[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'151797\' date=\'May 8 2007, 12:41 PM\']The thing about Bunco is that it isn't a game, it's an excuse for a dozen women (usually women, anyhow, though I've never seen a male Bunco circle) to chatter and gossip for a few hours once a month. Why they need to roll dice mindlessly to accomplish this, I don't know, as I manage the same thing every Friday while actually playing decent games, but there it is.[/quote]I have borne witness both to a bunco party, and a gaggle of stepmom's friends playing poker. In both cases, the activity merely exists as an excuse to get together. Any time I ask stepmom about what kind of limits there are, or how the money is divvied up after the night is over, I get the idea that they don't really care about the game, they just want the bonding. So there's that.
I do have a hard time picturing a handful of women getting together around a game of Notre Dame, though. "So Notre Dame pays four points each for Bernice, Ethel and Gladys. By the way, Ethel, how's that leak in your kitchen? Oh, that's a shame. Seven rats this round means Bernice and Selma are going to suffer the plague, and Gladys, how was Bernie's prostate exam?" So it might be that they want to have something to do, because they don't want to just get together and talk. Even my little sister would have hair braiding slumber parties. And I had a locking door and a slew of Nintendo games. So we all were winners there.
Bunco offers zero in the way of strategy, planning or anything other than rolling dice, checking for the magic pip count and tallying points. To me, it seems more like an activity. Rock-paper-scissors at least has strategy, double-think and other stuff, even though it is very stripped down.
