Put & Take
Put and Take is a popular gambling game played throughout The Jolundrian Empire. It involves a small, six-sided spinning top, no bigger than a Faun's thumb. Each side of the spinning top has a value that dictates the action that the person must take.
To start a game, all participants must agree to abide by fair play and set a base amount for the game to begin (for example: 10 coins per person, no more, no less). This amount should be comfortable for any player to feel happy gambling with as they might lose it all.
Once this is agreed upon, they lay their coins in front of them and a cup, pot, or tankard is placed in the middle. Each person takes turns to spin the top and follows the action displayed on the side that faces upwards when it stops.
Each player can withdraw from the game at any point in order to keep their coins, however it's more fun to play "until death" by process of elimination until only one gambler takes ALL of the coins.
Losers and early retreaters are often encouraged into buying drinks for the other players and an extra one for the winner.
If someone lands on TA / Take all, the game is won and will start over if players want to continue gambling.
The six sides:
- P1 / Put one Put one coin into the pot
- P2 / Put two Put two coins into the pot
- PA / Put all Put all of your coins into the pot
- T1 / Take one Take one coin from the pot
- T2 / Take two Take two coins from the pot
- TA / Take all Take all the coins from the pot
Players: 1-10+
Type: gambling The design of spinning tops varies from place to place. Some are made of wood, others are made of brass, and some only have letters and numbers on them rather than painted words. Some tops have eight sides or more which usually include actions to put or take three coins from the pot. If players do not have a put & take spinning top then a simple six sided die can be used as an alternative. A deck of playing cards could also be used if everyone understands what value each card holds as they are drawn at random from the deck instead of a roll.
Type: gambling The design of spinning tops varies from place to place. Some are made of wood, others are made of brass, and some only have letters and numbers on them rather than painted words. Some tops have eight sides or more which usually include actions to put or take three coins from the pot. If players do not have a put & take spinning top then a simple six sided die can be used as an alternative. A deck of playing cards could also be used if everyone understands what value each card holds as they are drawn at random from the deck instead of a roll.
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Entry for WorldEmber 2020
In response to the prompt Tell us about a popular parlour game played in a region of your world. What are the rules?
An interesting take on the usual gambling game. I like how you switched it up from a deck of cards to a dice, and included a roller in the article. Puts all skill in the game directly in lucks hands. I hope she's feeling kind.