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Chronoromancer

Version-matched official guide

Downtown Bar Games — Complete Walkthrough

Activities & BusinessesSimplified Chinese availableV0.9.6.0
Guide noticeThis page contains gameplay and story spoilers and may describe mature systems.

Overview

The Downtown Bar in the Present era hosts four gambling minigames, all played against Vera, the bar's hustler queen. These are the only bar games in the Present era and they form the entire mechanical backbone of Vera's relationship arc — her plots, H2Hs, intimate scenes, and apartment visits all gate behind your net winnings against her at these tables.

The four games are:

  • Darts (versus mode, 369 game)
  • Liar's Dice (5 dice, 1s wild, bluffing/challenge)
  • Christmas Hold'em (Texas Hold'em with 2 wild jokers)
  • Blackjack (classic 21 against Vera as dealer)

All four are only available 8 PM – 3 AM at the Downtown Bar, the same hours Vera is present.

Access & Action Costs

Play Darts

  • Action on Vera: "Play Darts"
  • Cost: $50 bet · 30 minutes · Stranger stage+
  • Daily limit: 20
  • Win: +$100 (net +$50), +10 relationship
  • Lose: −$50, +1 relationship
  • Versus mode: 369 game (must finish on a double)

Play Table Games

  • Location action at the bar: "Play Table Games"
  • Opens a menu: Liar's Dice / Hold'em / Blackjack / Never mind
  • Time per round/hand: 5 minutes (3 minutes with the Time buff)
  • No daily limit on the menu itself
  • No money cost to open — bets are placed inside each game

The "Play Table Games" action has no relationship gate — you can play from your very first visit. Wins and losses on every game feed into the same net winnings total against Vera.

How These Games Affect Vera

Every dollar won or lost at any of the four games updates a unified tracker:

Vera Net Winnings = (darts won + dice won + holdem won + blackjack won) − (darts lost + dice lost + holdem lost + blackjack lost)

This single number controls:

Plot & Action Gates

Content Gate
The Tell plot Acquaintance + +$800 net
Bad Night plot Friend + +$1,200 net
Crossing the Line plot Close Friend + +$1,800 net
Last Card plot Romantic + H2H 2 done + +$4,000 net
Cards and Confidence (H2H 1) Known + +$500 net
When Tables Turn (H2H 2 — intimate) Crush + +$2,500 net
Back to the Hotel (intimate video) Romantic + +$3,000 net
Night with Vera (apartment visit) Romantic + +$5,000 net

Dynamic Dialogue Tiers

About 40% of Vera's lines during Drink with Vera swap to gambling-aware reactions based on your current net total. The tone shifts hard as the number climbs:

Net Winnings Tier Vera's voice
Net negative Mocking She enjoys watching you lose
+$500 to +$999 Noticing "You've been on a streak…"
+$1,000 to +$1,999 Frustrated "This isn't a coincidence"
+$2,000 to +$4,999 Worried She's losing control
+$5,000 to +$9,999 Desperate She's out of options
+$10,000+ Panic Full breakdown — she's broken

Per-Game Relationship Points

Game Base points
Darts +10 on win, +1 on loss
Liar's Dice +2 on win, 0 on loss
Christmas Hold'em +2 on win, 0 on loss
Blackjack +2 on win, 0 on loss

All four games run their base points through Vera's standard multiplier path — Perfect Metabolism (×2) and her favorite stats (Attractiveness 35 / Charm 40 / Stamina 45). With everything stacked, a darts win can pay 26+ relationship and a card-game win can pay 6+ per hand.

Practical implication: Darts pays the highest single-win relationship by far (+10 base = ×2 with Perfect Metabolism), AND gives the most cash per win. The trade-off is the 30-minute time cost per attempt. Card games pay less per hand but each hand is only 5 minutes, so per real-world hour the throughput evens out.

