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There is a site dedicated to Poker and another one in Area 51 called Casino Gambling. Most likely it will get passed and created.

I have 2 suggestions:

1. Merge everything - Merge all 3 sites, and make this the site for game enthusiasts at any level. It will increase popularity of the site, and avoid scope confusion. Math SE seems to have done this excellently, questions at various levels and subjects are answered.

2. Keep board and card games separate - Make this site into a board game-only site and send all card game questions to a single site that merges Poker SE and Casino Gambling SE also.

Maybe it is too drastic a decision, but defining a rigid scope for each site (that avoids overlaps) might be a bit difficult later on.

If I am wrong, please let me know.

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  • related: meta.boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/995/…
    – diego
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 12:42
  • I need some context here. Are Poker and other casino games currently off topic here? If yes, then I support this. If no, then this question makes no sense (what is there to change?).
    – Rainbolt
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 13:07
  • @Rainbolt Poker is not off topic here, other casino games it depends on the game. I think ghosts_in_the_code's second proposal involves making them off topic here and requiring them to be posted on a Poker & Casino Gambling SE
    – diego
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 13:37
  • meta.boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/1248/…
    – diego
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 13:37
  • 1
    One problem I see with this is it is combining all card games into one group, even if they aren't really similar. Sure Poker and Blackjack may be similar and fall into a similar enough category to be grouped with other Casino games, but what about games like Magic or Dominion? They are both card games, but don't really have anything in common with Casino Games.
    – diego
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 13:40
  • Surely you aren't suggesting there is more overlap between Magic and Poker experts than there is between Magic and board game experts?
    – bwarner
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 14:05
  • @bwarner I know there is overlap between Magic and Poker, possibly more than with board games, but what about Dominion? That is a card game, but the overlap in user bases I would guess would heavily favor the board game experts over the Poker experts, where then should you draw the line?
    – diego
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 14:41
  • @Diego I was arguing with the OP. I think there is far more overlap in experts between Magic and board games than between Magic and Poker.
    – bwarner
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 15:10
  • @diego If there is a site for all card games, there could be separate tags for house-rules, gambling strategy and non-gambling card games.
    – ghosts_in_the_code
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 15:47
  • @ghosts_in_the_code There could be tags for that, but why separate them from board games? You say we should split them, but don't really give any reasons why we would want that split.
    – diego
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 16:51
  • 2
    I can't answer this question until you define what you mean by "card game". Until you state definitively that a game like Dominion belongs on a site with Poker, rather than a site with Settlers of Catan I prefer to think you don't really mean that.
    – Pat Ludwig Mod
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 19:55

2 Answers 2

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Let's start with some context. Board and Card Games covers:

If Casino Gaming and Gambling were created, then judging by the proposal it would cover:

  • Casino games
  • Gambling

Poker covers:

  • Poker

Now that context has been established, we can consider the proposal. The goal appears to be to avoid overlap. Overlap in general is not bad. Too much overlap is bad. Total overlap is really bad.

Poker has total overlap with Board and Card Games. Not a single question about Poker would be off topic here. Also, looking at their Area 51 stats, Poker has been in beta for three years and is only hitting 1.5 questions per day. Given the total overlap and the poor question rate, I think Poker would be better served by merging with Board and Card Games. Poker is a card game. This site is called Board and Card Games. Makes sense, right?

There are two parts to Casino Gaming and Gambling: the games and the gambling. Gambling is off topic here. Therefore, if they can get the traffic, they have a good reason to exist separately.

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First off, it doesn't look like the Casino Gaming and Gambling is going to be passed, it only has 8 followers and the person that proposed it has said he thinks there isn't much interest in a SE about gambling in general. As for you proposals:

  1. I'm not opposed to merging Poker into here, but they are so until they change their mind it is a rather moot point.

  2. I think this is a bad idea. For one in addition to not wanting to be combined with us Poker doesn't want to be combined with Gambling or Casino Games either, since while their game does regularly take place in a casino it involves more skill than luck and you aren't playing against the house. Also while Poker and some other card games like Blackjack make some sense being combined with Casino Games and Gambling there are plenty other like Dominion and other deck building games, and Magic and other TCG/CCG games that are harder to justify combining.

Here we have a clearly definied scope for our questions:

  • Be playable on or around a table
  • Have objective rules of play and win conditions
  • Offer dynamic challenges, either through other players, randomization, or both
  • Be playable by hand, by human players implementing all of the rules

Poker clearly falls into all of those categories, which is why I'm not opposed to them merging into here, however not all casino games fall under that criteria, and gambling is not on topic here.

As Rainbolt says it seems like you are trying to avoid overlap, and I think having some overlap isn't a bad thing. Poker questions can still be asked here, and they generally get answered (the only on that hasn't was more about probability that poker anyway), if someone comes here with a poker question that is off topic we can always migrate the question to the Poker SE.

Gambling however is a completely separate topic from what we cover here, as such I do not support merging that proposal with us or expanding our scope to include it. If it can get enough support it can exist on its own, but not here.

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  • 1. The link to the meta on Poker only says that they don't want their site to die out, it doesn't clear mention that they don't want to merge with Puzzling.
    – ghosts_in_the_code
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 15:40
  • 2. Gambling may not have enough traffic on its own, but if we include it in our scope, we don't lose anything. Those who don't want to see such questions can just opt out of those tags. As the example I gave of Math SE, it would be very simple to say, keep algebra, geometry and stats as 3 different sites, but they have kept them together and it has ensured zero conflict in terms of scope.
    – ghosts_in_the_code
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 15:45
  • @ghosts_in_the_code They don't explicitly say they don't want to merge, but by saying they don't want to die off they are pretty heavily implying it. As for gambling, I think is the possibility that some gambling related questions could be on topic here, but I don't think we should change our scope. The Math SE example is bad because all 3 of those categories are kinds of math, but gambling isn't a kind of game. Gambling can be used with games (and in those cases the questions can be on topic here) but it can also be used in other cases like slot machines that aren't.
    – diego
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 16:59
  • There are lots of gambling questions that don't fall into B&CG's on-topic categories. Slot machines come to mind - they fail rules 3 and 4.
    – hairboat StaffMod
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 21:55

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