How to Play Vegas in Golf
Vegas is the game where a good hole is great and a bad hole is a disaster. Two teams, two scores mashed into one two-digit number, and point swings that add up frighteningly fast. Keep the stake small — you'll see why.
How to score it
Four players, two teams of two. On each hole, put your team's two scores together low number first: a 4 and a 5 becomes 45. The team with the lower number wins, and the points are the difference between the two numbers.
So if your team makes 45 and the other team makes 56, you win 11 points. Equal numbers push. Points pile up hole after hole and settle at a set amount per point at the end.
The birdie flip (the game's signature move)
Here's what makes Vegas vicious. Make a natural birdie (or better) and you flip your opponents' number high-first — their 46 becomes a 64, turning a small gap into a bloodbath. If both teams birdie the hole, the flips cancel out and everyone stays low-first. One birdie can swing a hole 20+ points.
Double digits
To keep the math to two digits, any score of 10 or more counts as 9 for the pairing — a 12 pairs in as a 9 (so a 5 and a 12 make 59, not 512). (Some groups play the brutal "double digits go first" house rule, which creates three-digit numbers and monster swings. The standard game caps at 9.)
A worked example
$1 per point. Team 1 (you + your partner) vs. Team 2:
| Hole | Par | Team 1 | Team 2 | T1 # | T2 # | What happened | Your points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 4, 5 | 5, 6 | 45 | 56 | Straight up | +11 |
| 2 | 4 | 3, 5 | 4, 6 | 35 | 64 | Your birdie flips them (46→64) | +29 |
| 3 | 5 | 4, 6 | 4, 5 | 46 | 45 | Both birdie — flips cancel | −1 |
| 4 | 4 | 5, 12 | 4, 4 | 59 | 44 | The 12 caps to 9 | −15 |
| 5 | 4 | 4, 4 | 4, 4 | 44 | 44 | Push | 0 |
Running total after five holes: +11 +29 −1 −15 +0 = +24 points. At $1 a point, that's +$24 each for your team, −$24 each for theirs — and there are 13 holes still to play.
⚠️ Keep the stake small. Points add up fast in Vegas — a single birdie-flip hole can be 25+ points. A dime or a quarter a point is plenty. Dollar-a-point rounds have ended friendships.
Why Vegas needs an app
Pairing numbers low-first, flipping on birdies, capping double digits, and tracking a running point total across 18 holes — Vegas is a lot of live math to do in your head between shots. SideAction Saloon builds each team's number, applies the birdie flips automatically, and keeps the running total and the money straight, so you can just enjoy the swings.
Track Vegas automatically — SideAction SaloonTwo-digit numbers, birdie flips, and the running total — done for you. The Side Game App.