Ask anyone who runs activities at a senior community why bunco keeps filling the room, and the answer is usually the same. Nobody has to be good at it.
Bunco has no strategy at all. Players roll three dice and try to match the number of the round — ones in round one, twos in round two, and so on through six. Each matching die is worth a point. Three of the round number is a Bunco, worth 21 points and a shout. Three of any other number is a mini Bunco, worth five. There is no holding dice, no rerolling, no bidding, and nothing to memorize.
While bridge and euchre reward the players who study the game, Bunco rewards people who show up. That puts a first-timer and a 20-year veteran on identical footing.
The standard setup is 12 players at three tables of four, with winners rotating up between rounds.
Most groups collect a few dollars per player and pay all of it back out as prizes the same night. The rest is dice, a bell, and conversation loud enough to drown out both.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.
