Yelling that is extremely crucial. And with three 6's you win the round. Each time you roll a 6, you get to roll again until you have no 6's. Then it's the next person's turn. You then tally up your points and keep track on your scorecard. You and your partner work together to get to 21. The first team out of the 6 teams to get to 21 yells BUNCO and the round is over. If you were the team to get bunco, you won the round. If you didn't get bunco, then you can still win the round if you have more points than the opposing team at your table. If you were at the bunco-winning table and didn't get the bunco, you obviously lost, so put a mark in the Loss square. Am I losing you yet? It's actually quite simple. If you had the most points, you win the round, and keep track of the win. Then, it's time to play Chinese Fire Drill and you get up and switch partners. Another rule is that if you roll three 1's, it's a WipeOut and your points for that round get trashed. You get to start all over again. And you also get the WipeOut blinky dice. This blinky dice is key at the end. If you get Big Bunco, you get a blinky dice hurled at your head. Again, this dice is key. The last rule is that if you roll three of any number, besides 1 or 6, you automatically get to roll again.

Once all 12 rounds are finished, everyone tallies up their Big Bunco's, WipeOut's, Wins and Losses. The person who had the last Big Bunco gets a prize (be sure to hold onto your blinky dice!). The person with the last WipeOut dice gets a prize, the person with the most wins, most losses and most big buncos all get prizes. Whew. I think that about covers it.

So, my first round, I lost with Kelley as my partner. We had 14, so we at least were working our way up. Natalie and I stunk it up on Round 2. Only 6 points. The big L for us. Round 3 is where I made a killing. Melody and I cleaned up on the double 6's. We were the first the bunco on that round. Mark one in the WIN square! Holllaaaa! I should have known it would bite me in the ass. Amanda and I only scored a whopping one point for Round 4. Brutal. Somehow Betsy and I won Round 5 with only 2 points. Someone else got bunco really fast. Carol and I hit bunco again on Round 6, as did Abbie and I on Round 7. Damn, I'm on FIYAH!! Round 8 was the money round. With only 1 point in mine and Wanda's square, I rolled the big kahuna, the 3 6's, the BIG BUNCO. Oh yeah baby. I was only the second person to get a BIG BUNCO (yes, I have to write in all caps, because according to Natalie, it must be yelled out enthusiastically when you roll it.) I did indeed yell, but when you have 12 women yelling and laughing hysterically (i.e. drunkenly), it's a bit difficult to hear the BIG BUNCO. Rounds 9 and 10 were both won with Amanda and Erin. Rounds 11 and 12 were two more L's with both of the Allisons.

So, by the end, I had more wins and than losses, 7 over 5, and one big bunco. Since I was the last person with the blinky BB dice, I got a door prize. It was a nice double picture frame. That'll come in handy. Both Allison and I tied on the number of BB's, so she got the other door prize. I came in a close second to Abbie with the most wins. She had 8 over my 7. It was also her first time playing. Beginner's luck was good to us tonight! I think some other people had 7, but I couldn't really hear over the commotion.

The actual game itself went pretty quickly. It was a lot of fun though. I don't think I can find 12 people who'd actually make an effort to get together to play, but I'd be happy to sub in for anyone if they ever need an extra player. Thanks Nat!

I'll scan my scorecard in when I get a chance, so you can see what it looks like.