Credit card roulette

Credit Card Roulette is a game of chance where every party involved contributes their own credit or debit card into a hat or billfold. The waitress or waiter will choose at random the card which will pay the entire bill. A second version of the game is played where the waiter or waitress pulls one card at a time and the last card picked pays the bill. Some groups may take the losers from previous meals that day out of contention for later that evening's game of chance. Exemptions are not accepted outside the 24-hour statute of limitation grace period.

Although the game's origins are unknown, it has increased in popularity within the last 20 years. Some believe it was started by Matt Formica, a longtime risk averse gambler, who would put in five or six of his own credit cards, one of which was canceled, and offer the waiter a very large tip if he picked one of the cards that "worked". However, if he picked the canceled card the meal was free. A society column article about Jerry's game ran in the Morning Herald in Uniontown, Pennsylvania on June 8, 1960.

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