Bango

Equipment

a) Two standard packs of cards, with different backs;
b) Betting chips or cash.

The game is for three to ten players.

Each player aims to be the first player to turn all his face-up cards face down.

This is by deal: first Ace to appear.

The dealer and the player to his left each shuffle one pack of cards. Each pack is then offered separately to the player to the dealer's right, to be cut in the usual way.

Before each deal, each player, including the dealer, puts an equal amount into the centre of the table to form a pool. This amount is known as the ante.

From one pack, the dealer deals five cards to each player, including himself, dealing them face up, one at a time. The rest of this pack is then put to one side out of play.

The players arrange their cards face up in front of them. The dealer then takes the second pack of cards, and deals the top card face up onto the table, stating its rank and suit as he does so.

If any player, including the dealer, has the identical card from the first pack face up in front of him, he now turns that card face down.

The dealer then takes the next card from the top of the second pack, and deals it face up onto the table, stating its rank and suit as he does so.

Play continues in this way until one player has turned all his cards face down. He announces this by calling "Bango".

The dealer checks the hand of the player, who called, against the cards that have been dealt from the second pack, and, if no mistake has been made, that player wins the pool.

The deal passes one player to the left after each hand.

In this game players take into account only the rank of the cards turned up by the dealer. The dealer calls the rank, and players turn face down all cards of that rank in their hands.

From 'The Official World Encyclopedia of Sports and Games'
© Diagram Visual Information Ltd 1979