A school gambling story that takes place in a prestigious school attended by wealthy upper-class students, where a strict class system based on gambling has been adopted. The highlights of the story are the absurdity of deceiving each other through gambling, reading each other's hands, and receiving large sums of money and popularity if you win, but humiliating treatment if you lose, as well as the negative side of capitalist society.
Vote Rock Paper Scissors
Source: Kakegurui © Homura Kawamoto, Toru Naomura/SQUARE ENIX, "Kakegurui" Production Committee
A gambling game that Meari Saotome challenged Yumeko Jabami to, a card game for two players. It was invented by Meari Saotome. Thirty classmates are asked to write "rock, paper, scissors" on blank cards and then drop them into a ballot box without the game players seeing them. Then, players draw three cards from the ballot box and face each other. Other than that, the rules are the same as usual: if the cards drawn are a tie, they play rock-paper-scissors again, and if the third card is also a tie, it is a draw and a rematch must be played. Also, the three cards drawn by players do not necessarily have to be all three of the following: rock, paper, scissors. This "inequality" caused by luck and natural talent is one of the distinctive features of this game.
Double Concentration
Source: Kakegurui © Homura Kawamoto, Toru Naomura/SQUARE ENIX, "Kakegurui" Production Committee
A gambling game that Sumeragi Izuki challenged Jabami Yumeko to, a card game for two players. An irregular form of concentration in which two playing cards from the same deck are used at the same time. Invented by Sumeragi Izuki. Unlike the normal rules, if both the suit and the number do not match, it is not recognized as a pair. There are 104 cards in total, so the first player to collect 54 cards (27 pairs), which is the majority, wins. The usual way to win this game is to get lucky, which has a 1 in 103 chance, or to memorize the arrangement of the cards. In the game, the chip rate was 1 million yen per card.
Life or Death
Source: Kakegurui © Homura Kawamoto, Toru Naomura/SQUARE ENIX, "Kakegurui" Production Committee
The gambling game that Meari Saotome and Yumeko Jabami challenged Yuriko Nishinotoin, a game run by the Traditional Culture Research Society that combines a roulette game and a 100% chance gamble. It was invented by Yuriko Nishinotoin. The player puts ten sword-shaped pieces into the pot and shakes them down on the roulette wheel. The player must predict whether the pieces will land in any of the 30 numbered holes on the wheel. The biggest feature of this game is that if the sword lands facing up, it is a "live" and the odds are 30:1, but if it lands facing down, it is a "death" and the odds are -30:1. The amount of chips to bet is decided by agreement between both players before the game. If the chips are "live," they are yours, but if they are "death" or a "miss," they are given to the other player. If both players miss, the balance is zero and no transfer of bets occurs. If the chips reach 0, the difference is used to settle the game.
Two Card Indian Poker
Source: Kakegurui © Homura Kawamoto, Toru Naomura / SQUARE ENIX, "Kakegurui" Production Committee
It was held at a debt restructuring rally organized by the student council. Jun Kiwatari, Nanami Tsubomi, Yumeko Jabami and Mary Saotome, a card game for four players. Invented by Seika Igarashi. Players receive 10 chips before the game. The value of one chip is the amount of debt declared by the player to the student council divided by 10 (if the declared amount is 1 million yen, the value of one chip is 100,000 yen).
Rules
Players are chosen by the student council. 40 playing cards are used, excluding jokers and picture cards. The dealer deals two playing cards, and only the player sees the first one. The second card is not seen by the player, but is shown to the other players. The winner is decided by the strongest hand that can be made with these two cards. The strongest hands are "Pair (same numbers)", "Suit (same suits)", and "Pig (no numbers or suits)". If the same hand is made, the player with the higher total number wins. Cards cannot be changed.
Notes
Bet, call, fold, raise, etc. are the same as in regular poker, but the maximum number of chips that can be bet in one game is 5. In addition, all participants must pay one chip as a participation fee for each game (if they do not have chips, they pay with another player's chips).
Results
A total of 10 games are played, and the ranking is determined by the amount of chips won at the end (the number of chips does not matter). The player who comes in first will have the same amount of debt as the player who declared the least amount of debt. The second place player will have the second lowest amount of debt, the third place player will have the third lowest amount of debt, and the fourth place player will have the highest amount of debt.
