Aug 02, 2013  If you want your poker buddies to be comfortable, use chairs that are the proper height and are comfortable to sit in to make the game more pleasant. If you have to use a. Jul 24, 2009  If you want to have something more like dinner food I would make a chicken taco mix ina crock pot. 3-4 frozen chicken breasts in a crock pot. Add black beans, tomatoes, corn, and taco seasoning. Let cook all day and stir occasionally. It is a great 'open and dump' recipe.

• What To Bring To Poker Night Without
• What Food To Bring To Poker Night
• What To Bring To Poker Night
• What To Bring To Poker Night Meme
• What To Bring To Poker Night Party
• What To Bring To Poker Night Live

Poker Night 2 is a pokervideo game developed by Telltale Games.^[1] It is the sequel to Poker Night at the Inventory and, like its predecessor, features crossover characters from different franchises. The game was released for Steam, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in April 2013, with an iOS version released the following month.^[2][3][4] Due to expiring licenses, the game was pulled from sale in September 2018.^[5]

• 2Development

Gameplay[edit]

Like the original game, Poker Night 2 is a computer-based poker simulation between an unseen participant (the player) and four characters. Each player starts with the same amount of virtual money, and competes in standard poker rules to try to eliminate all the other players by exhausting their money. In addition to Texas hold 'em style of play, Poker Night 2 includes Omaha hold 'em as well.

The four additional characters in addition to the player are Sam from the Sam & Max franchise (voiced by David Nowlin), who is assisted by Max (voiced by David Boat), Brock Samson from The Venture Bros. (voiced by Patrick Warburton), Ash Williams from The Evil Dead franchise (voiced by Danny Webber), and Claptrap from the Borderlands series (voiced by David Eddings). GLaDOS (voiced by Ellen McLain) from the Portal series takes a supporting role as the dealer. During the hands, these characters provide humorous chatter between each other and towards the player. Reginald Van Winslow (voiced by Roger L. Jackson) from Tales of Monkey Island reprises his role as the host.^[1][6][7] Additional brief cameos include Steve the Bandit and Mad Moxxi from Borderlands, Doug and a Save-Lot Bandit from The Walking Dead, and a waiter from Gravity Bone.

The game features unlockable in-game card, chip and table designs, as well as 'Bounty Unlocks' for completing certain goals, which unlock Borderlands 2 content and, depending on the platform played, Team Fortress 2 items on Steam, Xbox Avatar items, or PlayStation 3 themes.^[6][8] Simultaneously using chips, cards, and tables sharing the same theme alters the design of the Inventory, opening up new conversation possibilities. Players can also buy the other characters drinks in order to more easily expose their tells.

Development[edit]

The first Poker Night game was developed by Telltale during a lull in their release schedule, and proved to be successful; Steve Allison, vice president of publishing at Telltale, believed it was the relationship between Telltale and the Valve that contributed to the success of the game, luring players with Team Fortress 2 items for performing well in the game.^[9] As completion of The Walking Dead neared, Telltale found themselves in another lull, and returned to the Poker Night concept as a way to fill the gap.^[9]

Character selection was more direct than the first game, with Telltale wanting to bring in characters from movies and television. Allison had a good relationship with MGM Studios who were eager to offer characters, and was able to secure the character of Ash from Evil Dead, which also was timed well against the release of the 2013 remake.^[9] Similarly, Allison stated that Cartoon Network readily agreed to the inclusion of Brock from Venture Bros., one of the Telltale team's first selections.^[9]Gearbox Software, the creators of Borderlands, appreciated the first game, and allowed the Claptrap character to be used.^[9] The final spot at the table was to be left open for a character from a Telltale game, eventually resulting in Sam. They had considered using either Marty or Doc Brown from the Back to the Future game but realized that they would not be appropriate in a game with mature spoken content. Similarly, characters from The Walking Dead series would not be a thematic fit for the poker title, as it would make people emotional about the game.^[9] To help make the play more personable, they needed to have a dealer for the table, and GLaDOS was considered an obvious fit.^[9]

Marketing[edit]

Telltale started a website called The Key Party in 2013 in order to promote the game, with a new keychain related to the game characters revealed every working day from March 25 until April 1, when the game was officially revealed.^[1]

