Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (87 page)

Player two may now lead any card or set of matching cards, since all the other players passed in sequence. The only exception is when hands of equal rank are played—for example when 5-5 is played on 5-5. In this case, the next clockwise player loses a turn.

The first player to run out of cards is known as President; the next player to run out of cards is the Vice President, followed by Janitor, Garbage Collector, Fish Cleaner, Pond Scum, etc. Or try inventing your own titles—maybe King of the Universe all the way down to Low Life. The point is to create truly awful job titles for the last few positions. On the next hand, all players should sit in order of their new job titles (high to low)—the President, of course, should also get the best chair. Cards are dealt by Pond Scum (or whichever player came in last on the previous hand).

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

This is a kid-friendly version of the betting game Screw Your Neighbor. While it’s not necessary to wager anything but pride in Ride the Bus, it’s common to play for something—maybe a chore swap, or an extended bedtime, that sort of thing.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
2 to 8

HOW TO DEAL
Use a fifty-two-card deck. Deal cards clockwise, one at a time, until all players have three cards. The remaining cards are the stock. Card rankings are standard, with aces always high. Face cards are worth 10 points, aces are worth 11, and all other cards are worth their
index value
.

WINNING
All players start with three markers or chips. In each hand, the goal is to score as close to 31 points as possible, using cards of the same suit. The player with the lowest (worst) score loses one marker. Eventually, all players but one will run out of markers; that last player with a marker wins the game.

HOW TO PLAY
Turn over the topmost stock card to create a discard pile. The player to the left of the dealer now either draws the face-up discard or the topmost stock card, and then ends his turn by playing a card from his hand, face up, on the discard pile. The only caveat: If you draw a card from the stock, you may not discard it in the very same turn.

Your goal is to create a hand worth 31 points, using only cards of the same suit. For example, the hand 5 of diamonds-7 of diamonds-9 of clubs is worth 12 points (diamonds) or 9 points (clubs), while the hand 8 of hearts-J of hearts-A of hearts is worth 29 points.

You may
knock
at the start of your turn if you think your hand is good enough
not to lose
. Once you knock, all other players are allowed one more chance to draw a card. Once this is done, everybody turns their cards face up, and the player with the lowest score loses a life. If you’re lucky enough to hold 31 points (e.g., an ace plus two face cards in any suit), declare it immediately by turning over your cards—in this case all players (except you!) lose one marker.

The deal rotates left at the end of the hand. You’re out of the game when you run out of markers.

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

Warning! Danger! Attention! This game can lead to swollen knuckles and sore hands. Slapjack is the quintessential “slap the table” game, where you try to capture cards by slapping (not metaphorical slaps—we mean literal smacks) each jack and pair turned up on the table.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
3 to 10

HOW TO DEAL
Use a fifty-two-card deck, and deal the entire deck (it’s OK if one or two players have an extra card).

WINNING
The goal is to capture every card in the deck. If you do this, you win the game.

HOW TO PLAY
The player to the left of the dealer turns up a single card and places it in the center of the table, within equal reach of all players. It’s very important
how
this card is turned up. First off, turn it over quickly—it’s not fair to flip cards slowly, since you’ll see them before your opponents. Similarly, flip cards so that all players can see them at roughly the same moment (this usually means flipping cards from the side, rather than away from you off the deck).

The next clockwise player turns up the top card on her pile and places it, face up, on the table. The process continues until either a jack is turned up or a card of matching rank is turned up (e.g., 5 on a 5,10 on a 10, etc.). When either happens, all players rush to physically slap the card on the table—this is called a slapjack.

The slapjack is won by the first player to slap the proper card on the table. The fun part begins when more than one player slaps the cards. Chaos ensues, along with some very sore hands. The rule of thumb here is that if your hand is lowest in the pile, you win! When you win a slapjack, add all cards on the table to your existing pile and then shuffle your pile.

If a player mistakenly slaps at any card, he gives one card from his pile to the player whose turn it is. You’re not necessarily out of the game when you run out of cards; instead, you are allowed one final chance to win cards, at the next slapjack. If you don’t win cards on the next slapjack, you are out of the game.

VARIATION: SNAP!

This is a similar but gentler game—no physical slapping is involved. Cards are not played to a central pile on the table. Instead, each player turns up the top card of her individual piles and plays it directly in front of her. Whenever the cards in front of two players match, the first player to shout “Snap!” wins both piles and places the newly captured cards face-down in his own pile. If two players declare “Snap!” at the
exact
same moment, take both piles and move them to the center of the table—this is called a Snap Pot. When a matching card eventually is turned up, the first player to declare “Snap Pot!” wins the Snap Pot cards. The game ends when one player captures all fifty-two cards.