Farobank

About

Farobank (often simply called Faro) is a late 17th-century French gambling card game. Like many popular games of chance, it spread to England and then the United States via New Orleans. It is not a direct relative of poker, but Faro was often just as popular as poker due to its fast action, easy-to-learn rules, and better odds than most games of chance. Wildly popular in North America during the 1800s, Faro was eventually overtaken by poker as the preferred card game of gamblers in the early 1900s. In the American "Wild Wild West", everyone played Faro!

How To Play

Playing the Game

The game is played with a standard 52-card deck and is a bit like Roulette with the Craps Don't Pass Line and some Bacarrat mixed in for good measure. The game starts when the Dealer shuffles the deck and burns the first card (known as "The Soda")

A round of Faro consists of the Dealer showing two cards. The first card is referred to as the Lose (or Banker's) card. The second card is known as the Win (or Player's) card. During each round, Players have the option of betting on 1 or more of 13 card ranks on the game board. Each wager is for or against the rank that is played.

Placing Wagers

Wagers are placed by tapping on cards on the game board. Each tap will increment a wager by the default amount that has been defined in Preferences ($5, $10, $25, $50, $100). All Faro board wagers are capped at $500. The optional Final Sequence Wager, that is described later, is capped at $100. To remove a wager, simply press and hold and the wager will be refunded.

When a Player places chips on a card, she is wagering that the card rank will match the Win/Player card that is drawn.

To bet on the Lose card, the Player "coppers" a wager. In original Faro, this meant placing a copper coin (penny) on top of the chips that were wagered. In Riverboat Gambler, coppering is accomplished by tapping the gray circle that shows on any card that has chips placed on it. The tap will change the color of the circle to copper and designates the wager as a Don't Win bet. Tapping the circle a second time will remove the copper and revert the wager to a "Bet to Win".

Once all wagers have been placed, pressing the Deal button will draw the Lose & Win cards.

Determining Wins & Losses

If the rank of a Player's wager matches the Win card's rank, the Player will be paid even money for the wager. If a card's rank is drawn as the Lose/Player card, the wager loses and is collected by the Dealer. If neither the Win or Lose card matches a rank on which the Player wagered, nothing happens and the wager remains on the board until the Player moves it or removes it.

If the Lose card matches a Player's coppered wager, the Player will be paid even money. If the rank of a coppered wager comes up as the Win card, the wager loses and is collected by the Dealer.

If neither the Win or Lose card matches a rank on which the Player wagered, nothing happens and the wager remains on the board until the Player moves it or removes it.

If the Player has a wager on a rank that matches both the Win & Lose cards, the Dealer takes half of the wager and refunds the other half to the Player.

After each round, the cards that were dealt will be recorded to show the Player which cards have been used. Pay attention to this information! Any wager that is made on a card that has been exhausted from the deck is forfeit to the Dealer as a "Dead Bet"!

NOTE: All winning bets that were made on a rank for which there is only 1 card left in the deck are referred to as Case Bets and are charged a 5% commission.

Additional Wagers

There are three additional wagers that can be made:

High Win: This wager is that the Win/Player card will be higher than the Lose/Banker card. If the Win card is higher, the Player is paid even money, if the Win card is lower than the Lose card, the wager loses. If both cards are the same, the Dealer keeps half of the wager and refunds the other half to the Player. In Farobank, Aces are considered the lowest value cards in the deck.

Low Win: This wager is that that the Low/Banker card will be higher than the Win/Player card. If the Lose card is higher than the Win card, the Player is paid even money, if the Lose card is lower than the Win card, the wager loses. If both cards are the same, the Dealer keeps half of the wager and refunds the other half to the Player. In Farobank, Aces are considered the lowest value cards in the deck.

Final Sequence Bonus Game: After 24 rounds have been dealt, there will be 3 cards remaining in the deck. These cards represent the last two Lose & Win cards and the final card that will be burned as "The Hock". This wager allows the Player to wager on a prediction of the order that those cards will be dealt. If the Player's prediction is correct, their wager is paid based on whether or not those final 3 cards included a pair. If a pair was present, the wager is paid 2 to 1; if the cards were all different, a winning wager is paid 4 to 1.

To play the Final Sequence Bonus Game, the Player will tap cards and spaces on that board, make a wager up to $100, and press the Deal button. If the Player does not want to wager on the final three cards, simply press the Deal button to end the round and the game.

Playing Another Game

After the final two cards are played, pressing either the Shuffle or the Deal button will refund any existing Player wagers, clear the Farobank board, shuffle the deck, and burn the Soda.

In Riverboat Gambler, the Player has the option to re-shuffle the deck and start a new round at any time.

Pay Table

Match a Card

(5% Commission on Case Bets)
Ante Win1 to 1
Copper Matches Lose1 to 1

Final Sequence Bonus

Match Seq (No Pair)4 to 1
Match Seq (w/ Pair)2 to 1
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