What people ask before they sit down at the table, and what bookers ask before they pick up the phone. If we missed yours, ask us.
A no-cash, no-limits, barter-style blackjack game. You bet anything — a pocket trinket, a joke, a piece of your costume — the dealer counter-bets something from our pile of frick, and the cards decide who walks away with what. One-part comedy show, one-part performance-art installation, with blackjack hidden somewhere in the middle.
No. The dealer walks you through every step. Never-played-before is actually our preferred kind of player.
Really free. Always free. No money ever changes hands at our table. The catch is you might leave with a stranger’s lucky button and lose your favorite hat.
Yes, you can watch. Most great FFW nights start with someone watching from the back and ending up at the table an hour later. Stay as long as you want.
Anything in the world except money. The most common bets are pocket objects, accessories, art, jokes, dares, songs, and improvised promises. Some are taken; many are politely declined.
Reach in your pocket. There’s something in there — lint, a receipt, a Chapstick. We’ve seen all of them played. If you’re truly empty-handed, the dealer can offer you a free play to start.
Win: you keep your original bet, plus the dealer’s barter goes to you. Lose: the dealer keeps your bet and it joins the Frick. Past players have walked away with hand-painted portraits, brass keys, action figures, and on at least one occasion, an entire door.
A single hand runs about 3–5 minutes greeting to outcome. Easy to drop in for one, easy to lose two hours.
Generally yes, with two caveats: some venues are 21+ for liquor-license reasons, and the table conversation can occasionally go off-color. Dealers adjust on the fly when minors are at the table. Check the venue’s age policy for any specific event.
The Frick is the pile of bartered objects behind the dealer. Every win and every loss feeds it. A "Frickenstein" is what we call something built from the Frick — usually by the Monster Station crew, who solder, glue, and graft oddities into new creatures at a bench beside the table.
Send us the details using the form on the home page or any Book Us link. We come back with a tailored proposal — most within 48 hours.
Bookings range from a few thousand dollars for our smallest Mini Trolley setup to substantially more for our full Tent or Art Car deployments. Pricing depends on tier, duration, travel, dealer count, add-ons, and customization. We send full proposals after a short intro call.
Based in Phoenix; we routinely tour Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah. Further out (Pacific Northwest, Midwest, East Coast) is doable with sufficient lead time and travel costs covered.
Setup footprint varies by tier — a Mini Trolley fits in roughly 8×8 ft; our Big Tent needs a 30×30 ft minimum. Standard power is a single 20-amp circuit. We bring our own lighting in most cases. No water requirement. Specific tier specs are on the Installations page.
Festival and major-event bookings: 8–12 weeks is comfortable; 4–6 weeks is the minimum for most projects. For tight turnarounds, ask anyway — we sometimes have surprising availability.
Smaller setups serve audiences of 50–150 people; mid-range tiers handle 200–500; full Tent and Art Car can run for 1,000+ rolling audiences. The table handles drop-in/drop-out, so total event headcount matters less than peak concurrent traffic at our zone.
Yes. Costuming, dealer characters, the contents of the barter pile, signage, branded prize objects — all customizable. Some of our best work is themed (corporate brand activations, themed weddings, festival zones). We co-create with you during the proposal phase.
All of the above. Roughly half our calendar is festivals; the rest splits between corporate activations, private parties, weddings, and venue residencies. Dry events work fine.
Yes. We carry general liability appropriate for live event production. Certificate of Insurance available on request for booked events.
Setup is 2–4 hours depending on tier. We typically run 4–6 hours per night for festival/event bookings, longer for residencies. Strike is 1–2 hours after.
Frick Frack Blackjack is the national project, founded in Denver by Rob Wilkinson ("Marvelous Marv"). Frick Frack West is the Western regional chapter, based in Phoenix and serving the Mountain West, Southwest, and West Coast. We share the rules, the brand, and the spirit; we operate as our own crew with our own setup, dealers, and additional offerings.
Drop the question on the booking form or email us directly. Quick replies promised.