Fable II Pub Games

"An Easy way to give your hero the wealth"

Introduction – These are the pub games that were the precursor to Fable 2 so that when a player starts a hero in Fable 2 they can merge them with characters who have won money and/or items in the pub games so that the hero now gets the items and money.

Gameplay – There are three games that a player can choose from, Spinner box, Keystone, and Fortune's Tower. There are two ways to play these games. The player can either play free mode where the player bets their own money against the house, or tournaments where there is a flat rate paid and the player plays against other computer players.

Spinner box is by far the simplest game to play. It is basically a roulette wheel with up to 6 different wheels spinning. In free mode the player can change the bet to whatever they want in the set numbers of the specific spinner box game and just keep hitting the A button. The Spinner Box tournaments are even simpler. The player simply keeps hitting the A button to get 100 spins and hopes that they come out in the top 5. No thought involved. The other games require a bit of strategy.

Fortune's Tower is one of the easier games to play, although one of the hardest to continually win money at. The two versions for this one are simple, the free game is just the player against the house, and the tournaments are against several computers. All the tournament players are at different tables with 5 players at each, so the player can see the other current opponents to play against. A thing to remember, if the player can make it to the final table they have done enough in the tournament to win money and the item for placing in the tournament so keep that in mind. The player makes a bet and then 3 cards are dealt, the first set have two cards, and then three and then 4 and so on until there are seven cards in a line. At the end of each line is a number of the total value of the cards. The player can choose to either take the value or deal the next line of cards. If two cards on two different lines that of the same number touch, they get burned and the round may be over. The game can use a face down card at the top of the tower to replace the burnt card on the bottom, but this may not save the round. A good strategy is when the top card is used take the deal. There are also 4 knight cards; if any of those cards appear on the same line as a burnt card the line and the round are saved. If there is a line all with the same number on the cards, the bonuses are doubled, tripled, maybe even quadrupled. This is very rare however, and usually the game burns the next line after one of these happens. If the player happens to not take the deal all the way down to the bottom of the tower and the top card has not been used, all the values are added down at the bottom and then added to the players that took the final deal a huge jackpot. It's a great thing, but it happens very randomly. Sometimes in a single playing span, the game will put anywhere from no jackpots to several jackpots in a short or long time span.

The final game is Keystone. This game by far involves the most strategy. This game is a mix between craps and roulette. The player can bet on color, range of numbers that are rolled, whether the symbol is a diamond or oval, on the specific number, or if the roll will be a triple and a specific triple, or the equivalent of roulettes 0 or 00 bet on the Keystone to be rolled. The keystones to end the game are 3, 10, 11, and 18. If any two keystones are rolled, the round ends, if 3 or 18 is rolled, the round ends. Each roll takes away from the keystones so eventually a game will end with enough rolls. In the tournament a thing to remember is that all players in the tournament are playing against each other and not all of their bets show up on the board that the human player is looking at, so just because the human player picks up a jackpot does not mean that some other computer player did not pick up that same jackpot. These are all simple gameplay examples and simple strategies, better ones are available.

Story – There is no story here, except for the fact that the player is winning money to add them to their Fable 2's hero's money.

Graphics/Sound – The graphics are very simple and easy, but well done. The sounds are the same kinds of sounds a person would here in a casino playing any betting game. The sounds are very realistic and fun, especially when people clap for hitting a jackpot or winning a tournament.

Play time/Replayability – The playtime is all dependant on the player. A player can spend an hour to get all the items if he/she is lucky. Or a player can spend days playing all the games and wracking up money and items to give to their characters. The Replayability is actually really good, because if you are like me and want a ton of money you won't be able to do it in one sitting. Then on top of that, when a pub games character is merged with a Fable 2 hero, the pub games character and everything they have done disappears, so there could be many characters that need to be played.

Final Recommendation – The game is fun and definitely kills a ton of time. It costs about $10 in Microsoft points or so. However, since the game is already out, it is fun and with enough time is easy achievement points, but not really worth it to buy, and it can't be rented. So fun, but not that fun or essential. The game is fun but really there are many other games.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/23/08

Game Release: Fable II Pub Games (US, 08/13/08)