"How many Golden Nuggets can one find in the Silver State?"

In Las Vegas, there is a casino that shares its name with a famous American discovery of the 1800’s. Something discovered by an assistant of San Franciscan John Sutter in 1848. It was a golden nugget. Hence, the casino’s name.

When you enter, the game assumes you have a reservation. Before you start whining about how you didn’t set one up, take it; The casino will give you $1,000 for free.

And there is a lot you can do with that $1,000: Get married and have your honeymoon; Treat yourself to fine all-you-can-eat cuisine; Buy certain thrills and kiss your morality good-bye; Get yourself plastered; The options are endless. But security won’t let you out of the front door with your over-valued pieces of plastic. Looks like there is only one thing to do: Divulge into the Nugget’s menu of games, including and limited to:

—Table games —

Golden Nugget features three table games: Roulette, Big Six, and the game named for what people say when they lose, Craps.

Roulette and Big Six: Both are prediction games involving a wheel. You have to guess were on the wheel either a ball or the pointer lands. The payoffs can be big, but the odds are least in your favor.

Craps: A dice game. It’s hard to describe, but can be best described as predicting what number comes up before a roll of 7. Before you even dare play this game, you may want to check out something along the Dummies series of books for better explanation.

Interfacing these games is “eersh”. Bet placement is jerky, jerky, jerky. Your markers react like magnets. Placing your bets is simple, if you can get your marker in the right spots.

— Video poker and slots machines —

There are only two things more common than these games in Vegas: Elvis Presley impersonators and those cheap all-you-can-eat buffets. Two things virtually made for each other.

Slot machines are named “one-armed bandits” for good reason — major investment, little return; All luck, nothing else. Video poker, on the other hand, requires some IQ. You are dealt one hand of five cards and you have to choose which cards to keep and toss in hopes of getting the one card left of 47; Knowledge of the cards already used in the hand helps, but you play with a new deck every game. Finish a hand of a pair of Jacks or higher, at worst, you break even for the hand.

I like video poker very much, but the game’s interface is just too slow (yes, this involves those slots, too). In as long as it takes to start a new hand here, I literally play two hands; A quick action button would have done wonders. Card selection is easy, so that’s a plus. All in all, a mediocre representation of what should have been faster.

— Baccarat —

It'sh Jamesh Bond'sh game of choiche. It’s kinda like blackjack with 9 as the goal. You have to predict if either you or the dealer will have a card total equaling nine, or if the hand results in a draw. All ten cards have no value, and scoring loops from zero to nine. I never got into it. Is suffers the same interface problems of roulette, et. al.

— Blackjack —

It’s the classic game of 21. Simple rules: Keep your hand as close to 21 without going over. Playing in Vegas is just the opposite — you can be as close as 21 as possible without going under.

Blackjack is the simplest game to play outside of slot machines. It’s also known as the one game that offers the lowest advantage the casino has over you. The only thing you need to know is how to add.

There is not much visually here, but you can easily identify the cards by their values — you can play naked if you want, since suits are not a factor. The only time any real graphics appear is in the result of a push (or a tie). I call it the “right hand of mystery”

And now, we go onto the main attraction of the cartridge, with that blinding blatant misspell alert light flashing...

— POKAH! —

Riverboat gamblers, wild west cowboys, and perverted teenage boys, your game has arrived. And you can play it in three variants.

First up, five-card draw. It’s like video poker, ’cept that you are playing against three computerized players. The only difference is that you can discard a maximum of three cards; If you have an ace, then you can discard up to four. It’s the one that’s been around for ages and the western films.

Next is seven-card stud. You’re drawn a maximum of seven cards, but the strategy is gone, since you get to see four of each of your opponents’ cards. It’s a lot like playing a psychic that costs just about the same on the table as it does on the phone.

But poker game #3 is what the professionals play. It’s not Astroturf. It contains no soy substitutions. It’s not cubic zirconium. It contains no artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. And it’s nothing like a certain part of a certain Baywatch star’s body. It’s Texas Hold-’Em!

In Hold-’Em, each player participates in four rounds of play: The blind bet, where the two each player is dealt two cards; The flop, when the dealer deals out three cards to share; And the later turn and river, both resulting in the dealer adding another to the pot. The player with the best hand combining their two cards with any of the dealer’s wins.

I don’t know about anyone else, but Hold-’Em was where most of my trial period with it was spent. It’s the ultimate in strategic casino gaming. Play your hunch, the dealer draw that 10 you need for a full house; Or he might draw an unlucky 7 and leave you with nothing.

It’s not just you; You have three other players. Computerized or not, they will try to separate you out of your cash if they think they can beat you; On the other side of the chip, they’ll jump the shark if you abruptly raise the stakes. Tease and be teased.

Hold-’Em is not a no-limit game, so you can’t try to coax the other players out of all their money in one card. You need to whittle them down hand by hand, but the time involved actually makes the strategy worth it. It takes time, but it’s much more satisfying to tease them into parting those fools with their money.

The interface for all the card games is the cleanest of all. It’s point-&-click simple. You can call, raise bids, and fold with ease.

You may want to practice here before slamming down $10,000 before entering the World Series of Poker. I’m sure the staff of the Nugget would not want me to divulge its name, but it’s located on an equine’s hoof.

—Overall representation —

First off, if you want a game that has top-of-the-line graphics, this is not a game you want. Without much effort really necessary to recreate a casino’s floor plans, Golden Nugget looks blurry and ugly. Your kind host and hostess are faceless mummies in nice clothes. Your player is nothing but a hand, and even it looks artificial and has not believable movement.

(Video) Poker is the game where the blurriness does its most damage. Calling a spade is spade is a challenge, since it’s possible to call a club a spade. They’re both similar in design, but barely distinguishable from the distance the came is from the cars. Card values and the two red suits are easily ID'd.

Your selection of games is a respectable facsimile of what to see in any casino. Video poker and slot machines have the modern standard of an LED display showing your remaining credits. Physics apply to both roulette and the crap dice.

Aural presentation is minimal, but effectively work. Piano music plays throughout, and matches the comfortable atmosphere of the casino. The pianist has only three tunes’ worth of music. Not bad tunes, I admit, but you aren’t gonna miss anything if (and I’m assuming) he takes a break for lunch.

SFX are accurate, representative of their games — the spin of the roulette wheel, the coins mounting up from a good hand of video poker, the dealers’ voices. Although, if you are a fan of slots, I’m sorry. Their “music”, if you can call it that, is annoying.

Golden Nugget offers a good simulation; That’s all that matters. I can say nothing of the casino itself, since I have yet to visit the real thing.

The nice selection of games — especially table poker — makes this the only N64 casino title worth owning. Hold on — this is the only N64 casino game available? Why didn’t anyone tell me?! That makes Golden Nugget easier to recommend.

If you prefer playing twenty single-credit poker games for a dollar, or betting $50,000 on one plastic disk, Golden Nugget is a sure thing. Hot winning streaks won’t enable you to make true your greatest dreams, but you won’t be able to turn your house into collateral that you can lose.

Who knows? Enough play and you could clean house in reality. That’s gotta be a good thing.

Remember: You must be at least 21 years of age to gamble in Nevada. Under-aged gambling is a criminal act.

MY SCORE: 9.0

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/04/02, Updated 02/04/02