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56-713: Poker Night at the Inventory is a poker video game developed by Telltale Games . It features four characters from different franchises: Tycho Brahe from the Penny Arcade webcomic, Max from the Sam & Max franchise, the RED Heavy Weapons Guy from Team Fortress 2 , and Strong Bad from the Homestar Runner web series. The game was released on November 22, 2010. A sequel, Poker Night 2 ,
112-429: A blind bet (sometimes both). The dealer shuffles the cards, the player on the chair to their right cuts , and the dealer deals the appropriate number of cards to the players one at a time, beginning with the player to their left. Cards may be dealt either face-up or face-down, depending on the variant of poker being played. After the initial deal, the first of what may be several betting rounds begins. Between rounds,
168-461: A slot machine ; most video poker machines play draw poker, where the player bets, a hand is dealt, and the player can discard and replace cards. Payout is dependent on the hand resulting after the draw and the player's initial bet. Strip poker is a traditional poker variation where players remove clothing when they lose bets. Since it depends only on the basic mechanic of betting in rounds, strip poker can be played with any form of poker; however, it
224-492: A $ 10,000 buy-in for a total of $ 50,000 for the entire table and stays in the game until they are broke or until one player is left. The game uses no-limit betting and a gradually-increasing blind bets over the course of several rounds. During some random, one of the four non-playable characters will not be able to front the money but will offer one of their possessions as buy-in for the game. The player can win these items as Team Fortress 2 unlockable equipment only if they are
280-438: A bet, they may only raise by X. In pot-limit poker, a player may bet or raise any amount up to the size of the pot. When calculating the maximum raise allowed, all previous bets and calls, including the intending raiser's call, are first added to the pot. The raiser may then raise the previous bet by the full amount of the pot. In no-limit poker, a player may wager their entire betting stack at any point that they are allowed to make
336-422: A bet. In all games, if a player does not have enough betting chips to fully match a bet, they may go "all-in," allowing them to show down their hand for the number of chips they have remaining. While typical poker games award the pot to the highest hand as per the standard ranking of poker hands, there are variations where the lowest ranked hand wins. In such games the best hand contains the lowest cards rather than
392-410: A competition between several game development studios; Telltale offered to create unique items based on Sam & Max to be given as a bonus gift for those who purchased Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse through Steam , and formed a friendly working relationship with Valve as a result. Telltale aimed to make the game dialog-centric between the four featured characters. To that end, they created
448-458: A customizable map, hidden and collectible items such as 3×5 cards used to create Teen Girl Squad comics, and the ability to take pictures to send to friends through WiiConnect24 or by e-mail (depending on the version used). The Homestar Runner website included several browser-based Flash games; these simple games were typically developed by Homestar co-creators Mike and Matt Chapman, collectively known as The Brothers Chaps . Although
504-544: A hidden link on the site, a parody of pre-flight safety demonstrations with the Wii Remote . The game itself was officially announced on April 10, 2008 in a press release from Telltale Games. The press release presented the game as a collaborative effort between Telltale Games and Videlectrix, a fictional company from Homestar Runner . As described by the Brothers Chaps and Telltale lead designer Mark Darin,
560-475: A large amount of dialog for each character and possible interactions between the characters; according to Jake Rodkin , Telltale's graphic designer, they wrote more lines of dialog for the game than a typical Sam & Max adventure episode. Telltale always wanted to respect the original characters and worked with the individual creators and studios to improve the lines; they previously had gotten similar input from Matt Chapman for Strong Bad, while Jerry Holkins
616-498: A must download for fans, but felt that the experience was short-lived and did not break any new ground for the genre. In contrast, GameSpot believed the cartoon's humor did not translate well to an adventure game, and gave it a 5/10. ONM gave it 88%, naming it one of the best WiiWare games so far, but that the humour in it isn't for everyone. It was awarded Best Voice Acting for the Wii by IGN in its 2008 video game awards IGN also made it
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#1732801549131672-500: A nominee for Best Story and Best WiiWare Game., this is the only Episode to be rated T. Episode 2 – Strong Badia the Free received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PC version 80.46% and 81/100 and the Wii version 79.36% and 82/100. IGN , which gave the game 8.2/10, echoed their assessment from their Homestar Ruiner review, noting
728-439: A positive expected value or who is trying to bluff other players for various strategic reasons. Thus, while the outcome of any particular hand significantly involves chance, the long-run expectations of the players are determined by their actions chosen on the basis of probability , psychology , and game theory . Poker has increased in popularity since the beginning of the 21st century (2001) and has gone from being primarily
784-518: A recreational activity confined to small groups of enthusiasts to a widely popular activity, both for participants and spectators, including online, with many professional players and multimillion-dollar tournament prizes. While poker's exact origin is the subject of debate, many game scholars point to the French game Poque and the Iranian game As-Nas as possible early inspirations. For example, in
