Hoyle Casino ’98

Vegas without the subsequent hangover.

There are so many Hoyle games floating around these days that I’m not entirely sure whether this was the initial Casino release that spawned the series itself or an update on an earlier ’96 product from the same company, as other sources suggest. Facts on obscure games get more and more fuzzy as time flies by, and with the avalanche of yearly Hoyle Games this comes as no surprise.

1

I wasn’t always this terrible at Blackjack.

Regardless, what you get here is a collection of five casino games – Blackjack, Poker, Craps, Roulette and various slot machines. As opposed to other board or puzzle game packages, Casino isn’t just about playing, but also about winning and running off with some virtual greens. To get you up and running, you’re initially handed a sum of $5000 to gamble away freely and the game keeps a record of your winnings in a statistics screen No worries if you gamble it all away either, as there’s always the option of resetting your bank account to the initial five grand at the cost of your statistical information.

The game features the same assortment of kooky characters common throughout Hoyle games, and their AI is just as competent here as well. It’s only a shame the game doesn’t enjoy the same sort of polish and customization options as Classic Board Games (again, I’m assuming this is a ’98 game). It suffers from a much more static presentation, with no custom music or backdrops. But if you’re not too keen on glitz and simply want to learn the rules and subtleties of Texas Hold ‘Em or Craps, then this should help you out.


System Requirements: 486 Processor 66Mhz, 8 MB RAM, Win 95/98


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