FilesFound!Gambler's Avenue
Posted on 08/07/24
While looking through second hand goods sites for floppies, two disks with a beguiling moon and the title "Gambler's Avenue" stood out to me...
Gambler's Avenue Disk 1
Gambler's Avenue Disk 2
I searched around the title in English and Japanese, but couldn't find much apart from alternate auction listings - one of which even included the original box:
What amazing box art!! I'm truly in love with everything happening here.
Even though I knew that these floppies would most likely contain pretty basic DOS gambling games that I've already seen variations of, I felt like I had to get these disks based on the title and the box art. I had to do it for the beautiful robot woman and her handsome husband, The Moon...
15 PC-98 DOS games were spread across the two disks, with the directories you can see here:
The front of the box for Gambler's Avenue
What amazing box art!! I'm truly in love with everything happening here.
Even though I knew that these floppies would most likely contain pretty basic DOS gambling games that I've already seen variations of, I felt like I had to get these disks based on the title and the box art. I had to do it for the beautiful robot woman and her handsome husband, The Moon...
Files on the Disks
15 PC-98 DOS games were spread across the two disks, with the directories you can see here:
Directories on Gambler's Avenue Disk 1
Directories on Gambler's Avenue Disk 2
After looking through them all, I was able to write a simple list for what each game is:
DISK 1
BILL32 - Billiards
BJ2N - Blackjack
HANA98 - Hanafuda
KEICHU10 - Horse Racing
KOIKOI98 - Koi-Koi
PACH20 - Pachinko
PC98J91 - Mahjong
UP0210 - Poker
DISK 2
BINGO1_0 - Bingo
BUNNY2_0 - Slots
CASINO43 - Roulette
FEVER21 - Pachinko
FLASH2_0 - Slots
KOURYU32 - Mahjong
ROUTE599 - Slots
Let's gamble... At the Gambler's Avenue!
BILL32 - Billiards
I'd already seen a pretty nice billiards game when I looked at the games included on WINDOWS 95 POWER UP PACK, but BILL32 is definitely a lot simpler.
That's it! That's billiards!
Here's a quick video of the game in action:
Yeah, I wasn't really sure how to play...
But something I thought was fun was how this simple game includes a "BOSS" button, for putting up a fake work screen in case you're so obsessed with BILL32 and playing it SO much at work, that you need to quickly hide it whenever the Boss comes around:
What are you even working on there, a looping mouse click function? Looks boring, you should be playing BILL32 instead. You're fired!
BJ2N - Blackjack
This one made me laugh... I went in expecting a simplistic Blackjack game, and that's mostly what I got, but with a fun bonus.
After losing my first round, I was greeted with this message:
Well, it's 2024 and I'm playing a Japanese Blackjack DOS game from the early 90s, I don't know if that's truly sane I suppose...
I played the game for a while to see more of these messages:
Well, it's 2024 and I'm playing a Japanese Blackjack DOS game from the early 90s, I don't know if that's truly sane I suppose...
I played the game for a while to see more of these messages:
AH! HA! HA! HA! HA! YOU HAVE NO TALENT FOR GAMBLING
AH! HA! HA! HA! HA! YOU ARE NOT MY RIVAL
DON'T WORRY A FAILURE IS THE MOTHER OF SUCCESS
DON'T WORRY BUT IT IS ABOUT TIME YOU WENT HOME TONIGHT
It's genuinely inspiring to me how a simple Blackjack game like this can encourage you to play it for a while just to see all the messages. I have to remember these game dev tricks and tips!
Here's a video where I try to see as many messages as I can (you also get to see my Amazing Gambling Technique - always, without fail, go all in):
It isn't advanced enough to tell you the total of your hand, and the money counter only ever goes up to $4000 and then resets, but this was still fun to play, just for those messages.
Hanafuda card games are ones I've had explained around me a few times but I haven't really learnt how to play any even a little bit. I know there's one where you make groups of cards, and the seasons are involved, but, like with board games, I generally have very low tolerance for card games...
I like how pretty Hanafuda cards tend to look, though!