840-428: A token called a dealer button (or buck ). In a casino , a house dealer handles the cards for each hand, but the button (typically a white plastic disk) is rotated clockwise among the players to indicate a nominal dealer to determine the order of betting. The cards are dealt clockwise around the poker table , one at a time. One or more players are usually required to make forced bets , usually either an ante or
896-572: Is ambiguous and the Heavy remains blissfully unaware of his death-and-respawning cycle , simply attributing his memories of dying over and over again as dreams. Poker Night is the first game to include a voice artist for Tycho; provided by voice actor Andrew "Kid Beyond" Chaikin . The other three characters are voiced by their then-current voice actors: Max by William Kasten, Heavy by Gary Schwartz, and Strong Bad by Matt Chapman. The game uses existing 3D models for Max, Heavy, and Strong Bad, while Tycho's
952-478: Is built from scratch; at the time of the game's announcement near the Penny Arcade Expo , Telltale was still working on refining Tycho's model, though it was briefly seen during their Make a Scene panel at PAX. The game was teased by Telltale Games a week prior to its official announcement through a short video on GameTrailers TV , showing the silhouettes of the four characters' official art. The game
1008-642: Is that poker was popularized in the American South in the early 19th century, as gambling riverboats in the Mississippi River and around New Orleans during the 1830s helped spread the game. One early description of poker was played on a steamboat in 1829 is recorded by the English actor, Joe Cowell . The game was played with twenty cards ranking from Ace (high) to Ten (low). In contrast to this version of poker, seven-card stud only appeared in
1064-417: Is usually based on simple variants with few betting rounds, like five card draw. Another game with the poker name, but with a vastly different mode of play, is called Acey-Deucey or Red Dog poker. This game is more similar to Blackjack in its layout and betting; each player bets against the house, and then is dealt two cards. For the player to win, the third card dealt (after an opportunity to raise
1120-426: Is worth as compared to the other players. The action then proceeds clockwise as each player in turn must either match (or "call") the maximum previous bet, or fold , losing the amount bet so far and all further involvement in the hand. A player who matches a bet may also "raise" (increase) the bet. The betting round ends when all players have either called the last bet or folded. If all but one player folds on any round,
1176-689: The Borderlands series, Ash Williams from The Evil Dead franchise, and Sam from Sam & Max as opponents. GLaDOS from the Portal series serves as the dealer. Other characters such as Max from Sam & Max , the Aperture Science turrets from Portal , and Mad Moxxi and Steve the Bandit from Borderlands make non-playable appearances. The game was released on Steam, Xbox Live Arcade , and PlayStation Network in late April 2013. It
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#17328015491311232-422: The Homestar Runner online Flash animation series, as he goes through his life, interacting with characters. Each game contains a different goal that the player must reach by talking to characters and using items. Apart from the point and click mechanics, each episode features an arcade -style minigame. For example, the first episode features a top-down boxing game called Snake Boxer 5 . Other features include
1288-534: The University of Auckland amongst others. In a January 2015 article published in Science , a group of researchers mostly from the University of Alberta announced that they "essentially weakly solved" heads-up limit Texas Hold 'em with their development of their Cepheus poker bot . The authors claimed that Cepheus would lose at most 0.001 big blinds per game on average against its worst-case opponent, and
1344-448: The review aggregation website Metacritic . It garnered praise for the memorable interactions within characters and their unique strategies, but received criticism for its relatively lacking animation quality and for numerous bugs, while having favorable praise for the game's sense of humor. On April 1, 2013, Telltale officially announced a sequel, titled Poker Night 2 , featuring Brock Samson from The Venture Bros. , Claptrap from
1400-517: The 1937 edition of Foster's Complete Hoyle , R. F. Foster wrote that "the game of poker, as first played in the United States, five cards to each player from a twenty-card pack, is undoubtedly the Persian game of As-Nas." However, in the 1990s the notion that poker is a direct derivative of As-Nas began to be challenged by gaming historians including David Parlett . What is certain, however,
1456-463: The back story of the Inventory, and raises the blinds in game. Other characters from Telltale's games make cameo appearances in the introduction sequence. Poker Night is a computer-based Texas Hold 'Em poker simulation between the player as an unseen silent participant and the four characters, Max, Tycho, The Heavy, and Strong Bad and that is played in The Inventory. Each player starts with
1512-409: The bet) must have a value in-between the first two. Payout is based on the odds that this is possible, based on the difference in values of the first two cards. Other poker-like games played at casinos against the house include three card poker and pai gow poker . A variety of computer poker players have been developed by researchers at the University of Alberta , Carnegie Mellon University , and
1568-532: The brothers considered Telltale "a perfect pairing." Additionally, the website's format of short, episodic cartoons could be effectively captured by both the episodic release schedule and the small file size of the WiiWare format. The partnership with Telltale Games was the first time The Brothers Chaps had licensed out Homestar Runner . The series was first hinted at in a Homestar Runner short called "Strong Bad Gameways", posted on YouTube and accessible from
