Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (28 page)

The cards in the bottom tableau row—in this example, the row starting with A of hearts—may always be played to the foundations. Move kings to the foundations as they become available. Alternatively, fill an empty tableau column with an uncovered king from the tableau.

Whenever a face-down tableau card is exposed, turn it face up. And do everything possible to uncover these face-down tableau cards. They’re the key to winning.

When all moves are exhausted, deal the three stock cards face up, one at the bottom of the first column, one at the bottom of the second, and one at the bottom of the third. There is no further redeal in Scorpion.

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

Devilishly hard and fiendishly difficult: That’s this game’s motto, because wins are so very rare (1 in every 40 hands).

HOW TO DEAL
Start with two fifty-two-card decks (104 cards total), and deal seven tableau columns in the following pattern:

Next, deal seven cards to a reserve pile, with the top card face up. The remaining cards are your stock.

WINNING
Build eight foundations by suit in ascending rank from ace to king.

HOW TO PLAY
Move aces to the foundations as they become available. The topmost tableau cards may be played directly to the foundations, or use them to build on another tableau pile, in descending rank and alternating color. Whenever a face-down tableau card is the leading card in its column, turn it face up.

Play the topmost reserve cards to the foundations only; reserve cards may not be played to the tableau.

When you’re out of moves, turn over a stock card and play it either to the foundations or tableau, or leave it face up on a waste pile (the top waste card may always, and only, be played to the foundations). There is no redeal in Seven Devils.

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

Please stop reading and skip immediately to the next game if you hate math. This game is easy to master, it’s just the constant adding and multiplying that can injure some brains. The odds of winning are 1 in every 2 hands.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and deal a single card, face up.

WINNING
The goal is to remove all cards from the table.

HOW TO PLAY
Deal cards one at a time in a row, and remove any adjacent card or combination of cards that totals seven or a multiple of seven (14, 21,
28, etc.). For example, you may not remove any cards in the sequence 8-9-J-6, but in the sequence 8-9-J-6-A, you may remove both the 6 and the ace because 6 + 1 = 7. In this game, aces are worth 1, jacks 11, queens 12, kings 13. Once a pair has been removed, close the gap and continue dealing.

There is no redeal in Seven Up; the game ends when all cards are dealt.

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

The legendary luck of the Irish comes in handy here. Shamrocks is not a difficult game (the odds of winning are 1 in every 10 hands), but it always seems that one measly card stands between you and victory.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, remove one ace, and place it face up on the table. This is your first (of four) foundations. Next, shuffle and deal sixteen
fanned
tableau piles of three cards each, all face up. Move aces to the foundations as they become available.

WINNING
Build four foundations by suit in ascending rank from ace to king.

HOW TO PLAY
The topmost tableau cards may be played directly to the foundations, or use them to build on another tableau pile in descending
or
ascending rank (regardless of suit or color). The twist is that no tableau piles may ever contain more than three cards total. Move cards one at a time only, never in groups or sets. Once a tableau slot is empty, it remains empty for the entire game.