Game 1 — Darts

Format

1v1 versus Vera, 369 game. Both players start at 369 points and subtract each dart's score. First to exactly 0 wins, but you must finish on a double.

Bust conditions (turn lost, score reverts to start of turn)

  • Going below 0
  • Landing on exactly 1 (impossible to finish with a double)
  • Reaching 0 but not with a double

Players alternate turns of 3 darts each. Vera throws first.

How throwing works

Each dart has 3 steps:

  1. Click to start the power meter. A bar moves up and down rapidly between 0 and 100.
  2. Click to lock power. Aim for the green target zone.
  3. Move mouse, click to throw. Crosshair wobbles based on your stats; click when it's where you want.

Stat scaling

  • Strength widens the green power target zone. Base width is 4; each Strength point adds 1/3 width. So Strength 30 ≈ 14-wide zone, Strength 60 ≈ 24-wide zone. Higher Strength means much more power forgiveness.
  • Ability reduces crosshair wobble. At Ability 1 the crosshair wobbles ~80 pixels in a sine pattern; wobble decreases linearly to 0 at Ability 90.
  • The target zone is centered around power level 67, not 50. Aim slightly past the midpoint.
  • Quick Draw skill reduces wobble by an additional 20% on top of your Ability scaling.

What missing power does

  • Power too low: dart lands lower than your aim (2 pixels per power-unit of error).
  • Power too high: dart lands higher than your aim (2 pixels per power-unit of error).
  • Power inside the green zone: dart lands exactly where the crosshair was.

Scoring

  • Bullseye (red center): 50 points (counts as a double for finishing)
  • Inner bull (green ring): 25
  • Triple ring (narrow inner ring): segment value × 3
  • Double ring (narrow outer ring): segment value × 2
  • Single area: face value (1–20)
  • Outside the board: 0
  • Dartboard segments clockwise from the top: 20, 1, 18, 4, 13, 6, 10, 15, 2, 17, 3, 19, 7, 16, 8, 11, 14, 9, 12, 5

Vera's accuracy

She has a 35% chance to hit her exact target; otherwise her dart lands 1–50 pixels off in a random direction. Her AI knows the proper finishing logic (aiming for T20/T19/T18 at high scores, then setting up doubles at low scores), but the 65% miss rate and her own bust risk give a steady-handed player a real chance.

Strategy tips

  • Push Strength early, even if combat isn't your focus. A wider power zone is the single biggest accuracy boost in this game.
  • Ability 90+ removes wobble entirely. That's a hard skill cap to chase, but every 10 points of Ability noticeably steadies the aim.
  • Power 67 is the center of the green. If your dart consistently lands high, you locked too high; if low, too low.
  • Common finish targets to memorize: 50 = Bull · 40 = D20 · 32 = D16 · 36 = D18. If you're left with an odd score, the only way to finish is to hit a single first to make it even.
  • Don't chase triple-20 every turn. If your score is in the finishing range (40–100) and even, line up the double. T20 on a 60-score turn busts the round.
  • Vera's Phase 1 (170+): she'll be aiming triples. Ride out her variance.

Per-attempt cost

$50 bet, +$50 net on a win (gain $100, paid $50). Wins are uncapped over the day — 20 daily attempts × $50 net = up to $1,000/day if you sweep.

Game 2 — Liar's Dice

Format

1v1 versus Vera. Each side has 5 dice, rolled in secret. Players alternate bidding on the total quantity of a face value across all 10 dice. Instead of bidding, you may challenge the previous bid — challenge reveals all dice and ends the round.

Bid rules

  • A bid is "X dice of face Y" — e.g. "four 3s" means at least four 3s exist between both players' dice.
  • Each new bid must be higher than the previous: more quantity, OR same quantity at a higher face value.
  • Opening bid must be at least 2 of 2s. No "one of anything" opens.
  • Ones are wild. They count as whichever face value you're bidding on. (Exception: if you're bidding on 1s themselves, ones count only as 1s.)
  • If you roll a straight (2,3,4,5,6) at the start of a round, it's automatically rerolled.

