The Book of Card Games: The Complete Rules to the Classics, Family Favorite and Forgotten Games (15 page)

The game ends when all of your cards from the playing field are in the waste pile or when no further cards may be moved. Variations of Golf include wrapping (a king may be played on an ace and vice versa), no wrapping (a king may not be played on an ace or vice versa), and setting a time limit for the game. If you do not finish the game in the time allotted, the game is automatically over.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Four

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
One hour

PARTNERSHIP:
Yes

COMPLEXITY:
Medium

Hearts derives from Reverse, a Spanish game where the jack and queen of hearts scored players negative points if captured. You play individually, rather than in partnerships, and many people prefer this cutthroat style of action. The objective of hearts is for you to try to get the lowest score by avoiding taking tricks containing hearts and the queen of spades (which are worth points). This is the extreme opposite of trick-taking games because the goal is to lose tricks, not to win them. Aces are high, and twos are low.

A random dealer is selected and deals out the entire deck, face down, one at a time, to all four players. You each select three cards from your hand to pass to another player. On the first hand you simultaneously pass the three cards to the player on your left, on the second hand to the player on your right, on the third hand to the player across from you, and on the fourth hand you pass no cards. After that, the cycle is repeated.

The game begins with the player who has the 2♣ placing that card face up on the table. Play continues clockwise around the table. You each lay one card on the table, following suit if you are able, or playing any other card in your hand if you have none of that suit. On the first trick, you may not discard a heart or the Q♠. The player with the highest card in the suit led collects that trick and leads the next one. You may not lead hearts on a trick unless a heart or the Q♠ has been played on a previous trick or you have no other suit in your hand.

After all thirteen tricks have been played, you add up the number of hearts in the tricks you have collected—the number of tricks doesn’t matter. Each heart is worth one point, and the queen of spades is worth thirteen points. If a player takes all of the hearts and the queen of spades, he “shoots the moon” and scores zero points while all other players score twenty-six points. The game ends with the first player to reach 100 points. The player with the lowest score at that time wins the game.
 

Black Maria is the British version of the game Hearts. It also goes by the names Black Lady, Dirty Lady, Black Widow, Slippery Anne, and Slippery Bitch. The objective of Black Maria is to get rid of your cards without capturing the queen of spades (the Black Maria) or any hearts. The game is typically played with three players, although it can be played with anywhere from three to seven people. You’ll need a standard deck of fifty-two cards to play. For three players, remove the 2♣; for five players, remove the 2♣ and 2♦; for six players, remove all of the twos; and for seven players, remove all of the twos except the 2♥.

Black Maria opens with a random dealer being selected. When it’s your turn to deal, deal out the entire deck, one at a time, face down to the players and yourself. If there are three players, you will each receive seventeen cards. If you’re playing a game with four players, you will each receive thirteen cards. Five players will receive ten cards each. Six players will receive eight cards each. Seven players will receive seven cards each. Deal will alternate clockwise with each hand played.

Play begins with the players exchanging cards. With three or four players, you each select three cards from your hand. With five or more players, you each select two cards from your hand. You then pass those cards to the player on your right, meaning you receive the cards from the player on your left. The player to the dealer’s left leads the first trick and may play any one card from his hand, including a heart. Play continues clockwise around the table. When it’s your turn, you must follow suit if you’re able by playing one card from your hand in the suit led. If you cannot follow suit, you must play another card from your hand. The player with the highest card in the suit led wins the trick and leads the next one. Your goal at this time is to avoid taking a trick with hearts or with the Black Maria. When all of the cards have been played, the hand is over.

Each heart is worth one point, and the Black Maria is worth thirteen points. The exception to this is if you collect all of the hearts and the Black Maria in your hand. Then you score zero points, and your opponents each score twenty-six points. When a player reaches fifty points, the game is over and the player with the lowest score wins.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Two or more

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Half an hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Easy

If you’re good at bluffing, I Doubt It is the game for you! The objective of I Doubt It is to be the first to get rid of your stack of cards. This game helps develop counting skills and the ability to recognize the value of cards. A random dealer is selected who deals out the entire deck evenly to the players. Play begins with the youngest player laying face down on the table any number of aces in her hand. As she lays them down, she calls out what they are (“Two aces”). The next player then discards any or all of his twos, the next player his threes, and so on until kings are played. After you play kings, play continues on again to aces.

