A friend introduced me to a very neat card game but nobody seems to
know what the exact name of the game is, or what the official rules
are. I am hoping someone can help me to identify it.
Here are the unofficial rules as I understand them:
"Rummy like game" (2-4 players, best with 3 or 4)
Definition of a set: three or more cards of a kind (three aces, four
sixes, etc.)
Deuces and jokers are wild.
Suits are entirely irrelevant.
Ranks 3-7 are worth 5 points each
Ranks 8-10, jack, queen, and king are worth 10 points each
Aces are worth 20 points each
Queens of spades are worth 100 points each
Wild cards are worth whatever card they are used as.
Unused wild cards (left in one's hand at the end of the round) count
as aces.
The discard pile is stacked vertically so that the top card is the
only one whose face is visible. Players are not allowed to view the
cards beneath the top card.
Players take turns acting as the dealer.
At the beginning of each hand the dealer shuffles two complete decks
of cards (with jokers).
The dealer cuts the combined deck into two piles; one of these is the
deal pile, the other the draw pile. The draw pile is placed
face-down.
The dealer takes the deal pile and deals 13 cards to each player (face
down) and places one card face-up beside the draw pile (thus starting
the discard pile). If he has exactly zero cards left over in the deal
pile then he scores 100 extra points. If he had too few cards then he
finishes dealing using the draw pile. If he had too many cards then
he places the extra cards on top of the draw pile.
Play starts with the player to the dealer's left.
At each turn a player has two mutually exclusive options:
(1) take the top card from the draw pile.
(2) take the ENTIRE discard pile, but ONLY if he already has two cards
of equal rank (or one card of equal rank and one wild card, or two
wild cards) as the top card in the discard pile. Player must then
prove that he already has two cards of equal rank as the top card in
the discard pile, then must lay down the set he just made.
The player then may choose to lay down new sets if he can, or add to
one or more of his existing sets.
If the player has no cards remaining, then the hand is over, otherwise
he must discard. Player does not need to discard if he is out of
cards and has thus ended the round.
Play proceeds clockwise.
At the end of a hand, players total the points of the sets they have
laid down, and subtract the points remaining in their hands, and add
to their running totals. Game ends at 1000 or 2000 points.
Partners
If there are four players, then there are two teams of two partners,
with partners sitting opposite each other. Before a player empties
his hand he may ask his partner if it is okay to do so, and his
partner may respond with yes or no but reveal no other information
about his hand. (Usually if the partner has a queen of spades or
multiple wild cards he will say no.) Partners normally keep their sets
together since they can add to each other's sets. When a player runs
out of cards, his partner's hand is subtracted from the total point
value of the sets they have made.
Strategy
Players will normally try to discard cards that they think the next
player will not be able to make a new set out of.
Players will normally try to discard cards that they think the
previous player will be unlikely to also discard on his next turn, to
avoid revealing what cards he isn't trying to collect.
Two-player variant
If there are only two players, then one deck may be used instead of
two.
Otherwise the rules are the same, but the winning strategy changes
completely. |