Resolution on a challenge

  • If the actual count of that face (including wilds) meets or exceeds the bid → the challenger loses.
  • If the actual count falls short → the bidder loses.

Stake tiers (pick at the start of each game)

Stake Difficulty AI behavior
Drinks (no money) Basic Honest play, no bluffs, no peeking
$10 Basic Same
$25 Basic Same
$50 Medium Smarter bidding, 10% bluff chance
$75 High Sees 1 of your dice, 20% bluff chance
$100 Expert Sees 2 of your dice, 25% bluff chance

Double-or-nothing

At turn 5, Vera may offer to double the current bet. Accept = doubled stakes for the rest of the round; refuse = play continues at the original stake.

Probability primer (the math you actually need)

With 10 total dice in play and 1s wild, the expected count of any face value 2–6 is:

10 dice × (1/6 chance of being that face + 1/6 chance of being a wild 1) = 10/3 ≈ 3.33 dice per face

For face value 1 (no wilds): 10 × 1/6 ≈ 1.67 dice.

So the safe baseline rule of thumb:

  • Bidding 3 of any face 2–6 is statistically supported (expected count ≈ 3.33).
  • Bidding 4 is risky territory — the dice need to slightly favor you OR your own hand needs to be heavy.
  • Bidding 5+ is a bluff or a strong claim that requires you to actually hold most of those dice yourself.
  • Bidding on 1s is much rarer (expected ~1.67) — a "two 1s" bid is comparable to a "three of anything else" bid.

Reading your own dice

Your 5 dice tell you what's guaranteed in the bid. Add 1s as wilds:

  • You roll 1, 1, 3, 4, 5 → you have two 3s, two 4s, two 5s worth (each face's count + your wilds).
  • "Two of anything" is therefore safe to bid for you regardless.

The unknown is Vera's 5. Her expected contribution per face is ~0.83 + ~0.83 wild = ~1.67 dice per face. Add that to your guaranteed count for a bidding ceiling that's "almost always true."

Strategy tips

  • Open with what you actually have. Bidding 2 of your strongest face is a near-zero-risk opener.
  • Track Vera's bids. Aggressive jumps in quantity (especially at Medium+) may be the bluff roll. Aggressive jumps in face value at the same quantity often mean she actually has that face.
  • At High and Expert difficulty, assume she's seen 1 or 2 of your dice. Don't try to bluff with face values you obviously have — she'll know.
  • Challenge when the bid exceeds the expected count by 2+. A "5 of 4s" bid has only ~38% chance of being true at full table — a strong challenge candidate.
  • Challenge when you hold none of the bid face. If she bids "four 5s" and you have zero 5s and zero 1s, she needs all four of those 5s herself — possible but unlikely.
  • The "drinks" stake is free practice. Use it to learn the AI's tells and bidding patterns at zero cost.
  • Avoid the $100+ Expert tier early. She sees 2 of your dice — bluffing is nearly impossible until you've learned to bid only what you can prove from your own hand.

Per-attempt result

Win: +bet amount, +2 relationship, Vera buys you a drink (drinks stake). Lose: −bet amount, no relationship, you buy Vera a drink (drinks stake).

Game 3 — Christmas Hold'em

Format

Heads-up Texas Hold'em with one major twist: the deck is 54 cards (52 standard + 2 jokers), and jokers are wild. This makes Five of a Kind a possible (and dominant) hand.

Vera's bankroll (the unique mechanic)

Vera starts each day with a $2,500 poker bankroll. Drain it to zero and you trigger the "cleaned out" event — she concedes for the day, the table closes, and a special completion fires (linked to the Christmas event chain).

The bankroll resets to $2,500 at the start of every new in-game day, and the lockout from cleaning her out also resets daily. So Hold'em is a daily faucet: clear out her $2,500 each day, walk away, come back tomorrow.

