Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (63 page)

A
pisti
, worth 10 bonus points, is scored when the pile contains just one card that is captured by a card of equal rank. When a jack captures a lone jack,
the pisti bonus is doubled to 20. You may score a pisti at any point in the game except on the very first and very last cards played. Turn the capturing card face up in your pile as a way to remember your pisti bonus—and to deflate your opponents’ morale.

HOW TO PLAY
The dealer turns up one of the kitty cards to start a discard pile (turn up a second kitty card if the first is a jack).

Starting to the right of the dealer and moving counterclockwise, each player tries to capture the discard pile for her own team. You capture the pile by playing a card matching the rank of the topmost discard (7 captures 7, queen captures queen, etc.). Playing any jack captures the entire pile, regardless of the topmost discard’s rank. Place captured cards in a pile, face down, in front of either team member. If you cannot capture the pile, play a card from your hand onto the discard pile. The next player now must match the card you’ve just played in order to capture the pile.

When the discard pile is captured for the first time, the winning team also takes the remaining face-down kitty cards; you may look at the kitty cards (the opposing team may not) before placing them in your capture pile. The next player in rotation then throws a card from her hand to start a new discard pile, and play continues in a counterclockwise direction.

When all players are out of cards, deal another batch of four cards to each player (do not deal any additional kitty cards). With four players, there are enough cards for three rounds. The exposed stock card is always dealt to the dealer on the last hand.

At the end of the game, the remaining cards in the discard pile are taken by the team who most recently captured a pile. Scores are tallied, and the deal moves to the right.

VARIATION: TWO-HAND PISTI

Two-Hand Pisti is a surprisingly decent game for two players. The rules are identical to the main game. The only difference is there are six rounds (instead of three).

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

The Parker Brothers’ game company was founded in 1883; their first commercial success came in 1906 with the publication of the card game Rook. It took America by storm and was, at least until the release of Monopoly in 1935, the Parker Brothers’ most profitable invention. The original game was played with a deck of fifty-seven cards; nowadays a standard fifty-two-card deck is used, with the addition of one joker.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and add one joker (the “rook”). Deal each player thirteen cards, and place the final card face down on the table. Card rankings are standard, with ace always high. The joker acts as the lowest card in the trump suit, below the 2 of trump.

SCORING
The object is to score 1,000 points. If the bid winners meet or exceed their bid, they score the value of the original bid. If they fail, they lose the value of the original bid.

Cards have the following values: 20 points for the joker, 15 points for each ace, 10 points for each 10 and king, 5 points for each 5. The other cards have no value. So a deck contains 180 total points, not including a 20-point bonus for winning the last trick and a 100 point bonus if a team wins all thirteen tricks.

HOW TO PLAY
The game starts with a round of bidding, starting from the left of the dealer. Players may either pass or bid from 70 (the minimum) upward in increments of 5. The bid is won when three players in a row pass. If all four players pass, the hand is dead and new cards are dealt.

The bid winner is allowed to swap any card in her hand with the face-down card on the table. The discard is part of the other team’s hand, and counts toward their points. Each player then passes three cards to the left on the first deal, to the right on the second deal; the third deal is a keeper with no cards passed, and the cycle starts again. The bid winner then declares a
trump suit—and she may not look at any cards being passed to her until after she nominates trump.

The player to the left of the dealer leads the first trick. All other players must follow suit if they can; otherwise they may play any card. Tricks are won by the highest trump or, if none, by the highest card in the leading suit. The trick winner leads the next trick. Once all cards are played, scores are tallied and the deal rotates left.

VARIATION 1: 200

The mechanics of the game are identical to standard Rook. However, you play with fewer cards: take a fifty-two-card deck, and remove all 2s, 3s, 4s, and 6s, for a total of thirty-six cards. There is no joker.

Deal each player nine cards (there is no kitty). Bidding starts at a minimum of 50 points. The deck contains 100 total points: 10 points for each ace and 10, 5 points for each 5. The other cards have no value. There is no bonus for last trick or winning all the tricks.

Games are played to 200 points. Unlike in standard Rook, the bid winners keep all the points they earn in tricks as long as they meet their bid. The opposing team similarly keeps all the points they score in tricks,
unless
their cumulative score is more than 100 points. When this happens, at least one partner must participate in the bidding for his points to count. Otherwise his points are ignored.

VARIATION 2: CALL PARTNER ROOK

Unlike standard Rook, the “call partner” version dispenses with fixed teams. Instead, in each hand the bid winner nominates a trump suit, and then selects any card not in his hand. Whichever player holds this card becomes the temporary partner of the bid winner.

The twist? The identity of this partner is held in secret and not disclosed, at least until it becomes obvious during the course of play. At the end of the
hand, the nonbidding players each score whatever points they won in tricks. If the bidding team meets or exceeds their bid, they each score the amount of the bid. If they fail, they each lose the amount of the bid.

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

There are strong hints of Bridge, Whist, and Hearts in the game of Spades. And yet, perhaps surprisingly, the game seems to have evolved on its own in the American South circa 1930. Over the years, Spades has come and gone, and come back again in terms of popularity. It’s possibly the easiest of all partner-based trump-taking games, largely because the trump suit is always spades.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and deal thirteen cards to each player. Card rankings are standard, with aces always high.

SCORING
The objective is to be the first team to score 500 points. Points are awarded for meeting or exceeding your team’s bid. Score ten times the bid value plus 1 point for each extra trick (known as
overtricks
). If you and your teammate, for example, bid a total of seven and ultimately capture eight tricks, you score 71 (the bid of 7 × 10, plus 1 for the overtrick). You should avoid taking too many overtricks—each time a side accumulates ten overtricks, 100 points are deducted from their score.

If you fail to meet your bid, you lose ten times the bid value. If you successfully
bid nil
, score your team 100 points. If you bid nil but fail, subtract 100 points from your team’s score. If you
shoot the moon
, your team scores 200 points (for making it) or -200 points (for failing).

HOW TO PLAY
Spades are always trump. Each hand begins with a round of bidding, starting from the left of the dealer. You and your partner are
bidding on how many total tricks you may win. This is not competitive bidding—you are not required to bid higher than the previous bid. Instead, each player bids once—and only once—and the bids are added together. For example: North opens with 3, East bids 1, South bids 4, West bids 3. The final bids are North-South for 7, East-West for 4.