Unique Casino Games and Types of Casino: The Rare Variants That Really Exist

Published on February 14, 2026

By: Iris Halvorsen — Game mathematics and table rules analyst

Most casino floors run on the same half-dozen games. But the wider world of gambling is far stranger than the slots-and-blackjack default suggests: there are card games played in a single country, roulette variants that predate the wheel most people know, and whole categories of casino that exist only because of a particular law. This article covers the rare games that genuinely exist — what they are, how the odds compare, and where you can actually find them.

What makes a casino game rare

Rarity here is not about age or obscurity for its own sake. A game is rare in practice for one of three reasons: it survived regionally but never travelled (Banca Francesa in Portugal, Sette e Mezzo in Italy), it needs a dealer skilled in a specific procedure that most floors will not staff (Chemin de Fer, Pai Gow with tiles), or it was squeezed out by a faster, simpler competitor that earns the house more per hour.

That last point is worth keeping in mind. A game being unusual says nothing about whether it is good for the player. Some rare games carry an excellent house edge and some are among the worst bets in the building — the list below gives the figures so you can tell which is which.

Rare card games you can still find

• Pai Gow Poker. Seven cards split into a five-card and a two-card hand, both of which must beat the dealer's. Slow, sociable, and full of pushes — the house edge lands around 2.5% with the standard commission, but the tie rate means a bankroll lasts unusually long.
• Casino War. The children's card game, dealt for money. High card wins; equal cards let you surrender half or "go to war". Simple, fast, and around 2.9% against you — going to war is the better of the two options when it happens.
• Red Dog (Acey-Deucey). Two cards are dealt, and you bet on whether a third falls between them. The edge depends heavily on deck count, roughly 2.8% single-deck and improving with more decks — unusual, since most games run the other way.
• Banca Francesa. A Portuguese three-dice game, essentially unknown outside Portugal and a handful of online tables. Bets on "small", "big" or "aces".
• Sette e Mezzo. An Italian ancestor of blackjack played to seven and a half with a 40-card deck, where face cards count as a half. Still dealt in Italy around Christmas more than anywhere else.
• Teen Patti and Andar Bahar. Indian games now widely available through live-dealer studios. Andar Bahar in particular is close to a coin flip in structure and very quick to learn.
• Caribbean Stud and Oasis Poker. Poker-shaped games played against the house rather than other players. Both carry a heavy edge — Caribbean Stud is about 5.2% — which is the price of the jackpot side bet most players come for.

The three baccarats

Almost everyone who has played baccarat has played Punto Banco, where every decision is fixed by the rules and the player simply bets. Two older forms still exist, and they are genuinely different games:

• Chemin de Fer. Players bank against each other in turn and choose whether to draw. The casino takes a cut rather than playing. Still found in a few French and Monegasque rooms.
• Baccarat Banque. The bank stays with one player for a shoe rather than rotating. Rarer still than Chemin de Fer.

For comparison, Punto Banco's banker bet runs about 1.06% and the player bet about 1.24% — among the best odds on any casino floor. The tie bet, at roughly 14%, is among the worst.

Roulette variants beyond red and black

The wheel most people picture is European single-zero. The variations that matter are these:

• French roulette with la partage or en prison. Same wheel as European, but even-money bets return half the stake when zero lands. That halves the house edge from 2.7% to about 1.35% — the single biggest difference between two tables that look identical.
• American double-zero. The same game with an extra pocket and a 5.26% edge. Worth avoiding when a single-zero wheel is available.
• Boule (La Boule). A French nine-number game played with a rubber ball on a fixed bowl rather than a spinning wheel. The edge is far higher, around 11%.
• Double Ball and multi-wheel roulette. Modern variants that release two balls, or spin several wheels from one bet. The extra balls change the payout structure rather than improving your position.

In Polish gambling law these are classed together as gry cylindryczne — cylinder games — a legal category that covers roulette and its relatives, distinct from card games, dice games and slot machines.

Dice and wheel games

• Sic Bo. Three dice, a large betting layout, and a very wide range of edges depending on the bet — the small and big wagers are about 2.78%, while some of the specific triples run well above 15%.
• Fan Tan. A Chinese game in which a pile of beads or buttons is divided down to a remainder of one to four. Once enormous in Macau, now nearly extinct.
• Big Six / Money Wheel. The large vertical wheel near the entrance of many casinos. Visually inviting and mathematically among the worst bets available, with edges between roughly 11% and 24% depending on the segment.

Blackjack variants worth knowing

• Spanish 21. All tens are removed, which sounds terrible, but the rule set compensates generously — late surrender, re-doubling, bonus payouts. Played correctly it can be one of the better games on the floor.
• Pontoon. The Australian and British relative of Spanish 21, with both dealer cards face down and different terminology entirely.
• Double Exposure. Both dealer cards are visible; in exchange, blackjack pays even money and the dealer wins ties. The transparency is real, and so is the compensation.
• Blackjack Switch. Two hands, and you may swap the second cards between them. In exchange, a dealer 22 pushes instead of busting.

The pattern is consistent: every variant that hands the player something takes something back elsewhere. Reading the specific rule board matters more than the name above the table. The same logic applies to bonuses — see our guide to getting more out of free spins, where the terms decide the value rather than the headline number.

Types of casino: where these games are actually played

Some games are rare not because of the game but because of the venue. Casinos fall into distinct categories, and each exists for a reason:

• Land-based casinos. The traditional venue, licensed per jurisdiction and usually limited in number by law. Game selection follows local regulation more than player demand.
• Riverboat casinos. A genuinely American category, created when several states legalised gambling on water but not on land. Some still cruise; many are permanently moored and function as ordinary buildings that happen to float.
• Tribal casinos. Operated by Native American nations under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, which established a federal framework for gaming on tribal land. They are regulated separately from commercial casinos and are why gambling is available in several US states that otherwise prohibit it.
• Cruise ship casinos. Operating in international waters, outside any single national regulator, and typically opening only once the ship is far enough from shore.
• Online casinos. The largest category by number of games, since floor space costs nothing — which is why nearly every rare game listed above now exists in some live-dealer or RNG form.
• Decentralised casinos. Blockchain-based platforms that settle bets through smart contracts and often publish a provably fair verification scheme. The mechanism is real: a hashed server seed is published before the round and revealed after, so the outcome can be checked. What it proves is narrow — that a specific round was not altered after your bet — and it says nothing about the payout structure or about whether a withdrawal will be processed. Our article on cryptocurrency payments in casinos covers the trade-offs in more detail.

Approaching a game you have never played

Three things are worth doing before you stake money on an unfamiliar table. Find the house edge for the specific bet, not the game as a whole — Sic Bo ranges from under 3% to over 30% on the same layout. Read the rule board rather than assuming the variant matches the standard game. And play the minimum for a few rounds until the procedure is familiar, because most early losses at rare tables come from misreading the sequence rather than from bad luck.

The appeal of these games is genuine, but it is the appeal of variety rather than of better odds. If you are looking for the best mathematical position in the building, it is usually a single-zero roulette table with la partage, or baccarat on the banker — both entirely ordinary games.

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