Ante tiers

Ante Min wealth
$10 $10
$50 $50
$100 $100

Both you and Vera post the ante at the start of each hand.

Hand flow

  1. Pre-deal antes posted ($ante × 2 into pot)
  2. Hole cards dealt (2 each, face-down)
  3. Flop dealt immediately (3 community cards face-up)
  4. First betting round on the flop — first better is randomly chosen
  5. Turn (4th community card) — new betting round
  6. River (5th community card) — final betting round
  7. Showdown — best 5-card hand from your 7 wins

Betting actions

  • Check — pass action when no one has bet
  • Bet — wager an integer multiple of the ante (e.g. 1× = $10 at low stakes, 5× = $50 at low stakes)
  • Call — match the current bet
  • Raise — increase the current bet (max 2 raises per round)
  • Fold — surrender the hand, opponent takes the pot

Hand ranks (Christmas variant)

  1. Five of a Kind (only possible with jokers) — beats everything
  2. Royal Flush
  3. Straight Flush
  4. Four of a Kind
  5. Full House
  6. Flush
  7. Straight
  8. Three of a Kind
  9. Two Pair
  10. One Pair
  11. High Card

Joker rules

  • Jokers fill any gap to make the best possible hand for you. They'll become whichever rank/suit completes the strongest hand from your 5–7 cards.
  • A pair + one joker = three of a kind. A flush draw with one joker = flush. Etc.
  • Two jokers + three matching cards = Five of a Kind — virtually unbeatable.
  • No jokers + naturally strong hand = play it straight. Don't fold trips waiting for a "real" hand; trips are already top 4.

Vera's AI behavior

She evaluates her own 7 cards each decision:

  • Strong hand (two pair or better): bets aggressively (3–5× ante), raises if able, only calls when she can't raise more
  • Pair only: moderate play — 40% chance to bet 1× ante on free check, calls small bets, folds 40% of the time to large bets
  • Nothing (high card): mostly checks; rarely bets (15% chance for 1–2× ante bluff); folds most large bets but calls 20% as a hedge

Her facial expressions telegraph her state — smug when she has it, thinking when she doesn't, desperate when her bankroll dips below $500.

Strategy tips

  • The bankroll cap matters. At $100 ante, even a single big pot can be $300–$500. Three or four solid wins clean her out.
  • At $10 ante, expect a slow grind. Comfortable for learning the variant. ~30+ hands to drain her.
  • Jokers in your hand = play aggressive. A joker turns any pair into trips, any 4-flush into a flush, any open straight into a made straight. Bet hard.
  • Two jokers in your hand = nuts almost always. With a pair anywhere on the board you have Four of a Kind minimum; with any matching pair from your hole cards, Five of a Kind. Maximum bet, raise twice.
  • Watch for boards with jokers in the community. When jokers hit the flop/turn/river, she also gets to use them — assume she has top hand unless your own hand is monster.
  • Call her bluff windows. When she bets after 3 free checks (no community help) at low ante, that's the 15% bluff path — call cheap.
  • Fold marginal hands at high ante. She raises with two pair or better; if she's raising twice, you need top pair plus a strong kicker to hang.
  • The day reset is your friend. If you're down $1,200 mid-game, leaving the bar and returning tomorrow gives you a fresh shot at her $2,500.

Per-hand reward

Win: entire pot to you, +2 base relationship (multiplied by Vera's bonuses). Counts toward your net winnings. Lose: entire pot to Vera, no relationship. Tie: pot split. Clean her out (bankroll = 0): the table closes for the day and Vera concedes. Comes with a story payoff. Bankroll resets the next in-game day.

Game 4 — Blackjack

Format

Classic 21 against Vera as the dealer. Standard 52-card deck (jokers filtered out). Dealer hits to 17 and stands on all 17s.

