You can sign on at:
www.PharaohsTombBlackjack.com
or on Facebook, i.O.S. [iPhone Operating System], or Android. Yazino promises that it will "soon" be available on Amazon. I have yet to figure out how to choose an avatar outside of Facebook, but, when signed in with Facebook, it creates a separate account, and uses your Facebook profile pic. Otherwise, it uses a black and white version of the Yazino crown/logo.
You receive twenty-five hundred virtual dollars when you play for the first time, plus a two thousand dollar bonus, which you can collect again, every four hours.
Two types of play are available: tournaments and immediate.
To play immediately, click "PLAY NOW." This takes you to a page with five seats, at least one of which is available, but not necessarily for long. This is an M.M.O. [Massively Multiplayer Online game], so, if someone else takes the last available seat, click the cogwheels in the upper, right hand corner, and return to the Lobby to try again. If more than one seat is available, you may take all of them, even if all five are empty, by clicking on them. Personally, I prefer only one seat, and I prefer it to be the one in the middle, below Pharaoh's solemn face, which often changes expressions, or looks around, depending on the course of the game play.
The minimum bet is ten virtual dollars. The max seems to be however much you have, in increments of at least ten.
Pharaoh allows bets on "suited Blackjacks," which pay fifteen to one, but only after placing a regular bet. If Pharaoh then deals anyone in "the room" a "suited Blackjack," anyone who placed such a bet gets fifteen times what they risked. By "suited," Pharaoh means that both the Ace and the other card, with a value of ten, must be of the same suit (Spades, Hearts, Clubs, or Diamonds).
After each hand, you gain experience points - two for a losing hand, six for a winning. A progress bar shows how many more points you need to reach the next level. You start at Level One.
The importance of the levels comes into play if you want to play in a tournament. The Pharaoh's Tournament is available to all players, even those on Level One, but only pays fifteen, nine, and six thousand virtual dollars for First, Second, and Third Places, respectively; the entry fee is one thousand virtual dollars. Ra's Ascension Tournament becomes available at Level Five, has an entry fee of twenty-five hundred virtual dollars, and prizes of twenty, twelve, and eight thousand. The Treasure of Osiris Tournament becomes available at Level Nine, and has an entry fee of ten thousand virtual dollars, and prizes of forty-five, twenty-seven, and eighteen thousand. Other tournaments become available at Levels Thirteen and Seventeen; I haven't reached them yet. Tournaments occur approximately every fifteen minutes. The higher the level of the tournament, the less often it occurs.
You receive a ranking according to your performance in the tournaments. Mine hovers around one hundred. The Pharaoh tracks the number of First, Second, and Third Place ribbons you receive, as well as any Cups. I assume cups are received for making it into the top Twenty on Pharaoh's Leader Board. I have never received a Cup, but have received several Ribbons in all three categories.
Chat is allowed at the tables, with pre-loaded bubbles, such as, "Good luck!" You can also enter text you type in, or toggle off chat bubbles in the Settings. Settings are accessed by clicking on the cogwheels at the upper right hand corner, and chat by clicking on the chat bubble at the upper left hand corner. You may also toggle off sound effects and/or the relaxing background music.
You can make tomb buddies by clicking on their icon during play, and sending a friend request. Not everyone seems to allow me to add them as a tomb buddy, but I haven't discovered where you toggle the automatic friend acceptance off. I don't mind people making me their tomb buddy, however, because all of your tomb buddies can send you gifts every day. Gifts are either one hundred virtual dollars, or a mystery amount, which, in my experience, is always less than one hundred. I suppose that some mystery gifts may contain more than one hundred, but I just select the one hundred virtual dollar option. I politely send all my tomb buddies gifts every day, too.
The thing I like the least about Pharaoh's Tomb is that it is "live," so you have a limited time (about fifteen seconds) to place your bets and tell Pharaoh whether to hit, stand, double down or surrender, or lose your seat.
It is also somewhat resource intensive, especially in tournament mode, so that I've lost virtual dollars while reloading the page and re-entering the tournaments I've registered for.
In spite of these issues, Pharaoh's tomb has become my favorite Blackjack casino, perhaps because I enjoy competing and maintaining a rating, in comparison to other real Blackjack players around the world.
Video game review by William Mortensen Vaughan
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