1624-475: The brothers had been approached by other game companies in the past, including Sega of America , they had rejected such offers out of concerns that their characters would not be properly understood or represented. Telltale Games sent an email to the contact address listed on homestarrunner.com, expressing a desire to work together. Familiar with Telltale employees' former work on LucasArts adventure games , and already playing through Sam & Max: Season One ,
1680-672: The characters. Two of Telltale's episodic adventure series include three seasons of Sam & Max and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People based on the Homestar Runner web series; both were developed in conjunction with the original creators, Steve Purcell and The Brothers Chaps , respectively. The appearance of Max and Strong Bad in Poker Night are based on the three-dimensional models from these games. The company's team were also fans of Valve 's Team Fortress 2 , including creating an informal team to participate in
1736-608: The club has existed since in secret, just in case Congress tried to set prohibition into law. As a newcomer, the player competes in a friendly game of Texas Hold'em Poker with Max of Sam & Max , Strong Bad from Homestar Runner , Tycho from Penny Arcade , and the Heavy from Team Fortress 2 . The player is first greeted by Reginald Van Winslow, former captain of the Screaming Narwhal , and sidekick to Guybrush Threepwood in Tales of Monkey Island . He explains
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1792-412: The feeling of the cartoons. Episode 1 – Homestar Ruiner received moderately positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Wii version 76.76% and 76/100 and the PC version 73.33% and 73/100. IGN gave the game an 8.1 out of 10, with the authentic presentation, voice work, music and the opening song impressing them the most. They also believed the game to be
1848-424: The game 'easily the best episode yet' and hoped the series finale would be even better. IGN gave the game an 8.5/10, again praising Matt Chapman's voice work and the music as well, which they stated was "a little more ambitious than the other episodes." Episode 5 – 8-Bit is Enough received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Wii version 84.62% and 83/100 and
1904-427: The game 7 out of 10, commenting that while the series continues to appeal to fans of previous episodes, it does not offer anything for new players. Episode 4 – Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PC version 82.68% and 81/100 and the Wii version 81.23% and 81/100. Nintendo Life gave the game 8 out of 10. They called
1960-415: The game to be slightly longer and more complete than its predecessor, yet still geared very much towards fans. GameSpot , who disliked the first episode, gave Strong Badia the Free a 7.0/10, believing the game was a marked improvement with a more linear and original plot, and funnier jokes they felt did not need to prop up the weak gameplay noted in its predecessor. ONM gave it 86%, saying that although it
2016-399: The goal was to create the experience of "hanging out with their virtual buddies, shooting the breeze and playing a good game of poker". Telltale considered a potential series based on this game using different characters, noting that the first game would need to see sales exceeding 100,000 to 200,000 units to make it feasible. Telltale Games have had previous experience working with several of
2072-424: The highest cards; some variations may be further complicated by whether or not hands such as flushes and straights are considered in the hand rankings. There are also games where the highest and lowest hands divide the pot between them, known as "high low split" games. Other games that use poker hand rankings may likewise be referred to as poker . Video poker is a single-player video game that functions much like
2128-435: The idea to other companies in the industry and were able to work out which characters they would be able to include. Telltale considered how the four characters would interact with each other, developing dialog, banter, and reactions to certain plays. The characters, they decided, would be fully voiced, and would have distinctive tells and dynamic responses that would manifest themselves as the game progressed. Conners stated that
2184-520: The middle of the 19th century, and was largely spread by the US military. It became a staple in many casinos following World War II and grew in popularity with the advent of the World Series of Poker in the 1970s. Texas hold 'em and other community card games began to dominate the gambling scenes over the next couple of decades. The televising of poker was a particularly strong influence increasing
2240-418: The next hand begins. This is what makes bluffing possible. Bluffing is a primary feature of poker, distinguishing it from other vying games and from other games that use poker hand rankings . At the end of the last betting round, if more than one player remains, there is a showdown , in which the players reveal their previously hidden cards and evaluate their hands. The player with the best hand according to
2296-412: The number of cards in play, the number dealt face up or face down, and the number shared by all players , but all have rules that involve one or more rounds of betting . In most modern poker games, the first round of betting begins with one or more of the players making some form of a forced bet (the blind or ante ). In standard poker, each player bets according to the rank they believe their hand
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2352-441: The one to bust that non-player character out of the game. The game keeps track of the player's statistics over the course of several games, and by completing certain objectives (such as number of hands or games won) can unlock different playing card or table artwork to customize the look of the game. On May 15, 2009, Telltale Games started a survey which was meant to gauge fan reaction to a sequel to Telltale Texas Hold'em . While