Bet tiers (chosen at start of each hand)

Bet Min wealth
$10 $10
$50 $50
$100 $100

Hand values

  • 2–10: face value
  • J / Q / K: 10
  • A: 11, automatically downgrades to 1 if 11 would bust you
  • Blackjack (natural): any 2-card hand totaling 21 (Ace + 10/J/Q/K)

Player actions

  • Hit — take another card. If your total goes over 21, you bust.
  • Stand — keep your total, let dealer play.
  • Double — only available on your first action with exactly 2 cards and only if you have enough to double the bet. Doubles your wager, takes exactly one card, then auto-stands.
  • No splits, no insurance. This blackjack variant is Hit/Stand/Double only.

Resolution & payouts

  • Player blackjack vs dealer non-blackjack: 3:2 payout (bet $100 → keep $100 + win $150)
  • Player blackjack vs dealer blackjack: Push (bet returned, no win/loss)
  • Player busts: Lose bet, regardless of dealer's hand
  • Dealer busts: Win 1:1 (bet $100 → keep $100 + win $100)
  • Higher total wins: 1:1 payout
  • Equal totals: Push (bet returned)

Optimal play (basic strategy condensed)

This is single-deck heads-up with no surrender, no split, no insurance — so the classic basic-strategy chart simplifies:

Always Hit if your total is 8 or under — no bust risk, every card improves you.

With a "hard" hand (no Ace, or Ace forced to count as 1):

  • 17+: Always Stand
  • 13–16 vs dealer 7+: Hit (dealer likely has high)
  • 13–16 vs dealer 2–6: Stand (dealer likely to bust)
  • 12 vs dealer 4–6: Stand
  • 12 vs dealer 2–3 or 7+: Hit
  • 11: Always Double (or Hit if you can't afford double)
  • 10: Double vs dealer 2–9, Hit vs 10/A
  • 9: Double vs dealer 3–6, Hit otherwise

With a "soft" hand (Ace counting as 11):

  • Soft 19+ (A,8 / A,9): Stand
  • Soft 18 (A,7) vs dealer 9+: Hit
  • Soft 18 vs dealer 2–8: Stand
  • Soft 17 or below (A,6 and below): Hit (the Ace's auto-downgrade protects you)

Strategy tips

  • The 3:2 blackjack payout is your edge. Every natural 21 is +50% on top of a normal win. At $100 a hand that's $150 instead of $100. Make every dollar of your bankroll bet at the highest stake you can afford to maximize that variance.
  • Always double on 11. Strongest doubling spot in the game.
  • Never hit a hard 17 or higher. You bust 69% of the time on 16; on 17+ you're effectively gambling away a winning total.
  • Trust the soft-hand Ace. If you have A,5 (soft 16), you cannot bust on the next card — always hit it.
  • Vera shows visible expressions but they don't reveal her hole card. Treat her like a mechanical dealer — her hole card is unknown, play strict basic strategy.
  • At $10 stakes, expect tiny relationship gain per hour. At $100 stakes the same number of hands gives 10× the cash variance with the same +2 base per win.

Per-hand reward

Win: Net winnings = bet (or 1.5× bet on natural blackjack); +2 base relationship (multiplied by Vera's bonuses). Counts toward your net winnings. Lose: −bet, no relationship. Push: Bet returned, no relationship change, no impact on the tracker.

Goal: hit each Vera content gate with the most efficient game for that bankroll level.

Phase 1: $0 → $500 (unlocks H2H 1)

  • Best game: Darts. The +10 base relationship per win is the biggest single payout in any bar game, and the +$50 net per win is reliable. ~10 wins at the dartboard = $500 + 100+ relationship.
  • Alternative: Liar's Dice "drinks" stake to learn the rules at zero risk before betting cash.

Phase 2: $500 → $1,200 (unlocks Bad Night)

  • Switch to Hold'em $10 ante. Once you understand pot betting, 2–3 wins per session at small ante adds $40–$200 each session with low variance. Drain her $2,500 across two days for a clean +$2,500 net.
  • Or stack Darts. 14 more wins = +$700.

Phase 3: $1,200 → $2,500 (unlocks H2H 2)

  • Hold'em $50 ante. Pots of $200–$400 swing the tracker fast. One or two clean-out days = +$5,000.
  • Blackjack $50 with strict basic strategy. Slower but lower variance than Hold'em.

Phase 4: $2,500 → $5,000 (unlocks Apartment Visit)

  • Hold'em $100 ante or Blackjack $100. At this point you're farming clean-outs and naturals — every Hold'em day adds ~$2,500.

Phase 5: $5,000+ (Panic tier dialogue at $10K)

  • Continue any game. The plot rewards top out at $4,000 net for "Last Card" — beyond that you're chasing the Worried → Desperate → Panic dialogue tiers for flavor.

Skills & Buffs That Help

Skill / Buff Effect Where to learn
Cheating Bends rule outcomes in contests across the game Vera, Friend stage, $350
Quick Draw −20% darts crosshair wobble Various trainers
Perfect Metabolism Doubles relationship points from any Vera action (Hold'em, Blackjack, Drink, H2Hs) Various
Time buff Reduces Hold'em / Blackjack hand time from 5 → 3 minutes Buff items

Cheating is the single best gambling skill. Learn it early at Friend stage and it makes the bar games meaningfully easier across the board. It also feeds back into the same Vera relationship — the irony is intentional.

Perfect Metabolism is Vera's special skill. Learn it before grinding Hold'em and Blackjack — every win pays double points.

Stat Requirements at a Glance

  • Strength → wider darts power zone (mid-game stat)
  • Ability → steadier darts crosshair (Ability 90 = no wobble)
  • Communication 50 → unlocks Bar Game Psychology (Known stage+, one-time +1 Luck permanent, +8 relationship)
  • Luck → general bar game outcomes (no specific game uses it for hard math, but it influences favored randomness)
  • Charm 40 / Stamina 45 / Attractiveness 35 → Vera's favorite stats; each adds +1 to her per-action relationship gain. All four bar games benefit because every win is recorded as a Vera action.

Tips Summary

  • Net winnings is the only number that matters. Every game feeds the same tracker — pick the one that suits your skill.
  • Hold'em is the highest cash-throughput game thanks to Vera's $2,500 daily bankroll cap.
  • Darts gives the most relationship per win (+10 base, multiplied) AND the most cash per win — but at 30 min per attempt it's the slowest in real time.
  • Card games are 5 minutes per hand so per real-world hour they match or exceed darts on relationship throughput.
  • All four games pay through Perfect Metabolism + favorite stats — stack those before grinding.
  • Liar's Dice is the slowest tracker mover but the most strategic. It's worth playing for the flavor and at the drinks stake to learn for free.
  • Plan your day around 8 PM – 3 AM. All four games close outside those hours.
  • Bar Game Psychology gives +1 Luck permanent at Communication 50. Easy miss — grab it as soon as you cross the gate.
  • The day reset on Hold'em means you can drain Vera's $2,500 every single day forever. Across a week that's $17,500 of free runway toward her late-game gates if your hand reads are sharp.

Content Status

  • Darts: Feature-complete (versus mode, full 369 rules, full bust handling)
  • Liar's Dice: Feature-complete (4 difficulty tiers, double-or-nothing offer, drinks stake)
  • Christmas Hold'em: Feature-complete (54-card deck, joker wilds, 5-of-a-kind, daily bankroll cap)
  • Blackjack: Feature-complete (Hit/Stand/Double, 3:2 naturals, dealer stands on 17)
  • Vera relationship integration: Fully wired — every game updates net winnings, every plot/H2H/intimate gate respects the threshold

All four games are launched from the Downtown Bar from 8 PM – 3 AM. The bar is the only location in the Present era with gambling minigames, and Vera is the only opponent.

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