What on earth is "bunko," you ask? It is a completely talentless and relatively primitive game, but great fun, I have to say. I think it may be a west-coast/pacific northwest thing, as I never heard of it until I moved here. To be simplistic to a fault: it basically consists of rolling three dice together in extremely rapid succession until a "bunko" is achieved.
Our young marrieds' Sunday School class plans entire evenings around this game. We set up tables, bring tons of snacks, and act completely unlike the mature, responsible adults that we are. ;) Screams of "BUNKO!!!" resound throughout our poor Sunday School teachers' home, bells are rung, people run from table to table, the "bunko prize" is repeatedly "stolen" from its current owner; it is a grand time. :-D
To explain in a bit more detail, a "bunko" is rolling three dice all showing the same number, which must be the number of the current round (e.g., rolling three "1"s in Round One). We usually play four complete games with six rounds each. Round one starts with trying to get number 1 on the dice. Four players sit at each table; the two sitting opposite each other are teammates. When the "head table" rings the start bell, the first player at each table rolls all three dice. If at least one of the dice shows a "1", that player keeps rolling. Every "1" rolled is a point for his or her team. If a player does not roll a "1", the next player begins rolling. This continues until the head table rings the bell again to indicate they have either a) gotten a bunko or b) arrived at the number of points required to win a round (usually 23). Then all the winning teams at each table move up a table (unless they are at the head table, in which case they stay) while the losing teams stay at their current table (or move down, if they were at the head table to begin with). Players switch teammates with their new tablemates; then round two commences with "2" being the number to roll in this round.
A bunko is obviously worth more points than any other roll. Getting a bunko at the head table means you automatically win the round. Getting a bunko at any other table gets you an almost sure advancement to the next higher table. Bunko rollers also receive the esteemed "bunko prize" which they are entitled to hold until someone else rolls a bunko and comes and steals it. The last person holding this prize when the games are over gets to keep it. Then of course there is a prize for the most bunkos rolled by one person, a prize for the least bunkos, a prize for the most wins and a prize for the most losses.
Our next Bunko Night is tomorrow, so that is why I'm enlightening you and the blogosphere in general as to the finer points of the game of Bunko. ;) I'll let you know if I win anything. Last time we had a Bunko Night I won the prize for the most bunkos--it was movie tickets! I was pretty proud of myself and my bunko prowess until Dan totally upstaged me by winning the prize for "lowest individual score" at our Young Marrieds' Miniature Golf Tournament. I tell ya what, luck just can't compete with actual skill at something. :-p
3 comments:
Yep, it must be a west coast thing. I have friends in So. Cal. who are nuts over it. -A
Actually, it's a Mississippi thing, too. The office manager at the newspaper I worked for had a Bunko group every Wednesday night; the ad department (whose name was Janette) whispered to me that "They're pretty addicted to it."
How often does a West Coast fad show up in the Deep South at the same time? That's bizarre enough to be put in a record book. -- SJ
In fact, it is an east coast thing as well. We have a Bunko club in upstate NY. An all "girls" club. We play once a month rotating the host house. Crazy fun! --SK
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