Reception[edit]

Anthony Gallegos from IGN gave the game a 7.5 out of 10.^[10]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcd'Telltale Teasing The Key Party'. The International House of Mojo. 2013-03-27. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
2. ^'Ash, Claptrap, Sam and Brock Samson Ante Up For Poker Night 2'. Kotaku. 2013-04-01. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
3. ^Usher, Anthony. 'Take Evil Dead protagonist Ash Williams to the cleaners in Telltale Games's Poker Night 2 for iOS'. www.pocketgamer.com.
4. ^'Out Now: 'Combo Crew', 'Poker Night 2', 'Epic', 'Stickman Tennis', 'Zombie Fish Tank' and Much More'. Touch Arcade. 2013-05-23. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
5. ^'Why is Poker Night 2 no longer available?'. Telltale Games. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
6. ^ ^abMiller, Greg (2013-04-01). 'Telltale Games' Poker Night 2 Announced'. IGN. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
7. ^'Poker Night 2 – YouTube'. YouTube.
8. ^'Poker Night at the Inventory 2 Leaked Through TF2 Promo Items List'. Softpedia. 2013-03-14. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
9. ^ ^abcdefgMcElroy, Griffin (2013-05-07). 'How Evil Dead, Venture Bros. and Borderlands Ended Up at the Poker Table'. Polygon. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
10. ^Gallegos, Anthony (2013-04-30). 'Poker Night at the Inventory 2 Review – IGN'. IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 2015-09-19.

External links[edit]

You can surely play poker without eating or drinking. I've done it many times in a casino, and even in home games. But given the choice, why would you want to?

There are many options for getting food for your poker game. Let's look at them, each in turn, so you can decide what's right when planning your awesome home game.

Ordering Out (Pizza, Pizza, Pizza)

The most obvious option for food is to call the local pizzeria and have them deliver. For a table of eight players, three large pizzas will generally do the trick. I find that one large pizza for every three people is about right. Erring on the side of too much is better than the reverse.

Ask what people want for toppings. Be willing to combine items and have half of one topping and another half of something else, and have one that's plain if it all gets too complicated. Sometimes a few guys will want subs or even salad. You'll need one fewer pizza for every three guys that have a sandwich or something else. All of that will be enough to satisfy everyone's immediate appetite, plus leave a few slices left over for later when at least a couple of guys will be hungry again.

You can take up a collection and divide the bill (don't forget tax and tip and delivery charge). Just make sure people know what you're doing in advance, so there's no arguing or confusion when the food comes.

Ordering out — whether it is pizza or other options — is surely the easiest approach. But there are several other options that may not be as simple, but that I prefer.

The Pregame Meal

What To Bring To Poker Night Without

I know of one regular game that has players meet ahead of time to have dinner. This is nice because it adds some level of socializing to what can occasionally be a fairly unsocial affair.

While players certainly talk during a poker game, it's tough to have any really engaging conversation while you're playing serious poker. If you get into a deep discussion, or go on while telling a story, it tends to slow the game. How much more relaxing to gather an hour or so before game time to catch up on how you're poker buddies are doing? (Of course, you might play with guys you really don't care to know that well — if that's the case, this is an awful option!)

One aside about dining ahead of time that you should consider as you plan your game. Just because poker players start your game satisfied with a meal doesn't mean they won't get hungry later as the poker game progresses. I suggest that you have some 'backup food' ready to snack on during your game.

Snacking food should be stuff that is not too messy to handle while you're handling cards. Nuts, chips, chopped up vegetables like celery, carrots and peppers (for the health conscious), dried fruits, and fixings for sandwiches like deli meats and cheeses should do the trick.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Another option is to have one person, the 'big winner' of the game, be charged with the responsibility of bringing food in for the next game. This can accomplish a few things — all of which are good for the game.

First of all, it requires that the big winner return the following week, which gives the other players a shot at winning back what they lost. The big winner also generally doesn't mind buying the spread, as he is feeling on top of the world from winning. It's even a bit of a status symbol.

Plus, having the winner buy the food next time means the losers are very likely to return, as they won't want to miss out on the free spread that their losses helped fund (in addition to having that shot to win back the money they lost).

