This Cheapass Game is free. That’s right, free. You can print it, copy it, and share it with your friends. Obviously, if you like it, we’d appreciate a dollar or two in return. We think this is the best way to get great games into your hands, so please help us make it work.

Yes! I gave Cheapass Games $_________ for this game!

To learn more, read the last page of this document, or visit www.cheapass.com.

About the Game:

Palomino was designed by James Ernest with help from Mike Selinker and Tom Saxton. It was originally intended as a pitch to a table game manufacturer in Las Vegas, but it proved too, uh, awesome for them.

Their main objection was that the Gaming Commission would probably never approve a game like Blackjack again, specifically a game where counting cards could give players an advantage over the house. And it is true that when several players play the game, whoever acts last can make some pretty smart decisions about whether to press his luck or fold.

The game was later pitched to a slot maker as a one-player video poker game, where the multiplayer advantage was nullified. But they passed on it as well, and we’ve decided to make it available as a free Cheapass Game. It is pretty fun, and you can decide for yourself whether you’d like to play a game like this in a casino. (Hint: Yes, the odds favor the house. But just a little.)

Palomino Poker is a casino-style poker game, played with a standard deck.

The player makes a series of bets, with each bet buying one card, in an attempt to beat the

dealer’s hand. The dealer’s hand is always four cards or less, and is always face up.

If you like casino-style games, we suggest that you try this one at home. It’s got some

interesting choices. And if you want to put this game in your casino, give us a call!

Components:

To play Palomino, you need a deck of cards and something to bet with. We suggest poker chips. There is also a “felt” for the game, which is a one-page graphic showing the payouts. We designed it to fit on a standard rectangular mouse pad, because we love printing games on mouse pads.

There is one Joker in the deck. If your joker has white edges because you never use it, but the rest of your deck is gray, we suggest you buy a new deck of cards. Or find a casino that is giving them away, like we do.

Basics:

Here is a summary of the basic structure of Palomino.

• ThedeckhasoneJoker.TheJokeriswild.• Handsarerankedbasedontherulesofpoker.• Theplayerplacesastartingbet,andgetsonecard.• Thedealer dealsher entirehand face-up. Shemust

stop dealing when she has a pair, or four cards, whichever comes first.

• Thedealerplacesamarkeronthefeltindicatingwhatthe payout will be, based on the quality of her hand. For example, if the dealer’s hand is Ace high, she marksthespotreading“AceHigh:Pays2x.”

• Theplayerwinsimmediatelyifhishandtiesorbeatsthe dealer’s hand.

• Iftheplayerisnotwinning,hecanbuymorecards,to a maximum of five, or surrender half his last bet.

• Thepriceofanothercardisequaltotheoriginalbet.• Thereisnosurrenderafterthefifthcard.• There is an optional side bet on the dealer’s hand,

which pays if it is an 8 low or worse.

Palomino Poker is © 2012 James Ernest and Cheapass Games: www.cheapass.com

Full Rules:

Deck: A standard poker deck with one Joker, dealt at a blackjack-style table imprinted with a pay table such as that shown here.

Players: Up to 7 players can play at the same time. The dealer deals to the seats in order, but the hands are resolved based on the rank of the starting card, highest to lowest (using suit as a tiebreaker).

Object: To beat the dealer’s poker hand.

Bets: Players may place bets of any size within the betting limits, for example $10 to $1000. Ideally these bets can be divided by two, for the surrender rule.

Deal: Each player receives one card face-up. Then, the dealertakesahandasfollows:shedrawsonecardatatime,face up, stopping when she has a pair, or four cards, which-ever is first. Jokers are wild, and a single Joker is an Ace. The dealer’s hand is always entirely face-up.

The Award: The dealer places a marker on the pay table, in the column showing her hand value. This tells all the players what their winning payout will be, as a multiple of their starting bet.

Instant Win: If the dealer’s hand is an 8 high or lower, she surrenders immediately and pays every player 1x. This is the same award as K-9, but the game ends without a fight.

Player Actions: When it is his turn, the player plays his handasfollows:

If the player’s hand is equal to or better than the dealer’s hand, he wins immediately. If the player’s hand is losing to the dealer, he may sur-render, or he may buy another card. Surrenderingrecovershalftheplayer’slastbet. The price of extra cards is equal to the initial bet. The player cannot take more than five cards, and cannot surrender after the fifth card. If the fifth card is a loser, the game is over.

