Pokeno® is a game that is a combination of poker and keno, though it is pretty much like playing bingo with standard playing cards. It consists of game cards similar to bingo cards that feature pictures of various playing cards. In the basic game, there are five squares across the board and five squares down, for a total of 25 squares. With a deck of cards at hand, cards are flipped over one at time and each player who has a board with that playing card pictured places a poker chip over the square. The first player to have five squares in a row is the winner.
Like bingo, Pokeno® has its variations, such as cover-all or 4-corner. However, other variations exist that make it even more interesting and fun, especially to those who enjoy card games. Pokeno® is best played with a group of people and the game accommodates up to 12 players, but can be played with only two. Standard rules require a dealer, who shuffles and flips the cards, and the first player to cover five squares in a row is the winner and becomes the dealer for the next round.
Variations of Pokeno® include incorporating poker into the game. Rather than declaring the first person to cover five squares in a row the winner, players can wait until everyone has covered five in a row and the player with the best poker hand using those cards wins the round. Similarly, players can hide their covered cards from one another and bet on poker hands formed by their cards.
Though Pokeno® is a popular at-home combination board and card game, there is also an electronic version found in some casinos that allows players to bet against a computer hand. The at-home Pokeno® game feature the Bicycle brand is available in original and Pokeno Too®, which contains an additional 12 cards to allow for up to 24 players to play at one time.
