Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (85 page)

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

This is the quintessential kids’ game. The rules are simple, the game play is quick, and—perhaps most important of all—kids are allowed to tell their parents (emphatically and in no uncertain terms) to GO FISH!

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
3 to 6

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and deal each player five cards.

WINNING
The player who collects the most four-of-a-kind sets wins the game.

HOW TO PLAY
The player to the left of the dealer starts by asking any other player for a specific rank of card. The only restriction is that you must already have at least one card of matching rank in your hand. If you’re holding a 9, for example, you may ask a player for his or her 9s. If the player has any, you get
all
of them.

Otherwise, the person says “Go Fish,” which means you draw a card from the stock and your turn is over. That is, unless you happen to draw the card you were just asking for (in this case, a 9), in which case you show it to everybody and get another turn.

At the start of your turn, play any four-of-a-kinds in your hand. Simply show the set of four to the other players and place the cards face down in front of you. The game ends as soon as one player runs out of cards, or the stock pile runs out of cards.

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

Have you played the game Hot Potato? If so, you’ll instantly get the gist of Old Maid—don’t be the last player holding the queen! If so, you lose. It’s as simple—and fun—as that.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
2 to 8

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and remove three queens from the deck. The remaining queen is the
old maid
. Shuffle and deal the deck to all players, as evenly as possible (it’s OK if some players have a few extra cards).

WINNING
At the end of the game, the player holding the old maid loses.

HOW TO PLAY
Start by discarding all pairs from your hand. If you have three of a kind, remove a pair and keep the third card in your hand. Once all players have discarded their pairs, the dealer starts by offering her hand (face down) to the next clockwise player. This player takes a random card from the dealer’s hand and either keeps it or pairs it with a card in his own hand (make sure to discard this new pair!). The player to the left of the dealer then offers his hand to the player on his left. The cycle repeats until the only remaining card is the old maid.

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

For kids of a certain age (usually around age ten or eleven), Pig is the ultimate cool game. It features playing cards, funny faces, and competitive group dynamics. Preteens love this game almost as much as teenagers hate it. Go figure.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
3 to 13

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck. You need one four-of-a-kind set for each player in the game (the rank of the set does not matter). So, with four players, for example, your starting deck might consist of these sixteen cards: 4-4-4-4, 7-7-7-7, Q-Q-Q-Q, K-K-K-K. With five players, you start with twenty cards (add a fifth four-card set); with six players you start with twenty-four cards (add a sixth four-card set); etc.

Once the deck is sorted, shuffle and deal the entire deck.

WINNING
The last two surviving players are the game’s cowinners.