Baccarat
Back a hand. Closest to nine.
A card game you bet on rather than play: two hands are dealt by fixed rules, and you back Player, Banker or a tie. It is played for table chips, never real money, by one to eight players.
- Play at a real table
- Printable rules card
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- Players
- 1 to 8
- You need
- A shoe of four decks
- Style
- Betting on fixed hands
- Goal
- Finish with the most chips
- Time
- About 30 minutes
What is Baccarat?
Two hands. One pick.
Two hands, one called Player and one called Banker, are dealt from a shoe of shuffled decks. You back the hand you think will finish closer to 9, or bet that they tie. Nobody chooses how the cards are drawn, because fixed rules do that.
This is Punto Banco, played with table chips that are never bought or cashed out. Each player bets in turn for a set number of coups (rounds), 50 at a standard table. With two or more players, the one holding the most chips at the end wins the match.
A little history
A game of fixed hands.
Baccarat is a game of choosing a side. Punto Banco, the form played here, has the hands drawn by set rules, so the only choice anyone makes is the bet.
Here the chips are a score and nothing more. These are our Classic rules, taken from the Feral Game Kit’s definition of the game, and they are shown before every game.
Fun facts
- A hand is worth only the last digit of its total, so a 7 and an 8 make 5.
- Tens and picture cards count nothing, and aces count 1.
- The first bettor moves one seat round the table each coup.
Why people love it
Simple bets. Nothing to hide.
One choice a coup.
The cards follow fixed rules, so all you decide is the bet: Player, Banker or the Tie, and how many units.
Easy to count.
Aces count 1, two to nine count their number, and tens and picture cards count nothing. Only the last digit of the total matters.
A tie hands your bet back.
When the hands tie, Player and Banker bets are returned, not lost. Only a bet on the Tie wins.
A match to win.
With two or more players you are racing each other, so when to bet big and when to hold back is the whole contest.
How to play
Bet. Deal. Settle.
Setup
- Players: one to eight, all betting in turn.
- Chips: each player starts with 10,000 chips, in units of 100.
- Shoe: four decks, shuffled together.
- Length: the match is 50 coups. The first bettor moves one seat round the table each coup.
Winning
After the last coup, the player with the most chips wins; equal chips share the win. Playing alone, you win by finishing above your starting chips.
- 1
Place your bet
In turn, bet on Player, Banker or the Tie, from one unit (100 chips) up to the table maximum of ten units.
- 2
Two cards each
Two cards go to each hand. Aces count 1, two to nine count their number, and tens and picture cards count nothing. A hand is worth the last digit of its total.
- 3
Naturals stand
If either hand has 8 or 9 at once, both stand and the coup is settled.
- 4
Player draws first
Player takes a third card on 0 to 5 and stands on 6 or 7.
- 5
Then Banker
Banker draws or stands by a fixed table that depends on its own total and on Player’s third card. You never choose.
- 6
The nearer hand wins
The hand nearer to 9 wins and every bet is settled.
- 7
Never touch the cards
You cannot change a draw or a hand. Only your bet is yours.
These are our Classic rules, taken from the Feral Game Kit's definition of the game. Some tables drop the Tie bet, let you sit a coup out, or allow a bet of all your chips on the last coup; the host picks, and the table shows which. Printable rules card →
Scoring
Win, lose, or hand back.
The hand nearer to 9 wins. When the hands tie, every Player and Banker bet is handed back.
| Result | What happens to the bet | |
|---|---|---|
| A bet on Player, Player wins | Pays even money | |
| A bet on Banker, Banker wins | Pays even money, less a 5 percent commission | |
| A bet on the Tie, the hands tie | Pays 8 to 1 | |
| A bet on Player or Banker, the hands tie | Handed back | |
| A bet on the hand that loses | Lost | |
| After the last coup | Most chips wins |
The shoe is reshuffled when fewer than 16 unplayed cards remain. The match ends after the set number of coups, or when nobody has chips for the minimum bet.
Strategy
Play it smart. Then play it feral.
Tip 1
Forget the pattern.
Runs of Banker or Player wins on the result board look like patterns, but they do not change the next coup.
Tip 2
A bigger bet is more swing.
A bigger bet does not make a win more likely. It only makes your result swing more.
Tip 3
In a match, watch your rival.
When you are ahead, bet the minimum on the same hand as your nearest rival, so the gap barely moves.
Tip 4
When behind, bet what you need.
Bet just enough to pass the leader if you win, and save the big bets for late in the match.
Tip 5
Know the last coup.
A minimum bet on the last coup cannot catch a leader who is more than a bet ahead.
The Feral Worlds community
Play-testing Baccarat? Tell us in Discord.
Found a bug, a rule that feels off, or a house rule your family swears by? Our Discord is where we collect play-test feedback, and where game nights are starting to happen.
Glossary
Talk like a regular.
- Coup
- One round: bets, the deal, and settling.
- Shoe
- The box of shuffled decks the cards are dealt from.
- Player
- One of the two hands. It has nothing to do with who is playing.
- Banker
- The other hand. It draws by a fixed table after Player.
- Tie
- Both hands finish on the same total.
- Natural
- A hand worth 8 or 9 on its first two cards. Both hands stand.
- Unit
- The smallest bet: 100 chips.
- Commission
- The 5 chips in 100 taken from a winning Banker bet.
- Push
- A bet handed back, neither won nor lost.
The Feral twist
Still under the hat.
Every game can be played Classic. In Feral mode, the host writes the house rules: how many coups, the table maximum, whether the Tie can be bet, and whether a player may sit a coup out.
In play-testing
Baccarat is in play-testing.
Baccarat is not in a pack yet. You can play it in the Feral Table Games client while we test it.
$9.95, one time, to host every game in it. Playing is always free. Packs go on sale when the full game launches.
Baccarat is in play-testing
Save a seat.
Hear when the Kickstarter opens, and when Baccarat can be hosted with friends.