Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (40 page)

The first player to score 100 points earns an additional game bonus of 100 points, plus each hand he won during the game retroactively receives a 25-point “line” bonus.

HOW TO PLAY
The game always starts with the non-dealer, who chooses whether or not to take the upcard. If the non-dealer decides not to take it, the dealer then has the option. If both players decline the upcard, the non-dealer takes the topmost stock card into her hand, making eleven cards total.

The non-dealer must then discard one card of her choosing, leaving it face up on top of the existing upcard. The game alternates back and forth between dealer and non-dealer.

The goal is to organize your ten cards into any combination of the following hands. It doesn’t matter which hands you end the game with, as long as all ten cards belong to a sequence or a set:

SEQUENCE
Three or more cards of matching suit, in ascending rank. For example, 5 of spades-6 of spades-7 of spades is a valid sequence.
Continuous ranking
is not allowed, and aces are always low.

SET
Three or four cards of matching rank. For example. J of spades-J of clubs-J of hearts is a valid set.

KNOCKING
Any cards in your hand that are not part of a set or sequence are considered unmatched. At any time, if the value of your unmatched cards is less than 10 points, you may knock. This forces a showdown with your opponent, to determine who is holding the fewest unmatched cards.

When knocking, turn your discard face down and place the cards in your hand face up, organized into sets and sequences. Your opponent does the same. If you’re the knocker, your opponent can try to play his unmatched cards onto your sets and sequences, thereby minimizing his own unmatched cards.

Either way, add up the total of your unmatched cards, subtract your opponent’s unmatched cards, and score yourself the difference. If your unmatched cards, for example, are 6 of diamonds and 3 of clubs (9 total points) and your opponent is holding, unmatched, K of clubs, 8 of diamonds, 5 of diamonds, 4 of hearts (27 total points), score yourself 18 points (27−9=18).

If you’re the knocker and your opponent holds
fewer
points in unmatched cards, your opponent scores the difference plus 25 points for a so-called
undercut
. This is the danger of knocking too early, without holding a gin.

GIN
If you knock while holding no unmatched cards, you have what’s called a
gin
. Score yourself 25 points plus the sum of your opponent’s unmatched cards.

STRATEGY TIPS
Veteran players agree: The only reason to take a card from the discard pile (rather than drawing a fresh card from the stock) is to complete an existing set or sequence.

Most players aim to create two sets and one sequence, and this strategy is effective. Improve your odds of achieving this by holding onto unmatched low cards (A, 2, 3, 4). Be sure to dump unmatched 10s and face cards after five or six turns, to avoid holding too many points in unmatched cards.

The real skill in this game is keeping track of the discards. And it’s a good idea to knock as early as possible. Earning bonus points for gin is icing on the cake—it shouldn’t be your primary goal.

IRREGULARITIES & DISPUTES
A
shutout
happens when a player scores 100 total points before her opponent wins a single hand. In this case, the winning player’s score is doubled and the game bonus increases to 200 points. A
draw
happens when only two cards remain in the stock and neither player has knocked. The hand is instantly dead. All cards are shuffled and redealt.

In case of a misdeal, the hand is instantly dead. Score the non-dealer 10 points and redeal. In case of an illegal knock (e.g., the knocker has more than 10 points in unmatched cards), the opposing player may choose to continue with the knock, or force the offender to continue playing with his entire hand exposed.

VARIATION 1: OKLAHOMA GIN

This game is played exactly like the basic game, with a few twists. The rank of that first upcard determines the points required to knock: face cards leave it at the usual threshold of 10 points, aces require a gin hand to knock, and all other cards set a new threshold (e.g., an upcard of 7 means a player must have seven or fewer points in unmatched cards to knock). Finally, if the first upcard is a spade, scores for that hand only are doubled (not including any bonuses for undercutting or for gin). Games of Oklahoma Gin are typically played to 150 points.

VARIATION 2: THREE-HAND GIN RUMMY

Enthusiasts of Gin Rummy have discovered an elegant—and very rewarding—way for managing three players who each want a piece of the action. Before any cards are dealt, each player draws a card from the deck. High card means you play alone against the other two players. Second-highest card denotes the “on deck” player. If the lone player wins, she maintains her position and another hand is dealt. If the lone player loses, the person on deck becomes the new solo player, and her teammate moves to on deck.

VARIATION 3: FOUR-HAND GIN RUMMY

This is not your typical partnership game. Rather than playing as teams, partners play separately in head-to-head games with opponents. For example, if players A1 and A2 are teammates against players B1 and B2, the first hand pits players A1 vs. B1 and A2 vs. B2. Each plays a complete hand of Gin Rummy (so two decks are required). At the end of both games, the scores of both players are added up and then subtracted from the opponents’ total. For example, if player A1 beats B1 by 17 points while player A2 loses to B2 by 12 points, team A wins the first hand by 5 points. After each hand, the players swap opponents and continue until one team scores 100 total points.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   high
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   medium
   
3. DECKS
   : 1
   

Depending on where you grew up, you may know Klaberjass as Bella, Belotte, Clob, Clobber, Clabber, Klab, Klob, or Klabber. The game shares many characteristics with Bezique, Pinochle, and other melding and trick-taking games. What’s unique is that players in Klaberjass “bid to win.” Whichever player accepts trump is committed to winning the hand, so accept your trump suits wisely.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with one fifty-two-card deck, and remove every card between 2 and 6 so you’re left with a total of thirty-two cards. In non-trump suits, cards rank in their natural order (A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7). In trump, cards rank J, 9, A, K, Q, 10, 8, 7, so the jack and 9 of trump beat the ace of trump.

Players cut for deal, with the high card dealing the first hand. The deal alternates in subsequent hands. Deal six cards to both players, face down, in sets of three.

BIDDING
After each player has six cards, the dealer exposes the top card on the deck as the proposed trump suit and places it partly underneath the stock. The non-dealer may accept this suit as trump, or pass. If the suit is accepted, the non-dealer is said to have “won the bid” and is committed to winning the hand. If the non-dealer passes, the dealer decides whether to accept the trump suit (and commit to winning the hand) or to pass.

If the dealer also passes, the non-dealer is now free to declare any of the three remaining suits as trump (a definite advantage). The non-dealer also may pass (and should pass, if his cards are weak). Then it’s back again to the dealer, who may either declare any of the three remaining suits as trump or pass. If the dealer passes now, the hand is dead and fresh cards are dealt.

Once a bid is made and the trump suit is chosen, the dealer gives each player three additional cards (for a total of nine each).

In Klaberjass, you risk victory or defeat on the basis of an incomplete hand. You must decide to accept or pass trump with only six of your ultimate nine cards.

THE EXCHANGE
Once the deal is complete, if the turn-up suit has been accepted as trump, either player holding the 7 of trump may exchange it for the turn-up card. No exchange is allowed if the original suit was not established as trump. The dealer now turns up the bottom card of the stock. This card is not in play, but it sometimes affects the players’ strategy.