And I like how this game looks in general. The simple, saturated colours and small, neat pixel art is like a warming soup for my brain...
Isn't this pixel art pretty? It makes me want to make a set... (<-- will never play a Hanafuda game)
I've found a number of horse racing games similar to KEICHU10, but something I liked about this one are the races themselves:
The dramatic build up! And the race that's over in less than a second. Really funny to me.
I watched a few more races to make a compilation of all the little tunes that play before a race. Important work being done here at FilesFound!
"girl.gpo"!!! Who is she? I want to meet her!
That's her! That's "GIRL"!!!
Ah, it's a shame I don't know how to play poker...
First I get to meet GIRL, now you're telling me there's a BUNNY GIRL??
Hey, you tricked me...! There's no BUNNY GIRL to be found here! This is just slots!
This one's a simple roulette game. The few times I've been to real casinos in person, I mostly play roulette. Easy game where ball spin around and you say if it's red or black.
The sound that plays when the wheel spins in CASINO43 makes me feel like something terrible is happening:
Just like most times I've tried in real life, I lost instantly. That's gambling, baby!!
I've never played Pachinko in person, but I've walked past pachinko parlors and probably lost a tiny fraction of my hearing every time from the music that blasts out of them 24/7.
I'm mostly covering this game because of the 7-11 themed levels it has:
I got the slots to go at some point! I don't know if it was good!!
That was a quick look at some of the games included on the Gambler's Avenue floppy disks! We didn't get to meet the robot woman on the moon, but we did meet GIRL and get a free mental health check in from a Blackjack game, so seems like a win overall.
If you'd like to download the files on the disks and take a visit to the Gambler's Avenue yourself, you can download them from my archive.org upload here.
Here's a video where I try to see as many messages as I can (you also get to see my Amazing Gambling Technique - always, without fail, go all in):
It isn't advanced enough to tell you the total of your hand, and the money counter only ever goes up to $4000 and then resets, but this was still fun to play, just for those messages.
HANA98 - Hanafuda
Hanafuda card games are ones I've had explained around me a few times but I haven't really learnt how to play any even a little bit. I know there's one where you make groups of cards, and the seasons are involved, but, like with board games, I generally have very low tolerance for card games...
I like how pretty Hanafuda cards tend to look, though!
And I like how this game looks in general. The simple, saturated colours and small, neat pixel art is like a warming soup for my brain...
Isn't this pixel art pretty? It makes me want to make a set... (<-- will never play a Hanafuda game)
KEICHU10 - Horse Racing
I've found a number of horse racing games similar to KEICHU10, but something I liked about this one are the races themselves:
The dramatic build up! And the race that's over in less than a second. Really funny to me.
I watched a few more races to make a compilation of all the little tunes that play before a race. Important work being done here at FilesFound!
UP0210 - Poker
"girl.gpo"!!! Who is she? I want to meet her!
That's her! That's "GIRL"!!!
Ah, it's a shame I don't know how to play poker...
BUNNY2_0 - Slots
First I get to meet GIRL, now you're telling me there's a BUNNY GIRL??
Hey, you tricked me...! There's no BUNNY GIRL to be found here! This is just slots!
CASINO43 - Roulette
This one's a simple roulette game. The few times I've been to real casinos in person, I mostly play roulette. Easy game where ball spin around and you say if it's red or black.
The sound that plays when the wheel spins in CASINO43 makes me feel like something terrible is happening:
Just like most times I've tried in real life, I lost instantly. That's gambling, baby!!
FEVER21 - Pachinko
I've never played Pachinko in person, but I've walked past pachinko parlors and probably lost a tiny fraction of my hearing every time from the music that blasts out of them 24/7.
I'm mostly covering this game because of the 7-11 themed levels it has:
I got the slots to go at some point! I don't know if it was good!!
That was a quick look at some of the games included on the Gambler's Avenue floppy disks! We didn't get to meet the robot woman on the moon, but we did meet GIRL and get a free mental health check in from a Blackjack game, so seems like a win overall.
If you'd like to download the files on the disks and take a visit to the Gambler's Avenue yourself, you can download them from my archive.org upload here.
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