Last month my friend invited me to Bunco as they were short a player. I had the time of my life. For those of you unfamiliar (as I was before last month) it's a dice game played by groups of four people who play a round then switch tables and partners based on who won the hand.
Everyone pays in $6 and brings a dish for the potluck. Last night my friend and I made a deal to split the winnings if one of us won. She won first place and I won third so we split $38. No big deal but fun and a cash prize.

It's fun to get together with these people once a month and eat and play and talk crap.

Does anyone else play Bunco?

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I just hosted our bunco group last week. We each pay $10 to play and the hostess supplies the dinner each month. We have 12 players in our group and it is a lot of fun. In our group you can win more then one prize. So if you win most buncos and most wins and last bunco you could win a total of $54. All my prizes were Target gift cards and I really hoped I would win one for Christmas shopping. I did awful. I didn't lose enough for the boobie prize, and didn't come close to winning enough for any of the other prizes. Oh well, there is always next month. lol

I've been in a bunco group for about nine years and I do enjoy it. I just hosted two weeks ago. Our group is a bit different because we don't play for cash like many groups do. The hostess supplies the prizes and the food. In December, we have a Christmas party and the hostess who volunteers to have it at her home doesn't have to supply food or drink if she so chooses --it's more of a potluck. We do an ornament exhcange instead of playing that month. It's been a lot of fun.

Just read more of the replies and came back to add that many of your groups have a different prize structure-- our prizes are most buncos, most wins, most losses, travellers (when you roll 3 2s), and door prize and you can only win one prize. The group I sub for once in a while has very different rules from the group I play in -- I can never get used to it. In that group, you can win multiple prizes and they play three rounds instead of two, and they have a prize if someone wins half/loses half the rounds.

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Cecilia

"We must love them both--those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
Saint Thomas Aquinas

i play once a month. I play with 11 other church ladies...lol. everybody laughs at the vision of 12 church ladies throwing the dice..lol. we put 5 bucks in and that buys 3 gifts. its so much fun and to get away from everything a few hours once a month. We love it and have a great time!

steph

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I sub sometimes for a group. You pay $10 and you eat at a restaurant prior rather than bringing a dish. Personally, I prefer this. It's less stress on the host/hostess for clean up, etc. I have subbed on another group who pays the $10 but does gifts instead of cash. I want cash They do the potluck but the person who says they will bring a main dish usually bows out at the last minute (sick kid, no money, whatever) and although these things happen, I don't want to just eat a bunch of desserts.

I enjoy it but it's hard to find a group that is good. Most of the time, there are 1 or 2 "ladies" (and I use that term loosely) that ruin the whole thing. That's probably why I just sub now. The teams I sub on have women 55-75 on it so at 35, I am the *baby* but they are all great gals. My aunt is a regular so he asked me to sub.

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I sub sometimes for a group. You pay $10 and you eat at a restaurant prior rather than bringing a dish. Personally, I prefer this. It's less stress on the host/hostess for clean up, etc. I have subbed on another group who pays the $10 but does gifts instead of cash. I want cash They do the potluck but the person who says they will bring a main dish usually bows out at the last minute (sick kid, no money, whatever) and although these things happen, I don't want to just eat a bunch of desserts.

I enjoy it but it's hard to find a group that is good. Most of the time, there are 1 or 2 "ladies" (and I use that term loosely) that ruin the whole thing. That's probably why I just sub now. The teams I sub on have women 55-75 on it so at 35, I am the *baby* but they are all great gals. My aunt is a regular so he asked me to sub.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

I used to play in our old neighborhood. We each paid $5 and the hostess supplied munchies - appetizer, finger food type stuff. We didn't do dinner, but always had beer & wine. It was a lot of fun.

Lisa

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Once a month we get together. I love the outing away from the kids!!

$8 each and the hostess provides snack and soda.

I'm hosting my Bunco group tomorrow night! Our group has been meeting once a month for the past 5 years. We have had the same 12 women and regular subs the entire time. The hostess provides dinner & drinks. We charge $10 to play and you can only win one prize: Most Buncos - $45, High Score - $25, Second High Score - $20, Lowest Score - $15, Rover (person with the last Bunco) - $10, and Losers Lottery (random drawing for anyone who didn't win) - $5. Twice I have had to take Rover even though I had the most Buncos! I'm one of the unlucky ones as I only win something maybe once or twice a year at most. It seems like the same people win every month. We have envelopes marked with each prize level and each month the person that wins that prize writes the date and their name on the back so we can keep track of who wins. I actually went 18 months without winning anything but we have such a fun time that I don't care.

