Wild West Faro returns in an app

Wild Bill Hickok was said to be playing five-card stud poker - and holding black aces and eights, the “dead man’s hand” — when he was murdered in the town of Deadwood in 1876. But the gamblers at the other tables at Nuttal & Mann’s Saloon may well have been playing Faro, a card game that historians say was just as popular as poker in the American West.

Wikipedia cites an 1882 study that called Faro the most popular game in America. The game involves a designated dealer and a suit of cards laid out in numerical order. The players bet on which card will be turned over next from each player’s hand.

Gamblers loved the odds, which could produce a higher payoff than most other games of chance. But Faro was also easy to rig in favor off the dealer, which is probably why interest in the game declined during the 20th Century.

Now Faro is making a return in a mobile app called Wild West Faro. The game includes the betting options that were available in the cowboy casinos. Players can bet on a single card or multiple cards with other options such as betting on a high card.

And, like the classic version, there’s an option that allows players or dealers to cheat - with a penalty for getting caught.

Wild West Faro can be played on a handheld device, but it looks best on a tablet or other device with a larger screen. The game costs $1.49 at the Google Play Store, £0.99 (about $1.22) at the iTunes App Store or Amazon’s Appstore. The game has no ads or in-app purchase options.

For a closer look at the game, check out the video below and visit the Wild West Faro website.

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Written by Ric Manning

Follow me on Twitter @ricmanning and read my technology columns at My Well Being.