Hybrid Game

Under the glaring lights of Reno's Harold's Club last week a dozen ugly, hybrid* mice blinked beady eyes at the crowd of divorcees, lawyers, barflies crowding into the gambling room. Manager R. I. Smith was trying out a new invention. An attendant hauled a shrinking mouse out of a coop, dropped him on a flat, glass wheel. Frightened, the mouse started to sprint. The wheel spun. When it began to slow down, the mouse sought shelter in one of the 56 glass cages, each marked with a playing card. This time he darted beneath the jack of clubs. The croupier scooped up the chips, paid 50 to 1 on straight bets on the jack.

Played like roulette, with the mouse replacing the white ball, the game, called Cardette, is the brainchild of 28-year-old Gambling Dealer Everett MacDonald. Cardette, says Inventor MacDonald, requires no bait, can't be fixed, pays better odds than roulette.

Throughout the evening MacDonald released his mouse every 20 seconds, frequently hauled out a fresh one. But the spectators got so excited over the mouse's antics that they forgot to place their bets regularly. Manager Smith, annoyed, swore: "There will never be another mouse game in this club." During the tryout one frightened mouse escaped. Another, indifferent to the croupier's threats and pleadings, made for the centre of the wheel, where he sat down, unabashedly licked himself from head to tail.

* A cross between tame & wild mice, they were supposed to be more fearful, less amenable to training, than either.

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