When you can only win one prize I would think that It should be the best prize (most buncos) and then have the person with the second to the last bunco get the Rover. That doesn't seem fair to me at all. I also don't win very often. It is funny that some people seem to have all the luck and win almost every month. Our prizes break down to most buncos $32, most wins $28, 2nd most wins $22, 3rd most wins $17, 4th most wins $13, last bunco $4 and least wins $4. I really like your idea of the envelopes to see who wins what each month. It would not work for us though because we usually do gift cards not cash. I would not mind cash. LOL

Yeah, we've discussed it a few times about changing that rule but most in the group felt you couldn't always remember who had the second to last bunco and it happens so rarely (four times in the five years we've been playing - and, of course, twice it was me!) that they decided to stick with our original group rules.

When we get a bunco we circle the number we had the bunco on. That way you can tell who had the last or second to the last bunco. We also pass around a little stuffed horse and as soon as you get a bunco you get passed the horse. That way if two people got it on the same number you would know who got it first. I sure hope that it doesn't happen to you ever again.

I really like the idea of getting together for dinner before the games--when you play bunco, you are never all together so,depending on how your night is going, you might have months where you never even share a table with someone(s). Also, the stress and clean up aspect of NOT having to do it is good too!

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Have the courage to be yourself.

Wow it certainly is popular!

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Is this the game you are talking about? Looks like fun.

Bunco Night - Shockwave

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Brenda

GO #24 JEFF GORDON

I play Bunco and have (off and on) for over 15 years. It is a great game. The group I am in now has a family night 3 or 4 times a year (mostly in good weather) and the kids all get to play together and the hubbies join us. We are looking forward to a couples bunco soon and also just the ladies.

Mostly, it is potluck and we each bring a gift to add to the pot.

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We meet the last Friday of the month.
We each take turns hosting (1 month a year per player)
We bring our own beverages
We bring a "finger" food of some sort
The Hostess provides a "hot appetizer"
You can only win (1) prize per bunco night
We play (4) rounds
We each put in $10
We use 5 strands of beads in which the person with the last bunco wears
We almost always have to find at least 2 or 3 subs per month

We became a group through Craigslist!

I'm a "Bunco Babe" (our cheesy little name for ourselves...) - there are 16 total, and a list of subs. We play once per month, and the person hosting picks the subs, so they don't even have to stick to the list (can pick sisters, their own neighbors, etc.).

You only have to hostess once every 16 months!

We each bring $5.00, and an appetizer, or dessert, or bottle of wine. The hostess keeps the list of what people are bringing, and often steer the last rsvp'ers toward the foods/drink that fill in the gaps. Usually not much food is required of the hostess, since there are so many people making stuff. The hostess does provide a small gift for whoever wins the "rover" (ours is a pink fuzzy dice).

We have a really nice group. Almost nobody ever quits, so there is a little waiting list of people who want to become permanent. You can get a money prize for most Buncos, and the loser gets their $5.00 back. Whoever has the traveler at the end of the 3rd round (we play 3) gets the hostess's gift.
I rarely win - there seems to be a trend in our group that the subs win the money most of the time! It's fun no matter what.

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I think it should be that that way. Last month I had bunco at my sisters house (I have a very nice sister) because her house it bigger than mine. Three weeks before bunco I sent an e-mail saying I was having it at my sisters again this year and if you need a sub please let me know so I could ask my sister to play. Last year everyone came so she made drinks for everyone and even had everything cleaned up for me as the game ended. This year I wanted her to be able to play. Two weeks before bunco one lady emailed that she would try to be there but if she could not make it she would ask her neighbor to sub. So I sent another email to everbody asking is anyone needed a sub to let me know so my sister could play. A week before I emailed everyone with directions and also mentioned the sub thing again. The day before another lady emails that she could not make it but got a sub. I don't know what more I could do. In the end one person was sick and could not come, so my sister was able to play. It was her first time and she had fun.