The Book of Card Games: The Complete Rules to the Classics, Family Favorite and Forgotten Games (14 page)

If you are able to play a card to the table but fail to do so, you may be caught during play later on in the game. Since you cheated and did not play as required, you would owe three chips to the pot.

If you have a high or low card in any suit, it makes the most sense to play a six, seven, or eight in that suit early on so that others can build, and you can then play your high or low cards. Otherwise, try to play cards that leave the fewest openings for your opponents. The first player to get rid of his cards wins the game and takes the pot.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Two or more

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Half an hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Easy

Fifty-Two is a fun and fast-paced spin on the traditional game of five-card draw. The game includes a ton of wild cards and it doesn’t end like typical draw games. Instead, it continues hand after hand until all but one player drops out of the game. If you’re that last player, you win and can win big! It’s best played with a large group of people.

Fifty-Two begins with the dealer naming three different values of the deck as wild cards, such as fives, nines, and queens. All players ante and place one coin on the table in front of them. This coin is used to indicate whether you plan to continue playing each hand. The dealer then deals five cards face down to each player.

You evaluate your cards, and then there is a round of betting. (Because of the high number of wild cards, it is common for many or all of the players to stay in on the initial round of betting.) You secretly decide whether or not you’ll stay in the game by first shielding the coin with your cards. If you wish to continue playing, you turn the coin heads-up. If you want to fold your hand, you turn your coin heads-down. You continue to shield your decision from the rest of the table. Once each player has set his cards down, it’s time to reveal whether you’ll remain in the game. The player to the dealer’s left starts by revealing his coin, and this continues one at a time around the table.

Players who remain in the game can choose to discard up to three cards from their hand, to be replaced by the dealer. Once the dealer has replaced any discarded cards, the players who remain reveal their hands, with the highest poker hand winning the pot. If two players each have the same high hand, the player who used the fewest wild cards in his hand wins.

But Fifty-Two doesn’t end there. If you remained in the game but lost with a lesser hand, you must pay the pot an amount equal to the money that was won by the player who won the hand! This could multiply the pot by quite a bit if multiple players stayed in the round. Players who dropped out during the first round now return for another hand, and now there is no ante because the pot already has money in it. The deal is passed, and the new dealer reshuffles and deals, but the original wild cards declared at the opening of the game remain the same. Another hand is played, only now more money is at stake since the pot keeps growing. You will again use the coin on the table to show whether you plan to play or fold that round, and if you stay in and lose, you’ll have to match the pot again. Play continues around the table, and the pot grows until only one player turns his coin heads-up during the betting round. At this stage, players usually don’t want to continue playing if they have bad hands because they risk losing a great deal of money if they have to match the pot again. The one player who turned his coin heads-up wins the final round and—potentially—a ton of money!

If only one player turns his coin heads-up during the opening round, he automatically takes the pot. If everyone goes tails-up during any round, you each pay the price of the original ante into the pot, and cards are shuffled and re-dealt by the next dealer.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
One

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Half an hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Easy to medium

Free Cell is a strategic solitaire game that gives you the use of four free locations to place troublesome cards. Almost every deal can be solved, with a few exceptions. The objective of Free Cell is to move all fifty-two cards into the suit stacks, each stack with one suit from ace to king.

You use three areas of the playing field. The area across the bottom of the playing field is where you’ll deal out eight building stacks horizontally. The first four stacks will have eight rows of face-up cards, and the second four stacks will have seven rows of face-up cards. Place each row of cards slightly overlapping the previous row so all cards are visible, the last cards in each row being the ones that can be played. Leave an area for four cards in the upper left-hand corner of the playing field, above your building stacks. These will be a temporary storage for cards and are called the “free cells.” Also leave an area for your suit stacks in the upper right-hand corner of the playing field, to be added to as the game progresses. The first card to be laid down must be an ace, followed by a two, three, four, and so on until the king is the final card to be added to the suit stack. Once all cards are in their individual suit stacks in this order, the game is complete.

Like Klondike (see following), Free Cell involves moving around a lot of cards within the building stacks. A card may only be moved onto another card within the building stacks if it is of the opposite color and if the card it is being placed on is of the next value (for instance, you can place a 3♥ on a 4♣). You can move a group of cards onto another card as long as they are in a sequence and you will continue the sequence by making the move. A king has the highest value and may not be placed on any other card. An ace may be moved to an empty suit stack and added to by placing the next value of the same suit on that card. If you clear all the cards of a building stack by placing them on other building stacks or moving them to the suit stacks, you may move any one card into that free space.

If you can no longer move any cards, you may place any available card in one of the empty free cells, bringing it back into play when you can place it on a suit stack or on a card in the playing field of opposite color and one value higher. There can only be one card in a free cell at a time, and you will be moving cards in and out of these cells to maximize your playing potential. The game ends when all fifty-two cards are in the suit stacks or when no further cards may be moved.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Two to six

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Half an hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Easy

Go Fish is a fun, classic game of trying to steal the best cards from your opponent’s hand to complete pairs in your own. The objective of Go Fish is to reel in the most matching pairs of cards, while helping to develop pairing and matching skills.

A random dealer is selected, who deals six cards face down to each player. The remaining cards are placed face down in the center of the table. Play begins with all players laying down any pair(s) of cards that they have in their hand. Then the dealer is first to act. He gets to ask another player for a card of a specific value in the hopes of making a pair with a card in his hand.

If the player has that card he must give it to the person who asked, and he places that card with the matching card in his hand and lays them down. He may then ask another player for a card. Anytime a player does not have the card that he’s asked for, he says, “Go Fish,” and the player who asked takes a card out of the pool on the table. If the card picked up is the card asked for (a catch), he places the pair down and may ask another player for a card. If it is not the card asked for, his turn ends and it is the next player’s turn. Play continues in the same fashion around the table until one player’s hand is gone or the pool is drained. The player with the most pairs wins the game.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
One

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Half an hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Easy

If it’s a rainy day and you can’t hit the golf course, why not play a round of golf at home? In this solitaire game, your objective is to place all of the cards from your playing field into the waste pile. This makes it different than the majority of solitaire games in which your goal is to place all of the cards in suit stacks.

Golf uses a standard deck of fifty-two cards. There are two areas of the playing field. The area across the top of the playing field is where you’ll place your building stacks. These seven stacks of five face-up cards are dealt horizontally. Each card is visible and overlaps the card above it so that all the cards can be seen, but only the bottom card can be played. The remaining seventeen cards are placed face down in a stockpile located in the lower left corner of the playing field (below the building stacks), with a waste pile to the right of it. The top card of the stockpile is placed face up to become the waste pile.

In the game of Golf, you do not move cards within the building stacks. Instead you move them to the waste pile. You start by moving any free card from the building stacks to the waste pile. A free card is one that is not covered by another card. If any free card in the building stacks is one value higher or lower than the top card of the waste pile, move that free card to the top of the waste pile. The colors and suits of the card do not matter (so that you can place a 7♥ on a 6♦ or 8♠). Continue moving free cards to the waste pile until you can no longer move any cards. You now will turn over the next card in your stockpile and place it on top of the waste pile. You then search your playing field for cards that are one value higher or lower than the new card turned up.