The Back Room: cards and dice for chips

Blackjack, poker, slots and dice for chips, played with real people in your browser. The Back Room is a free room for cards and dice: pull up a chair at a table, play a few hands with friends or strangers, and leave whenever you like. There is no real money anywhere near it.

The games

• Greed: Six dice. Bank it or lose it. Up to 10 to a table.
• Blackjack: Beat the dealer to twenty-one. Up to 10 to a table.
• Slots: Five reels, nine lines, one climbing bank. Played on your own.
• Plinko: Twelve rows of pegs, one board, everybody's balls. Played on your own.
• Poker: Up to ten to a table, and the pot is everybody's chips. Up to 10 to a table.
• The Tip Jar: The bar drips, you tap, the chips are yours. Played on your own.
• Roulette: One wheel, thirty-seven pockets, everybody at once. Up to 8 to a table.
• Death Rolling: Halve the number or pay. Roll a one and you're out. Up to 6 to a table.
• Two-up: Two coins in the air. Heads or tails, and nothing in between. Up to 8 to a table.
• Craps: Two dice, a point to make, and a rail of people shouting. Up to 8 to a table.
• Scribble: One of you draws it. Everybody else races to name it. Up to 10 to a table.
• Baccarat: Player or banker. Bet on which side gets closer to nine. Up to 8 to a table.
• Liar's Dice: Everybody's dice are hidden. Raise the bid, or call the lie. Up to 10 to a table.
• Uno: Match the colour or the number, and shout when you are down to one. Up to 8 to a table.

How the chips work

Chips are free. A new account starts with ten thousand of them, and there is no way to pay for more: nothing here takes money, and nothing here pays out anything but chips.

A chip you win came from another player. A table playing for chips only deals while at least two real people are sitting at it, and a table that loses its second player pauses rather than carrying on. The games played against the house, such as blackjack, roulette, two-up, craps, baccarat and the slot machine, each pay from a bank of their own that only players' stakes fill, so a win there still comes from everybody who played before you.

Bots only ever sit at tables played for fun, where the chips belong to the table and are gone when it closes.

How a table works

Tables deal themselves. Nobody has to press start: a round comes round on its own clock, and players sit down and leave whenever they like. Whoever opens a table decides its shape, from how many seats it has to how long the betting window stays open and whether it plays for chips or for fun.

Every table has a short code of its own, so bringing a friend is a matter of sending them the link.

Getting in

Anybody can sit down at a table played for fun. Tables that play for chips ask you to sign in with Discord first, so that what you win stays yours. The room works on a phone as well as on a desk, and it can be added to a home screen like an app.

Questions people ask

Is it really free?

Yes. There is nothing to buy, no subscription and no advert standing between you and a table. Chips cannot be bought, and they cannot be cashed out either, so a good night here is worth exactly what it felt like and nothing more.

What happens when I run out of chips?

Head to the jar on the bar. It fills slowly while you are away, and tapping it pays what has gathered into your account. It is never going to make anybody rich, but it will always get you back to a table.

Can I play when nobody else is around?

Two ways. A table played for fun can be filled with bots, which is a good way to learn a game before putting chips on it. For chips, pull the handle on the slot machine or sit down at a blackjack table: both are played against the house, and the house caps every stake so that its bank can always cover the biggest win it could owe you.

How do I play with friends?

Open a table, say a poker table or a round of dice at Greed, and send the link. Everyone who follows it lands at the same table, with no invites to accept and nothing to install. If the link gets lost, the short code on the table does the same job.

Can I send chips to someone?

Yes, once you are signed in. Chips can be sent from your account page to another player, up to twenty-five thousand in any twenty-four hours, and every transfer is written down. It is there for staking a friend back into a game, not for moving a fortune.

Can the rules be changed?

Whoever opens a table sets it up for everybody sitting at it: how many seats there are, how long bets stay open, and whether the table plays for chips or just for fun. Some games go further. At a table of Greed the host picks the score that wins the game and which of the rarer throws count, so the same six dice can play as a quick round or a long night.

Is there a leaderboard?

There is, for anybody signed in. The leaderboard ranks players by the chips they hold, by how far ahead they are overall, by how much they have staked, and by games played and won, so there is more than one way to be at the top of it.

Does it work on a phone?

Every game is built to be played with a thumb. Open the site in your phone's browser, and add it to your home screen if you want it to open like an app.