2408-420: The players' hands develop in some way, often by being dealt additional cards or replacing cards previously dealt. At the end of each round, all bets are gathered into the central pot. At any time during a betting round, if one player bets, no opponents choose to call (match) the bet, and all opponents instead fold , the hand ends immediately, the bettor is awarded the pot, no cards are required to be shown, and
2464-470: The poker variant being played wins the pot. A poker hand comprises five cards; in variants where a player has more than five cards available to them, only the best five-card combination counts. There are 10 different kinds of poker hands, such as straight flush and four of a kind. Poker has many variations , all following a similar pattern of play and generally using the same hand ranking hierarchy. There are four main families of variants, largely grouped by
2520-408: The popularity of the game during the turn of the millennium , resulting in the poker boom a few years later between 2003 and 2006. Today the game has grown to become an extremely popular pastime worldwide. Straight flush [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] In casual play, the right to deal a hand typically rotates among the players and is marked by
2576-403: The protocol of card-dealing and betting: There are several methods for defining the structure of betting during a hand of poker. The three most common structures are known as "fixed-limit," "pot-limit," and "no-limit." In fixed-limit poker, betting and raising must be done by standardized amounts. For instance, if the required bet is X, an initial bettor may only bet X; if a player wishes to raise
2632-401: The remaining player collects the pot without being required to reveal their hand. If more than one player remains in contention after the final betting round, a showdown takes place where the hands are revealed, and the player with the winning hand takes the pot. With the exception of initial forced bets, money is only placed into the pot voluntarily by a player who either believes the bet has
2688-544: The strategy is thus so "close to optimal" that "it can't be beaten with statistical significance within a lifetime of human poker playing." Strong Bad%27s Cool Game for Attractive People Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is an episodic graphic adventure developed by Telltale Games and based on the Homestar Runner web cartoon , with Strong Bad as the lead character. A total of five episodes were released for Microsoft Windows and WiiWare between August 11, 2008, and December 15, 2008. It
2744-435: The team liked the deep conversations that the characters in the original game had, they decided to not go down the same path for the new game, using recognizable licensed characters rather than original "generic" ones. Poker Night grew out of an idea from Telltale employees, wondering "what video characters do when they're not 'on the clock' in the games we play", according to Telltale CEO Dan Conners. From there, they pitched
2800-479: The writing process was highly collaborative. Email correspondence and conference calls were used to brainstorm the plots of the episodes, and scripts were sent to the brothers for approval and to "review, edit and rewrite whatever feels necessary to make the whole thing feel more 'Strong Bad-y'." Even when recording dialog, which was done at the Chaps' office, there was still freedom to rewrite and improvise to maintain
2856-489: Was extremely helpful to refine Tycho's character based on Telltale's draft dialog. The developers also wanted to avoid any forced interactions, and instead developed what they felt were natural relationships: Tycho dislikes Strong Bad while getting along well with Max, while the Heavy looks upon Strong Bad as a tiny Heavy. The characters are also written to be somewhat cognizant of their nature; according to Rodkin, Tycho and Strong Bad are aware of their video game nature, while Max
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#17328015491312912-565: Was longer and funnier, the strategy at the end is weak resulting in a lower score. However, the episode did garner the best reception out of the five. Episode 3 – Baddest of the Bands received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PC version 79.64% and 79/100 and the Wii version 78.82% and 79/100. IGN gave it 8.4/10, claiming it has "the best puzzles our hero has encountered yet" as well as "the best Strong Bad mini-game so far". WiiWare World gave
2968-443: Was officially announced by Telltale Games on September 2, 2010, the eve of the 2010 Penny Arcade Expo . Players who have also purchased Team Fortress 2 will be able to unlock unique items based on the four respective franchises within that game through progress in Poker Night ; a special poker visor for Team Fortress 2 was also available for those that pre-ordered the game. The game received "mixed or average" reviews according to
3024-457: Was released in 2013. The game was delisted from Steam on May 23rd, 2019. The Inventory is a secret club built underneath a video game storage warehouse. It was established in 1919, after a first draft of the 18th Amendment was acquired by a group of connected gamblers. It was discovered that it could not only outlaw libations, but games and amusements that could decrease the productivity of the national workforce. Despite this never coming to pass,
3080-584: Was released on the IOS the following month. Poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, but in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game was played with just 20 cards, today it is usually played with a standard deck , although in countries where short packs are common, it may be played with 32, 40 or 48 cards. Thus poker games vary in deck configuration,
3136-551: Was released on the PlayStation 3 in North America on December 21, 2010, and in other regions at a later time. There is also an OS X version. The game was removed from Steam before June 1, 2023, after LCG Entertainment lost the rights to the intellectual property. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People uses point and click mechanics. The player plays as Strong Bad , one of the most popular characters in
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