New Casino Game Created By Locals To Debut At Meadows
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Move over blackjack. Stand aside poker, Forget the slots. A new card game invented locally may hit the casino soon.
"My partner and I were just kicking around ideas," Ben Kowalski of Bethel Park told money editor Jon Delano.
Kowalski and Jeremiah LeClerc of Canonsburg, both employed at the Meadows Casino, have come up with a cool new card game unlike any other.
"The specialty games are mostly poker derivatives and blackjack variations," explained Kowalski. "So this game is neither which is what makes it unique and we think will fill a void out there in the marketplace."
It's based on a golf theme -- called "Go Fore It" -- but you don't have to know golf to play, says Kowalski.
"I golf once a year at the company function, and I do pretty poor."
The young men pitched their game idea in Las Vegas, and Bally Technologies, a leader in the field, snapped up the manufacturing rights.
"It was about 10 minutes of intensity before they jumped and said, yeah, we want this game," recalled Kowalski.
The rules are simple and there are multiple chances to win.
Unlike poker or blackjack, no thinking or strategy is required. It's a matter of the cards dealt. The point is to get lower than the dealer.
"Now the dealer will have 19, 29, 37 total, so I have a really bad hand," Kowalski noted, dealing out cards. "So even though you folded, you still beat me cause you have a 31, so I'll pay you here."
The game is really easy to understand – and to win.
Once the card game is approved by the PA Gaming Control Board this spring, the Meadows Casino will offer it first -- and hopes to attract new players to cards, including some slots players.
"With new games like this, with a different twist on them, we're happy if they move from a slot to a table," noted Sean Sullivan, vice president & general manager of the Meadows Casino. "We have no issue with that. Whatever makes you happy."
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