Casino Games

How would you fare in these fictional games?

Card and board games have always been a staple of entertainment, but their magic isn’t confined to the real world.

Movie and TV creators have crafted some of the most iconic fictional card games and board games to grace our screens. Some feature rules so fantastical they could never exist off-screen, while others feel tantalizingly within reach. Could you see yourself at the table, slinging Gwent cards like Scorch and Villentretenmerth against Geralt of Rivia?

Let’s see how you would fare with this list of fictional games.

Hearthstone, World of Warcraft

If you’ve ever dreamed of slinging spells or raiding epic dungeons with your squad, you’re already halfway into the digital card game Hearthstone, inspired by the World of Warcraft.

Hearthstone is one of the best fictional card games where you choose a hero with unique abilities, and you and your opponent take turns using mana to summon minions, cast spells, and unleash powerful strategies to bring your rival’s hero down to zero health.

Fizzbin, Star Trek

White text to the left of a dark purple image says, “Fizzbin,” and a vertical line of light blue cards are spread to its right.

In the Star Trek universe, leave it to Captain Kirk to invent the galaxy’s most confusing card game. Fizzbin is a fictional game Kirk creates on the fly to distract and confuse his captors in The Original Series. He lays out absurd rules, like declaring Tuesday the day the second card isn’t turned up and assigning different point values depending on the day and hand order. Spoiler: it’s all nonsense, and no one really knows how to play, but it sure is fun to watch.

Triad, Battlestar Galactica

In the war-torn world of Battlestar Galactica, even downtime involves competition. In Triad, a card game played aboard the fleet, Colonial officers and pilots use abstract hexagonal cards to form the “Full Colors” hand, which is the highest. The game’s exact rules are never fully explained on screen, so your guess about how it works is as good as ours. Space rummy, perhaps?

Cripple Mr. Onion and Stealth Chess, Discworld

In Lord Vetinari’s Discworld, a shadowy game unfolds in a dimly lit parlor, and the game is called Cripple Mr. Onion. This quirky game uses an eight-suit deck where you aim to create “onions” (complex scoring combinations) while sabotaging other players.

Meanwhile, Stealth Chess is a favorite pastime of Lord Vetinari. It’s a chess-based game with an added assassin piece that moves through a secret “invisible” section of the board called the Slurks.

The best games are even better with friends, whether plotting moves in a made-up chess match or spinning reels in real-life slots. Refer a friend to Cafe Casino and enjoy a cash pick-me-up in your account.

Kepesh-Yakshi, Mass Effect 3

A green spaceship is to the left of white text that says, “Kepesh Yakshi.”

If you were Commander Shepard or Samantha Traynor in Mass Effect 3, you might find yourself at the Castle Arcade on the Citadel, pondering a game of Kepesh-Yakshi, which means “blade of the night winds” in Asari language.

This asari “space-chess” features a board with ships like dreadnoughts, cruisers, frigates, and evac shuttles. You aim to “capture” your opponent’s planet. But watch out if you casually sacrifice ships because you’ll receive shocks of neural feedback as punishment. That’s only slightly worse than landing on Boardwalk with a hotel in Monopoly.

Pai Sho, Avatar: The Last Airbender

One of the most memorable fictional games in movies is Pai Sho from Avatar: The Last Airbender, a game so iconic it’s been reimagined by fans and even adapted into an online version.

You play it on a circular board split into colorful grids. You aim to gain control of important areas on the board by placing and moving tiles like the White Lotus, Jasmine, and Dragon to establish dominance and capture key positions.

Dejarik, Star Wars

Dejarik is one of the most famous fiction games seen on Star Wars as the iconic holochess game played aboard the Millennium Falcon, where holographic creatures battle for dominance on a circular board.

You choose monsters like the Mantellian Savrip or K’lor’slug, each with unique stats for Attack, Health, Range, and Movement. Then, you strategically move across the board, attack adjacent enemies, and deal enough damage to remove them from play. The last piece standing wins but beware: losing can lead to heated debates, especially when a Wookiee is involved.

Cyvasse, Game of Thrones

We see the word “Cyvasse” displayed partially over a purple background and a type of chessboard.

Across the courts of Dorne and the camps of sellswords, Cyvasse reigns as an exacting test of strategy and deception, and that says a lot, given that we’ve seen Olenna Tyrell secretly poison Joffrey Baratheon at his own wedding. Inspired by chess, Blitzkrieg, and Stratego, George R.R. Martin designed Cyvasse to reflect Westeros’ political scheming.

