Banking games are typically betting style games, and still, mostly fall under the Showdown category of games. These games differ from other types of showdown games because players, instead of competing against each other, compete individually against a separate player sometimes referred to as the banker. While these games do tend to be played at casinos, there are plenty of ways to modify them to play at home as well.
These games as well as other casino games typically give the “house” or the casino an advantage over players. This is so that the establishment can make a profit. The banker is usually playing for the casino, but in cases of playing at home, players typically take turns playing as the banker. This ensures that no single player has more advantage over another.
Some banking games also can be played where the banker has no advantage over the other players. These games usually have payouts that are directly influenced by the chances of winning. For these games to be profitable to casinos, there is usually an hourly charge or a “rake”, which is a percentage of players’ winnings taken by the casino.
There are even some games where all players take turns being the banker and for these games casinos usually charge to run the game.
All in all, banking games are quite diverse, but most of them can be separated into four main categories. These categories are addition games, comparison games, casino poker games, and partition games.
Addition Games:
Addition games have point values attached to cards. These values are added up in players hands and compared to the banker’s hand. If the value of a player’s hand is closer to the targeted number than the banker, the player wins.
Examples include:
Comparison Games:
These games depend solely on one card. These rules may be to either match, beat or under rank a card held by the banker.
Examples include:
Casino Poker Games:
These games are similar to poker, meaning players try and form card combinations to win the game. The hands are compared to the bankers to determine a winner.
Examples include:
Partition Games:
Partition games have a mechanic that requires players to decide how they would like to separate their hands into two or more hands. These hands are then compared to the banker’s hand.
Examples include: