Count Your Chicks

Introduction

Count Your Chicks is a keno-based game found on multi-game machines made by U1 Gaming. I have seen such machines at the Las Vegas Club, Rampart and Dotty's casinos in Las Vegas. The thrust of Count Your Chicks is the game randomly places an egg on five of the numbers not chosen by the player. If the 20-ball draw matches any of them, then the eggs hatch into chicks. The player earns a multiplier for two or more chicks hatched. Special rules apply for the 20th ball.

Rules

1. The player chooses 2 to 10 numbers from a range of 1 to 80.
2. The game will choose five numbers randomly from those the player didn't pick and mark them with eggs.
3. The game will choose 20 numbers from the 1 to 80.
4. If a number chosen by the player matches one chosen by the game, then it is called a catch. The player is paid, in part, according to the number of catches.
5. If any of the 20 numbers drawn by the name match those with an egg, then the egg will hatch.
6. If the 1st-19th ball matches an egg, then one chick will hatch. If the 20th ball matches an egg, then three chicks will hatch.
7. If at least two chicks hatch, the player will earn a multiplier according to the following table.
    

   Multiplier Table

   Chicks	Multiplier
   7	20
   6	15
   5	10
   4	5
   3	3
   2	2

8. If the 20th ball drawn matches one of the player's picks, then the player will get a special "cow pie" hit, which earns a 2x multiplier.
9. In the event the player earns multipliers for both a cow pie hit and two or more chicks, then the player will earn the product of the two multipliers. For example, if the player earns a 2x and 3x multiplier, then all wins will be multiplied by 6.
10. Following is the base pay table for a $2 wager. In general, the smaller the wager, the smaller the wins.
     

    Pay Table for $2 Bet

    Catch	Pick
    	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
    10									1200
    9								1200	800
    8							1200	599.5	392
    7						700	375	171.5	68
    6					444	115.5	60	20	8
    5				221	53.5	10	8	5	2
    4			62	18	6	3	2	1	1
    3		28.675	3	2	1	1	0	0	0
    2	9	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
    1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
    0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

As with all games by U1 Gaming, there is also a randomly-triggered bonus game, that adds 0.5025% to the return.

Examples

Here are some examples to help understand the game. Click on any image for a larger version.

In the first example I bet 5¢ and picked ten numbers. I caught five of them, for a base win of 10¢. In addition, two chicks hatched from the eggs placed on numbers 60 and 71, for a 2x multiplier. After considering the multiplier, my final win was 10¢ × 2 = 20¢.

In the second example I bet 5¢ and picked ten numbers. I caught four of them, for a base win of 5¢. In addition, six chicks hatched: one each on numbers 15, 67, and 73, and three on number 36, for hitting it on the 20th ball, for a total of six chicks and a 15x multiplier. After considering the multiplier, my final win was 5¢ × 15 = 75¢.

In the third example I bet 5¢ and picked ten numbers. I caught six of them, for a base win of 40¢. One chick hatched only, so no multiplier for that. However, the 20th ball hit one of my picks, number 45, for a Cow Pie hit and a 2x multiplier. The Cow Pie hit is illustrated with a weather vane. Perhaps an inside joke one needs to be a farmer to understand. After considering the Cow Pie multiplier, my final win was 40¢ × 2 = 80¢.

Odds

The following tables are based on the pay table for a $2 bet.

Pick 10

The following table shows the probability of each win by the number of catches and number of chicks, assuming that the player didn't hit a Cow Pie or an egg on the 20th ball.

The following table shows the pays of each win by the number of catches and number of chicks, assuming that the player didn't hit a Cow Pie or an egg on the 20th ball.

The following table shows the return of each win by the number of catches and number of chicks, assuming that the player didn't hit a Cow Pie or an egg on the 20th ball.

The following table shows the probability of each win by the number of catches and number of chicks, assuming that the player hits a Cow Pie on the 20th ball.

The following table shows each win by the number of catches and number of chicks, assuming that the player hits a Cow Pie or the 20th ball.

The following table shows the return of each win by the number of catches and number of chicks, assuming that the player hits a Cow Pie on the 20th ball.

The following table shows the probability of each win by the number of catches and number of chicks, assuming that the player hits an egg on the 20th ball.

The following table shows each win by the number of catches and number of chicks, assuming that the player hits an egg on the 20th ball.

The following table shows the return of each win by the number of catches and number of chicks, assuming that the player hits an egg on the 20th ball.

The following table summarizes the return according to the number of catches and what happened on the 20th ball. The lower right cell shows a total return of 96.02%.

All games by U1 Gaming disclose the theoretical return. The image above shows the pay table and the returns for a $2 bet. As mentioned in the rules, there is also a randomly-triggered bonus that adds 0.5025% to the return. If you add this value to my returns, then you can see that my figures agree with those calculated by U1.

Pick 9

Lest this page become too long, for the pick 2 to 9 I will present the summary table only.

Pick 8

Pick 7

Pick 6

Pick 5

Pick 4

Pick 3

Pick 2

Summary

The following table shows the total return according to the number of picks for a $2 bet. The target returns for other bet amounts can be found on my page for U1 Gaming.

Written by: Michael Shackleford