The Book of Card Games: The Complete Rules to the Classics, Family Favorite and Forgotten Games (31 page)

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Two

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Half an hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Medium

Tablanette is a unique four-deal game that involves addition, foresight, and strategy to discard the correct sequence of cards. The object is to discard your cards, pick up table cards, and score points. The kings, queens, jacks, and tens score you points, along with the 2♣.

The first dealer, who is randomly selected, deals six cards face down to each player and four cards face up to the middle of the table. If a jack is played face up, it is removed to the bottom of the stack and another card is dealt to the middle of the table.

The dealer’s opponent starts by playing the first card. If a player lays down a card with a value equal to any of the four cards on the table, he picks up that card, leaving the card he played on the table. If any two or three cards on the table add up to the value of the card that was played, he can pick up all of those cards. During play, kings have a value of fourteen, queens have a value of thirteen, jacks have a value of zero, the number cards count as their face value, and aces can have a value of eleven or one. For example, you can lay down a king and pick up an ace and a three (counting the ace with a value of eleven). Or you can lay down a seven and pick up a six and an ace (counting the ace as a value of one).

The player then takes any card(s) he has removed and places it face down in front of him to create a pile. If he’s able to take all of the cards on the table, he announces “Tablanette” and takes all those cards, including the card he laid down. This play is worth double points when it comes time to score the hand. The jack is a special card, and if you are dealt a jack, you can play it to pick up all the cards on the table. Since a jack is worth zero, you do not score any additional points on a Tablanette.

Players take alternate turns until all of their hands of six cards have been played. The dealer deals six new cards and play continues as above, followed by two more deals of six cards and play in between. If any cards remain on the table, the last player to take a card from the table gets to take the remaining cards.

Each player scores points for various cards that are captured during play. You score one point for the 2♣ and two points for the 10♦. You also score one point each for any king, queen, jack, or ten in your hand. If you have won more than twenty-seven cards, you score an additional three points. The first player to reach 251 points wins!

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Four to ten

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
One hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Medium

The Game of 727 is one of competition, but you don’t exactly know whom you’re competing against. The objective is to obtain a hand with a value as close to seven or twenty-seven as possible. The winners of the hand are the two players closest to those two numbers. So if you’re the only person going for the lower hand, you actually don’t have any competition! Kings, queens, and jacks are worth half a point each. Numerical cards are worth their face value. Aces can be worth one or eleven points.

Players start by placing an ante into the pot. The dealer deals one card face up to each player and then deals one card face down to each player. You view your cards and then, when it’s your turn, you may ask for an additional card, which is dealt face down.

Play begins with a round of betting, starting with the player to the dealer’s left. You may either check (pass) or bet by adding money to the pot. If you pass, the next player has the same options. This continues around to the dealer. If everyone passes, the betting is over.

If any player bets, the remaining players may “fold” their hand and abandon play, “call” by adding the same amount of money to the pot, or “raise” and put the amount initially bet plus an additional amount of money into the pot. This continues around the table until everyone has folded or the stakes are equal for all remaining players. If all players fold, the player who initially bet wins the pot, and the next dealer deals.

After this round of betting, if you are still in the game, you can ask for an extra card. If any player requests a card, there is another round of betting and another round of asking for cards. This continues until no player asks for another card, and the game moves to a showdown.

In the showdown, all players who have not folded display their cards. The winners are the player who has a hand with a value closest to seven and the player who has a hand with a value closest to twenty-seven. These players split the money in the pot. If there is a tie for seven or twenty-seven, those players split their portion of the money.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Two to four

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
One hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Medium to difficult

Also known as Deuces, Big Two, Big Deuce, Choh Dai Di, or Dai Di, Twos is a relatively new game, created in China around 1980. It is a very strategic game, meaning you must think ahead in order to be successful. The objective of Twos is to be the first player to get rid of your cards (and to try to have as few cards in your hand when another player goes out). The cards rank from high to low as two, ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, and three. The suits rank from high to low as spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds.

The first dealer is selected and shuffles the cards. The player to the right of the dealer cuts the deck and then exposes a card. Count counterclockwise to that value to determine which player is dealt the first card. For example, if the exposed card was a four, the dealer counts four players from him in a counter clockwise direction, and that’s the first person he deals a card to. Then deal the entire deck out counterclockwise. There are four types of play in Twos, and a play can only be beaten by a better combination of the same number of cards. The first type of play is Single Cards. A higher-ranked card beats a lower card, and if the two cards are of equal value, the higher-ranking suit wins. The second type of play is Pairs, in which there are two equal-ranking cards. A higher pair beats a lower pair, and if two pairs have the same value, the higher-ranking suit wins (as an example, 4♠ 4♣ beats 4♦ 4♥). The third type of play is Three of a Kind, in which there are three cards of equal value. A higher three-of-a-kind beats a lower three-of-a-kind. The fourth and final type of play is Five Cards. These are five cards with descending rank as follows:

• Straight flush
  —Five cards in sequence within the same suit. The rank of the highest card determines the winner, and if they are of equal value, the rank of the suit determines the winner. Twos are counted normally in straights (rather than as high card).
  
• Four of a kind
  —Four cards of equal value. A higher four-of-a-kind beats a lower one.
  
• Full house
  —A three-of-a-kind and a pair. A higher three-of-a-kind determines the winner.
  
• Flush
  —Five cards in the same suit. A higher suit rank determines the winner, regardless of the highest-value card.
  
• Straight
  —Five cards in a sequence of mixed suits. The rank of the highest card determines the winner, and if they are of equal value, the rank of the suit of the highest-value card determines the winner.
  

The game begins with the player who holds the 3♦. You play this card either by itself or in a combination as above. Going around the table clockwise, each player in turn must pass or beat the previous play by laying down a higher value combination of the same number of cards. This continues until all players have passed. The pile of cards is turned over and the player who laid the last combination starts by laying a new play of any number of cards she chooses. Again, all players in turn must pass or beat that play by playing a higher-value combination of the same amount of cards. The first person to discard all of his cards wins, and the game is scored.

You receive a penalty for the cards remaining in your hand after another player goes out. Cards with a value below ten receive one point each, and cards with a value ten or above score two points each. If you hold your original thirteen cards, you receive thirty-nine points in penalty. The majority of players play Twos for money, and at the end of the game, the losers pay the winner the difference between their points.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Two

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Half an hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Easy

War is a classic card game enjoyed by both kids and adults. It is an easy game to learn and helps to develop matching and value recognition skills. In War, you battle your opponent and hope that you beat her card as you try to collect the entire deck. Be careful, though, or you might just lose your highest-ranking cards and lose the game.

A random dealer is selected, and he shuffles the cards. He then deals out the cards, one at a time, face down to each player. You both will have twenty-six cards that you keep face down in a neat pile in front of you. Play begins with both of you turning over your top card. Speed is not a factor in this game, so there’s no need to flip over your card quickly. The player who has the highest-ranking card gets to keep both cards. He turns those cards over and puts them face down at the bottom of his stack. You both then turn up your next card. Again, the player who has the highest card gets to take both cards. An ace takes a king, and a queen takes a six, and so on. The stacks will continue to grow, shrink, and grow again.