Notes: All awards are paid as a multiple of the player’s first bet, as shown in the payout chart. Those who surrender take back half their last bet, and lose the rest. Clearly, the player has much better maximum hands than the dealer does. The dealer’s best hand is a pair of Aces; therearenofour-cardstraightsorflushes.Sincetheplayercan have five cards, he can have all possible poker hands. Note also that any push (tied hand) is a player win. The player wins all ties because any card drawn to a perfectly matched hand would result in a player win anyway.

Examples:

Example 1:ThedealerstartswithK1098,aKingHigh.This game will pay 1x on all bets.

Player1hasanAce,andwins1:1immediately. Player2hasQ,andhasmadeastartingbetof$2.Player2maysurrender(takingback$1)orpay$2foranothercard.Hetakesanothercard,a10.Player2repeatsthis,takinga4and 2. Player 2’s total bet is now$8 and total pot is $10(includingDealer’s$2).Player2surrendersat4,takingback$1 (half his last bet).

Example 2: The dealer starts with 5 5 10, a pair of fives. Thisgamewillpay4xonallbets.

Player 1 has an Ace, and hits three times, getting 8 7 7, andwinning4xhisinitialbet. Player2startswithK,andhitsthreetimesgettingJQ5,then surrenders, losing a total of 3.5x his initial bet.

Side Bets:

Before the deal, a player can make a side bet of any amount that the dealer’s hand will be 8 high or worse. These bets win if the dealer’s hand is an 8 or worse, paying 15x or more, basedonthefollowingchart: Dealer Hand Pays2345straightflush 1000x3456/4567/5678straightflush 500x4-Flush,upto8-high 200x4-Straight,upto8-high 90xOther hands up to 8-high 15x All other dealer hands 0x

Odds:Theexpectedpayoutonthissidebetis94.6%.

Palomino Poker is © 2012 James Ernest and Cheapass Games: www.cheapass.com

Our Creative Commons Agreement

Summary: This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial - NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

This agreement means...

You are free:

To Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work (in this case, the electronic files that comprise the work).

Under the following conditions:

Attribution — You must attribute the work in the man-ner specified by the licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). In this case, “Palomino Poker is © 2012 James Ernest and Cheapass Games: www.cheapass.com.”

Noncommercial — You may not use this work for com-mercial purposes.

No Derivative Works — You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

With the understanding that:

Waiver — Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. (For example, a license to manufacture, or approval to distribute a new set of rules or graphics, can be obtained under a separate agreement.)

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Notice — For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. That means including all pages of this document, unaltered.

Free? Seriously?Tell me a little more about that.

Okay, here’s the deal. If I made a great game and sold it to you for ten bucks, I’d probably keep about a dollar. If I sold it to a big game company, they’d probably make a nicer version for thirty bucks, and I’d still get about a dollar.

The rest of your money would go to printers, distribu-tors, retail stores, and freight companies. And most of those guys don’t know anything about what makes a great game.

Mass-producing entertainment is a gamble. It’s a con-voluted way for creators to protect their intellectual property, by selling it in a way that is prohibitively expensive to counterfeit. And it’s getting a little old.

Why do you pay $30 for a board game? The story goes likethis:theretailpriceofagamecoversthecostofmanufacturing it, and there is no way you could make your own copy for that price, to say nothing of the hassleof finding littlewoodenmen insixcolors.So,it’s worth $30 because it costs $30, QED.

But the value in a board game isn’t the manufacturing cost. It’s the play value. Unfortunately, this means that some games are priced way out of whack with what they are worth. And because the big gamble doesn’t always work out, some of your money helps pay for the stuff that goes straight to the dump.

I’ve decided to try a different gamble. I’m giving my games away for free. This way, you can read the rules, make a copy, and even play the thing, before you decide what it’s worth.

If you do like my games, I hope you will send me some money. But I’m also hoping you will share this experi-ment with your friends. You are my sales force, my marketing department, my demo team.

You’re also my testers, so if you can think of ways to improve my games, please share them with me. I’m easy to find at big gaming conventions, and even easi-er online. Look for Cheapass Games on Facebook, or drop me a line at cheapassjames@gmail.com.

If we do this right, we will get famous and do shaving ads. But more importantly, we will prove that there is a better way for a creator to profit from his work.

And nothing has to go to the dump.