High Stakes Gambling

High Stakes Gambling is a casino video game set during the Great Depression in the 1930s . You play as FBI agent Pete Rosetti, an undercover gambler tasked with bankrupting five notorious Mafia members to arrest them . The game is structured across five missions, each against a different mobster of increasing difficulty . Each mission consists of four rounds: three preliminary games (blackjack, slot machines, and video poker) followed by a final showdown of five-card draw poker . The player starts each round with a bank account of ten thousand dollars. Winning a preliminary round earns a bonus and points used in the final poker confrontation, while losing yields no bonus . A practice mode also includes craps, although this game never appears in the actual missions .

Game Boy

Released in North America in June 1992, High Stakes Gambling was developed by Sculptured Software and published by Electro Brain . The game is notable for its unique theme, combining classic casino gameplay with a prohibition-era gangster narrative . To add a layer of strategy, players can purchase a variety of special cheating tools to gain an advantage, as the gangsters themselves will also cheat more aggressively when they are low on cash . The game supports both single-player and two-player modes . Despite its simple graphics, the variety of games and the risk-reward system of cheating earned it positive reviews, with critics praising its surprisingly deep gambling experience for a handheld title .