Woman's Club has Bunko day

Twenty-four women got together in Wasco last week to play 18 games of Bunko, two hours of fun and games as they kept score and passed around the bunko trinket.

Everything in bunko is up to the roll of the dice. There are six games in each set, and there were three sets played during the afternoon.

Historically, Bunco is considered a parlor game (played indoors or in the parlor), and is usually played with 12 or more players divided into groups of four, trying to score points while taking turns rolling three dice.

A person gets a Bunko when they roll three of a kind, and all three numbers match whichever round the players are on. Round one is when the players are rolling for ones, round two is when the players are rolling for all two's and so on. When players roll three of a kind, but not in the number for the round, they add five points to their score. A Bunko is worth 21 points.

The players play in teams of two. Teammates sit across from each other. Whichever team gets the highest score moves closer to the head table. Each losing team remains at the same table.

The game is 100 percent luck; no skill is involved. There are no decisions to be made, and scoring is simple.

Bunko clubs are all over. Jill Drescher, of Wasco, started a Bunko group in Wasco in the 1980s that is still going strong today.

Because there are normally 12 players, each player selects a month to host Bunko. Depending on the specific group, cash prizes or wrapped gifts are given to those who end up with the most Bunkos, least Bunkos, or the number of wins and losses.

These women took home prizes at the Bunko game: Mara Poe won the prize for Most Wins, Joanne Martin won the prize for Most Losses, Rocky Acebedo won a prize for being the last Traveler (the Bunko trinket was in her possession at the end of the game), the 50/50 (equal number of wins and losses) was won by Dottie Story, and the raffle of the Italian dinner basket was won by Judy Meyer.