You play it on a customizable board, where you secretly arrange pieces like dragons, trebuchets, and elephants, each with unique powers. Then, you launch attacks to eliminate the opponent’s king while protecting your own.

Gwent, The Witcher

Gwent is a competitive card game from The Witcher universe. You saw it when Geralt played against merchants and innkeepers in “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,” although, in 2018, it became a standalone game developed by CD PROJEKT RED.

To play, you command factions like Nilfgaard, Northern Realms, Scoia’tael, or Monsters. The game is best-of-three rounds, where you play cards to gain the highest score each round. Cards include units with abilities, artifacts, and orders you can activate strategically. Like Geralt and Emhyr, you have to manage resources, bluff opponents, and decide when to hold or pass.

Counterfactuals, The Big Bang Theory

Sheldon and Amy from The Big Bang Theory introduced us to the brainy fictional card game “Counterfactuals.” Your challenge is to imagine alternate realities and their ripple effects. You play by “postulating” (Sheldon’s word, not ours) a world that changes in one key way and then posing questions based on that scenario. For example:

“In a world where rhinoceroses are domesticated pets, who wins the Second World War?”

Answer: Uganda (duh.). Defense: Kenya rises to power through rhinoceros exports and forms a central African bloc but collapses when war disrupts rhino trade. Uganda triumphs.

…makes sense to us.

Liar’s Dice, Pirates of the Caribbean

Three white dice are stacked in a pyramid on a dark purple background to the left of white block text that says, “Liar’s Dice.”

While we’re at Cafe Casino playing pokers of the Caribbean, Will Turner is facing off against Bootstrap Bill and Davy Jones with Liar’s Dice in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. It’s safe to say Will had slightly higher stakes in this game. He was gambling for a life of freedom or servitude to the dreaded Flying Dutchman if he lost.

In Liar’s Dice, each player rolls five dice hidden under a cup. You take turns bidding on how many dice of a specific number are showing across everyone’s dice. The next player raises the bid or calls “liar” to challenge. The dice are revealed, and if you lose, you lose a die.

Cheops, Dune

Pyramids are a recurring feature in Dune, both visually and conceptually, with themes of power and hierarchy.

This inspired Cheops, a nine-level pyramid chess game in Dune: Part Two. Crown Prince Leto II and Crown Princess Ghanima play Cheops, and Princess Irulan and her father, Shaddam IV, play this fictional board game in their estate’s garden on Kaitain. You aim to place your queen at the apex, the topmost level of the pyramid, and put your opponent’s king in check.

It would be a unique break from casino table games, that’s for sure.

Caravan, Fallout: New Vegas

Caravan is a fictional card game played by travelers and caravan guards in Fallout: New Vegas. If you were in the film, Ringo would teach you the rules as you prepare for life in the Mojave Wasteland. You play by building three “caravans,” or piles of numbered cards, aiming for a value between 21 and 26.

Tellstones, League of Legends

On a purple background are runestones next to white text that says "tellstones"

In League of Legends lore, Demacian warriors use a game of memory and strategy to test their focus and wit, a lovely pastime for heroes bound by duty.

Tellstones: King’s Gambit challenges you to outthink and outmaneuver your opponent using a row of seven stones with unique symbols. You can perform actions like hiding, swapping, and peeking to rearrange the stones while other players attempt to track their moves.

The Cones of Dunshire, Parks and Recreation

In Parks and Recreation, Ben Wyatt, the overachieving former mayor of Ice Town, suffered a bout of unemployment. He got in touch with his creative side and invented one of the most hilariously intricate fictional board games on TV: The Cones of Dunshire.

You play The Cones of Dunshire with 8-12 players, taking on roles like Wizards, Warriors, or the coveted Ledgerman, who wears a special hat and keeps score. To win, you must build civilizations, gather cones, and master both luck and strategy. Just don’t underestimate the Lamplighter in the sequel! What if you could play these games for real money? While most are purely fictional, we have no doubt you’d dominate if they ever hit the table. Luckily, at Cafe Casino, all of our games are 100% real, and so are the payouts. Spark your imagination with our online slots and table games, and your real cash winnings will be more than a fantasy on screen.