Since you are laying your cards face down, you can actually bluff your opponents. You can lay down a four but say that you are laying down a ten. If you believe that another player did not lay down the cards he said he did, yell out “I doubt it!” The player then has to turn over the cards he laid down. If they are indeed the cards he said they were, you must pick up the entire pile of discarded cards. If the cards are different than what he said, he must pick up the pile of discarded cards himself! The first player to get rid of her cards wins the game.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Four

EQUIPMENT:
Thirty-two-card deck (A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 of each suit)

TIME:
One hour

PARTNERSHIP:
Yes

COMPLEXITY:
Medium

The objective of Klaverjas is to score points through taking tricks. In a nontrump suit, the order of cards ranks from high to low as ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine, eight, and seven. An ace is worth eleven points, tens are worth ten points, kings are worth four points, queens are worth three points, jacks are worth two points, and the nine, eight, and seven are zero points. In a trump suit, the order of cards in value from high to low is jack, nine, ace, ten, king, queen, eight, and seven. In the trump suit, jacks are worth twenty points, nines are worth fourteen points, aces are worth eleven points, kings are worth four points, queens are worth three points, and the eight and seven are worth zero points.

A random dealer is selected and deals clockwise a group of three cards, a group of two cards, and a final group of three cards, all face down to each player. The dealer starts a round of bidding to declare the trump suit. He may pass or say, “I play …” and declare what suit he wants as trump. If he passes, play continues to the left. When it’s your turn, you may play or pass. If you all pass, the dealer must declare trump. By choosing a trump, you are stating that during the game you will try to take more points than your opponents, or you risk losing all of the points you earned in that hand.

Regardless of who chooses trump, the player to the dealer’s left leads the first trick by playing one card from his hand. Play continues around the table. At your turn, you must follow the suit of the card led, if you can, by playing one card of the same suit from your hand. If you do not have a card of that suit, you may play any other card. The player to play the highest card of the suit led, according to the rankings, or the highest trump wins the trick and leads the next one. There are two sets of rules regarding trumps, depending on which game you play. In the Amsterdam variation, if you cannot follow suit and an opponent is winning the trick, you must play a higher trump than is visible on the table, if you have one. If you do not have the cards to overtrump, you must throw away a card from another suit. However, if your partner is winning the trick, you can play a card from any suit, but you cannot undertrump unless you only have cards in the trump suit. If a trump was led, you must play a higher trump if you have it, regardless of who is winning the trick. In the Rotterdam variation, if you cannot follow suit, you must always play a higher trump, if you have one. Play continues until all the cards are gone.

While playing the hand, you can receive bonus points for collecting a trick containing a combination of cards, as follows:

• Three cards in sequence in the same suit
  —twenty bonus points
  
• Four cards in sequence in the same suit
  —fifty bonus points
  
• King and queen in the trump suit
  —twenty bonus points
  
• Three cards in sequence in the same suit, including the king and queen of trump
  —forty bonus points
  
• Four cards in sequence in the same suit, including the king and queen of trump
  —seventy bonus points
  
• Four kings, queens, aces, or tens
  —100 bonus points
  
• Four jacks
  —200 bonus points
  

In order to claim the bonus points, you must call the combination (or roem) when picking up the trick. You also win ten bonus points if you take the last trick, and 100 bonus points if you take all tricks. At the end of the hand, you each add up the points in your tricks and any bonus points. If your team chose trump and has more points than your opponents, each team wins the points earned. If your team has fewer points than your opponents, you score zero, and your opponents get both sets of points. The team with the highest score after sixteen hands wins the game.