The buyer gets to buy the food that he likes most, but with an eye toward pleasing others, lest he develop a reputation as a selfish SOB. I've found that cold cuts, Chinese food, and pizza are the standard fare that people purchase. And it all works out well, as long as the buyer brings enough for everyone.

In the two regular games where we did this, I found that there was even a little bit of a contest to see who could outdo the other guys when it came to providing food for the game. No one wanted to be thought a cheapskate, so everyone sort of overdid it, thereby adding to the pleasure of the experience.

The Everyone-Pitches-In Option (Good in Theory, But...)

A possible option that I've steered away from in recent years is to have everyone bring food for the game. This might be okay, if you're lucky enough to have people who will bring different things and be generous about it. But I had a few folks who tried to get by cheaply, meaning a lot of pretzels and potato chips and painfully little that's decent to eat.

If you're group does elect to do this, make sure to have a sign-up list with all the items you all want, with each person charged with taking a different item on the list to bring to the game. You can rotate the items to make sure that each player is bringing his fair share of the more expensive items. In general, though, I have found this experience to either be disappointing, stressful, or just too much damn work to be worth the effort.

Home Game, Home Cooking

Finally, my favorite option is to do the cooking myself for my home game and to take up a collection for all the food and drink. I like this option because it gives me a chance to cook, which I enjoy, as well as to make healthy food from fresh ingredients that is good for me and everyone else. I can also make food less expensively than if I purchased it ready made from the store or a restaurant or had it delivered.

I focus on those foods that do well when they're sitting for a long time on a low burner. That means things like chili, beans and rice, chicken or turkey soup, macaroni and cheese, casseroles, meatballs, pasta with sauce, and lasagna. I've also found that if players want to come a little early and eat starting at roughly the same time — as opposed to eating throughout the night — that I can get a little fancy and serve roast chicken, hamburgers, steaks, hot dogs, and sausages. Such items can survive a hot plate or warming draw, but they're best eaten hot off the grill.

If you are willing to be a bit devious, you can also think about those food items that will make your guests thirsty — and more likely to guzzle the alcoholic beverages you might provide. I let people know that I make a particularly spicy chili, for example. It's genuinely what I like to eat, but it has the other benefit of causing those who eat it to really want a beer... or two... or five — resulting in a looser and often more profitable game.

Washing It Down

Which brings us to the topic of what beverages to have available at our home game.

What Food To Bring To Poker Night

One option is to have players bring their own drinks. This alleviates the problem of not knowing exactly what types of beer, scotch, bourbon, soda, or other beverages you should provide. Tell people in advance that you supply the food, but that they're responsible for bringing something to drink. There may be a few who groan, but generally people are fine with this option.

Most poker players tend to be generous people — they like bringing something to a game to share. And they'll bring more than they will consume, allowing your other guests to try something different, or leaving you with a bunch of residual beverages during the week.

For my home game, I like to provide an ample amount of high end beer and liquor. The initial purchase may seem expensive at first, but over time I've found it to be a good investment. Players enjoy drinking it, and as noted above sometimes it'll loosen up the game and cause others to play worse, allowing me to win more money in the long run. Obviously, though, it's not all about the money, and in fact mostly about providing a good, enjoyable atmosphere for guests.

I also have a lot of bottled water, soda, seltzer, and juice for those who don't want to indulge. When taking that collection for food, I'll consider beverages as well — often $20 per person per game covers everything.

What To Bring To Poker Night

In general, I've found that it pays to make sure there's a good spread of food and beverages at my poker game. Having good quality food and drink attracts and keeps poker players coming back, including marginal players — something that's surely good for the game.

Also in this series...

What To Bring To Poker Night Meme

Ashley Adams has been playing poker for 50 years and writing about it since 2000. He is the author of hundreds of articles and two books, Winning 7-Card Stud (Kensington 2003) and Winning No-Limit Hold'em (Lighthouse 2012). He is also the host of poker radio show House of Cards. See www.houseofcardsradio.com for broadcast times, stations, and podcasts.

What To Bring To Poker Night Party

^{Photo: Shad Bolling. CC BY 2.0.}

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What To Bring To Poker Night Live

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