So is it Bunko? Or Bunco? Bonco?

Leave the proper-spelling debate to Scrabble fanatics.

To players of bunko, it's not too important. What is important, however, is making sure the night is kept free of appointments and meetings so the night out with the bunko girls isn't missed.

This progressive dice game dates back to the early 1800s. It was known in England as "8-dice cloth" but didn't gain popularity in the United States until 1855 when a gambling Gold Rusher introduced the game in San Francisco, according to lore.

This shady character also made changes to the game he called banco.

After a few years the game was re-christened bunco or bunko.

During this same period, a Spanish card game, banca, and its Mexican derivative, monte, were also introduced in San Francisco.

Dice and cards were combined to form a more efficient method of separating the hard-working citizens from their money at numerous gambling locations.

These locations were known as bunko parlors. Hence, the word bunko came to be a general term that applied to all scams, swindling and confidence games.

After the Civil War and into the turn of the century, bunko flourished as the economy recovered. Between 1870 and 1880 in every large American city, the game was played.

From 1880 to 1890, bunko games popped up all over the country.

Through the Victorian era and prior to World War I, bunko had become a traditional family and parlor game. During this period, bunko groups of eight to 12 people, and sometimes as many as 20, enjoyed an evening of food, drink, conversation and friendly competition.

During the roaring 1920s, the infamous bunko gambling parlors resurfaced.

The most notorious bunko dice parlors were located in and around Illinois. The term "bunko squad" referred to detectives who raided them.

After Prohibition, bunko group activity declined in the major cities but spread to the suburbs as housing development and the migratory population expanded nationally.

Not much was heard about bunko from 1940 to 1980.

In the past 20 years, bunko has made a comeback as people have started forming social groups.

A cookbook of bunko recipes is available from the Worldwide Bunco Association, chartered in 1996.

Primary source: World of Bunco Association Web site: www.worldbunco.com.