Gambling with Your Character

Published August 22, 2008

With Fable® II looming in the not-so-distant future, October 21 to be precise, Fable II Pub Games allows you to dabble in Albion's "gamble and be glad" pub life with three unique mini-games, complete with characters, tournaments, progressively higher stakes, and a few welcome surprises.

Feeling lucky?

Fable II Pub Games is not an isolated Xbox LIVE® Arcade experience. When you get your hands on the full version of Fable II, you can merge your created hero with your Fable II Pub Games character and so inherit their wealth, or, if you fare poorly, their debt.

Fable II Pub Games offers a much-needed taste of Albion.

Incidentally, if you do find yourself a few thousand gold in the hole, you might still want to merge with your Fable II hero. The in-game repercussions may very well provide just as much, if not more, entertainment for your hero than if you brought in a hefty purse.

Pre-Order Bonus
Any fan already planning on pre-ordering Fable II will receive Fable II Pub Games free of charge, so it's a good incentive to pre-order. Of course, if you forego the pre-order, you can still purchase the game with Microsoft Points just like any other Xbox LIVE Arcade game.

Tournament Items
If lining your pockets with mountains of gold for your Fable II hero isn't enough, you can also score fifteen items for use in-game in Fable II by participating and placing in the various tournaments in the Pub Games.

Check your odds on Keystone.

You can, for example, unlock free access to a new hairstyle, get your greedy little hands on strength potions, powerful tattoos, a sword, a gun, a "mysterious ring," and even learn the ability to teach your dog a back flip.

Ready Your Bets
You'll find three distinct games of chance here: Fortune's Tower, Keystone, and Spinnerbox. Whatever game you play, you'll be betting with a line of credit, not your own money. If you lose money and leave the table, it's up to you whether you pay off the debt then and there, or let it sit. If you come out a winner and leave the table, you'll depart with just your winnings.

Play and succeed at the various games and you'll increase your star rating to unlock not only new variants of each game with higher betting limits, but also heftier lines of credit.

Fortune's Tower
Imagine solitaire meeting Deal or No Deal, and you'll have a good idea of this game's underpinnings. Place your bet and watch as progressively larger rows of cards are dealt on the table. After each row is dealt, you're offered gold equivalent to the sum total of the cards in the current row.

For example, if you're dealt 7, 7, 6, you'll be offered 20 gold. The trick here is that if any card in the current row touches the same-numbered card in the previous row, the jig is usually up and you win nothing. That said, you do have a couple of insurance policies. First, the face down "Gate" card at the top of board will replace the first card that touches its counterpart in the previous row. Secondly, if any of the four Hero cards are dealt in a row, that row is immune to any unfortunate matches.

Nicely done!

Keystone
If craps and roulette had a baby, Keystone would be their happy progeny. Place bets on your hopeful outcome of three rolling dice, such as whether the outcome of the dice will affect a red or black number, come up with two or even three matching numbers, or whether the outcome will be an odd or even number.

The key here is that the board is covered by an arch made of blocks. Each block corresponds to a different number, and with every roll a new block is removed. The game ends when the pivotal "Keystone" blocks are removed, forcing the rest of the arch to fall.

Spinnerbox
Welcome to slot machines, Fable II-style. Place your bet, hit the button, and watch as the discs spin round and round, while hoping that enough discs match to net you a pile of gold. Just like Keystone and Fortune's Tower, you can earn new versions of Spinnerbox the more you play, and not every one behaves the same. Sometimes, the board will have more or less slots or increased betting limits, or even sport the feature of free spins whenever you match the right icons.

Whether you're loading up Spinnerbox for a chance at a quick jackpot while you're waiting for a friend to log on, or you're settling in for a lengthy night of pub-style gambling, Fable II Pub Games offers a much-needed taste of Albion.

Article by Ryan Treit