RAPID CITY, S.D. – Darrell Campbell, president of WaSioux and a member of the Prairie Island Dakota Community, has invented an electronic poker game that may not appeal to the avid and dedicated poker player, but could provide some fun and winnings for others.
One morning, Campbell woke up at 3 a.m. with the idea of creating a game that he would play. He is not particularly fond of the strategy of poker, but he said he likes the social aspect of the game.
”I was a gaming commissioner on Prairie Island and saw all the machines, so I came up with this poker game,” he said.
WaSioux, as the game is called, is an interactive game that incorporates a mathematical array of some 3.5 million, mostly upper-level, hands to keep the game interesting for players and for the house as well.
WaSioux is not a word in the Lakota language.
Campbell said the math on the machine is very complicated and that 90 percent of the project is math.
Gaming Laboratories Inc. of Golden, Colo., developed the prototype and a team of math whizzes created the math for the software. Lawyers have analyzed the game; what remains is certification by GLI. Then, Campbell said, the game will go into beta testing in a mid-sized casino and a larger casino and should be available for sales in August. He has patented the WaSioux poker game.
Campbell’s business partner and wife, Lynn Rapp, Oglala, live in Buffalo Gap. They showed the game at this year’s National Indian Gaming Association convention to what they described as a wonderful reception. They have shown the game at gatherings three times, to favorable reviews.
The game plays against the house and a player’s pot also allows players to win more. The house can take a rake from the players’ pot, they said.
The game is five-card stud; and all hands, including the dealer’s, are visible to all the players. Players make an initial wager against the dealer and a player can participate in the player pot. Two cards, on the screen, are dealt face-up and a player can fold or continue. If the player continues, he must make an additional wager equal to the first; he can also continue with the player pot. A third card is dealt and betting continues; then a fourth and fifth card, with wagering after each card.
A winning hand will be awarded an amount equal to his wager.
The beauty of the game is that little concentration is needed and the person only need know the rank of hands.
”All hands are comparable. If a player is dealt a high hand everyone else will get one too, that levels the playing field,” Campbell said.
”There are no secrets on the table and a person can drop out at any time.”
Campbell said because the game is very social, it is non-threatening and easy to learn.
WaSioux is one element of a family corporation: Seventh Generation Inc. The entire family will be involved with the production and sales.
When production begins, there is a possibility that some of the manufacturing could be done on or near the Pine Ridge Reservation. At the very least, it would encourage young people to follow their dreams.
”The goal is to improve the situation on the reservation,” Campbell and Rapp said.
Campbell has an inventive mind and the ability to create objects out of metal. He worked for 25 years as a sheet metal worker in Washington state. When he returned to Prairie Island, where he grew up, he started working with the tribe, was elected to the council, served as the tribe’s treasurer and was on the gaming commission.
