| Type | Casino |
| Location | Unknown (either Gravenhurst or LA) |
| Featured in | Tales from the Crypt (1950) |
The City Casino is a squalid casino best known for having been the site of the most gruesome high-stakes poker match between the famed gambling rivals, Crevice and Forney. It is featured in the 1950 horror anthology comic book series Tales from the Crypt by EC Comics, having first appeared in the story "Cutting Cards" from issue #32, as well as its 1990 television adaptation of the same name.
Overview[]
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A lively night at the City Casino
The City Casino was a seedy establishment steeped in the allure and danger reminiscent of an old-time saloon. With its swinging doors, ornate chandeliers, and high-stakes games, the casino was a place where fortunes could be made or lost in a single roll of the dice.
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The City Casino's bar
The casino offered a wide variety of gambling options, from the classic roulette, craps and even slot machines to baccarat and poker. High-stakes poker games were particularly popular, played both at tables and in private booths, where gamblers could wager significant sums of money. To complement its already seedy atmosphere, the City Casino also boasted an well-stocked bar serving a variety of alcoholic beverages, including cocktails, whiskey, and popular beers like Michelob and Coors Extra Gold. Regular or returning customers were even eligible for a free drink voucher from a waitress.
But perhaps the most notorious area of the City Casino was the private VIP room, a dark and ominous area where gamblers could engage in more lawless and deadlier games of chance and could bet away just about anything, even a limb or two.
History[]
The casino was infamous for being the favorite den of the notorious gamblers, Lou 'Reno' Crevice and Gus 'Sam' Forney, both of whom were longtime bitter rivals and it was here where they engaged in many high stakes bets and did whatever they could to best and humiliate one another, developing a very hateful rivalry but also an inseparable faux 'friendship' based solely on their mutual hate for each other and their love of gambling. However, Crevice one day split town and headed for Vegas, hoping to make it big. Rumors about Crevice's time in Vegas varied, supposedly having earned either a small fortune or having lost everything.
Regardless of the truth, Crevice would eventually return home after a year in Vegas, only to find himself drawn back to the City Casino, unable to resist the chance to gamble. Shortly after arriving, Crevice quickly gains access to a high-stakes poker table, where he once again encounters his old foe and the casino's new chip leader, Forney, who even had the gall to take his spot. Despite the bartender's warnings about Forney's ruthlessness, Crevice remained undeterred.
Crevice found Forney sitting alone at the table, having recently bankrupted every player in town. The two men exchanged heated taunts as if no time had passed between them. Crevice wasted no time in challenging Forney to a game, with the stipulation that the loser must leave town if he lost. After several games ending in even ties, Crevice made bold move, suggesting a game of Russian Roulette. Forney, initially hesitant, eventually agreed, claiming to have had a gun in his car.
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Crevice getting ready to blow his brains out
The reluctantly suicidal duo moved to the parking lot to retrieve Forney's gun. Sam slipped a bullet into one of the chambers, and they began taking turns, each pull of the trigger a gamble with their lives. Finally, only one chamber remained, but Reno discovered the bullet was a dud. Frustrated, the men snarled accusations at each other. Seeing no other alternative, Crevice suggested a new game to settle the matter: Chop Poker.
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The deadly game begins
The two gamblers moved to the secluded VIP room in the City Casino, with only a dealer and their personal physicians as the only witnesses, and no one objecting to the gruesome game that was about to begin. Crevice won the first hand (three queens over two pair) and, with a chilling smile, used a meat cleaver to sever Forney's right pinky finger. As the dealer shuffled, Crevice taunted Forney, saying he would never be able to shuffle again. Crevice won another hand and, without hesitation, chopped off Forney's right ring finger.
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Crevice ready to take Forney's pinky finger
After the gruesome act, Crevice joked about pickling Forney's fingers in a jar to show to his friends. Forney, consumed by pain and fury, managed to win the next hand. Crevice, his bravado shattered, cowardly tried to trade Forney one of his fingers back. But Forney, driven by a relentless determination, chopped off Crevice's left index finger without hesitation, the brutal game continuing on into the night as more and more of their flesh was cut.
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Crevice and Forney's pathetic fate
The two men would survive their deadly game, but at a great cost, now bound to the hospital, their arms and legs now missing, having bet them all away in their psychotic gambling spree. Yet, even in this state of shared suffering, their eternal rivalry persisted, with the duo continuing their competitive gaming spree and heated arguments over a simple game of checkers, now being the only game the duo could play after the loss of their limbs, reduced to pathetically moving their checker pieces with a single wad of gum on their noses and desperately trying to prove who was the superior checker player and who had been luckier. Forney, his voice filled with a chilling threat, passed the gum as the two lifelong enemies, their hatred fueling their final confrontation, continued to clash over their pitiful game.
The ridiculously violent competition between Crevice and Forney would be one of many tales that would be preserved by the undead storyteller known as the Crypt-Keeper.
Trivia[]
- The filming location for the exterior shot of the casino was in Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, California, right across the street from Rincon Chileno.
- The events involving Crevice and Forney remain pretty much the same in both the comic and television versions of the story, with the major differences being the extended length of the story, Crevice's exaggerated cowboy persona, and the fact that both characters had their first names inexplicably changed from Lou and Gus to Reno and Sam.