Intention of the game in the original work
If the player who declared the least amount of debt comes in first in the game, that debt will be forgiven. In addition, all debts incurred in this game will be repaid to the student council. It is declared early on in the explanation stage that cheating will not be questioned and the student council will not be involved, which means that even if a player lies at the self-declaration stage, the student council will not say anything. If the declared amount is higher than the actual debt, the difference between the actual debt and the reported amount will be given as a check to a person of their choice if they are ranked higher. There are no exceptions, even if the amount is in the hundreds of millions. This is mainly because the student council collects all debts between students and has the main purpose of controlling the many sons and daughters of wealthy families at the school.
ESP Game
Source: Kakegurui © Homura Kawamoto, Toru Naomura / SQUARE ENIX, "Kakegurui" Production Committee
A gambling game that Ikushima Mō challenges Jabami Yumeko to, a combination of card games and Russian roulette. It was invented by Ikushima Mō. The player and the dealer are separated into different closed rooms. The scenes in the two rooms are broadcast via cameras and monitors. From the player's side, only the dealer's hand can be seen, but from the dealer's side, the entire room of players can be seen.
Source: Kakegurui © Homura Kawamoto, Toru Naomura / SQUARE ENIX, "Kakegurui" Production Committee
First, players load their six-bullet revolvers with as many bullets as they like (it doesn't matter if they don't load any bullets at all). After that, each player's gun is placed in a box. The dealer and players are dealt five ESP cards (marked with a circle, square, star, cross, or wave). The dealer arranges the five cards face down in any order. After watching this on the monitor, the players arrange their cards face down. After the dealer reveals his cards, the players reveal their cards. The player with the most matching cards wins, and the difference in the number of matching cards is the winning point. The winning player takes a gun out of the box, points it at the opponent, and pulls the trigger a number of times equal to the winning point. If there are the same number of matching cards, if no bullets are fired, or if the bullets are fired but miss the opponent, the game starts over from loading the gun. The player who is hit by even one bullet loses the game.
Side note
Originally, the rules state that the game is repeated until a winner is decided, but in the main story, following a proposal and negotiation between Jabami Yumeko and Ishima Momou, the following rules were added: "A maximum of three sets" and "If a bullet is fired but misses, the other player will have to pull the trigger for each missed shot."
Top Idol Championship "Batotte Iitomo!"
Source: Kakegurui © Homura Kawamoto, Toru Naomura/SQUARE ENIX, "Kakegurui" Production Committee
A gambling game that Yumemi Yumemite challenged Yumeko Jabami. It was invented by Yumemi Yumemite. It was held after Yumemi's live performance at school. Yumemi repurposed the original plan for TV. Players challenge nine games that have been prepared in advance. The winner of each game can put a mark on one 3x3 square. The first player to complete one row, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, is the final winner. The game type is decided by alternately rolling the dice.
Tarot Cards of Destiny
Source: Kakegurui ©Homura Kawamoto, Toru Naomura/SQUARE ENIX, "Kakegurui" Production Committee
An original gambling game for the TV anime. In episode 12 (the final episode), Jabami Yumeko proposed this to Momobami Kirari. It uses tarot cards. It was invented by Momobami Kirari. First, the 22 Major Arcana cards of the tarot are arranged in a circle, and the three players each draw one card (Jabami Yumeko's choice is "past", Momobami Kirari's choice is "present", and Suzui Ryota's choice is "future"). The number on the card is the score, and the points of the three cards are added together. In this case, if the card is upright, it is counted as a positive, and if it is reversed, it is counted as a negative. The winner is decided by the positive or negative total value of the three cards (in the story, if it is positive, Yumeko wins, if it is negative, Kirari wins, and if it is 0, it is a draw). If the Fool card is drawn, the winner is decided by the direction of the Fool's position, regardless of the points of the other cards.
Summary
The content of each gambling game is solid and interesting. It would be fun to try and play this game yourself, but you should also check out the original manga and the anime, where you can see some exciting battles between these games.
