Back-Room Games
Down the hall past the count room, behind the door with no sign. The games back here don't appear in any brochure. The payouts are why you take the risk.
Back-room games have worse odds than anything on the main floor and real, permanent consequences. They are also the fastest way to grow a small bankroll into a ten-million-dollar exit. Every character gets one shot at learning about the back rooms; whether you walk through the door is on you.
Three Doors
A dealer, three closed doors, and a briefcase behind one of them. You pick. The dealer opens one of the other two — always empty. You get to switch your pick or stand. This is the Monty Hall problem staged as a casino game. If you switch every time, you win two-thirds of the time. If you stand, you win one-third. The pot pays even money either way, so switching is the correct move.
Russian Roulette
Six-chamber revolver, one live round, spin the cylinder, pull the trigger. Every pull that doesn't kill you doubles your pot. Every pull carries a 1-in-6 chance of ending the run permanently. There is no strategy here. There is only how many pulls you're willing to take. If you lose, you don't get a rematch. Your character does not come back.
Pistol Duel
Ten paces, a coin flip on the count. Winner takes the pot, loser takes a bullet. A high Nerve stat and a high Luck stat both help. A high Charm stat lets you talk your way out of the duel before it starts. Companions can duel in your place if you let them — but if they lose, they don't come back either.
Liar's Dice
Five dice each in a cup, bid on the total count of a face value on the table, next player raises or calls "liar." Wrong callers lose a die. Winner is the last one holding dice. This is a bluffing game and it rewards a good read on the opponent — a companion with high Logic will call out obvious bluffs.
Jallikattu
A Tamil bull-taming pit adapted for Lucky's back lot. Cling to a bull's hump for fifteen seconds. Every second the bull bucks left, right, or holds — match the prompt in time. Miss twice and the bull throws you. If you go the full fifteen the bookies pay 2x the ante and someone in the crowd hands you a name for the case file. If you get gored, that's the run.
Should you play these?
Two of the ten pieces of hard evidence in the case only unlock through back-room encounters. You do not have to touch these games to finish the night, but if you're playing for the perfect ending, you'll walk down that hall at least twice.