Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (86 page)

HOW TO PLAY
The goal is to collect four cards of equal rank (e.g., 4-4-4-4) by passing cards one at a time to the left while receiving cards from the player to your right. Everybody starts by placing a single unwanted card face down on the table, to each player’s left. Each player picks up the card to his right, and then discards another unwanted card to his left. Keep in mind that you may not have more than four cards in your hand at any time, and that you may not look at the card passed to you (coming from the right) until you have passed a card (going to your left).

This cycle continues until one player has four of a kind, at which point she quietly touches her finger to her nose. As soon as the other players notice, they, too, immediately place a finger on their noses. The last player to follow suit loses and is out of the game.

Remove one four-of-a-kind set from the deck (because now there is one less player), shuffle the cards, and deal a new hand. The game ends when only two players—the co-winners—remain.

VARIATION 1: PIGGLY WIGGLY

It’s just like Pig, but with an entire deck (or two decks, if more than twelve are playing). Start by dealing each player four cards, face down. The remaining cards are the stock. The dealer draws cards from the stock, and passes discards to his left. The player to the dealer’s left either takes the dealer’s discard and passes one of her own, or takes a card from the stock and passes a discard. Play continues around the table until the player on the dealer’s right receives cards from the player on his right, and discards face up on the table. Reshuffle the discard pile to form a new stock, once the original stock is exhausted.

VARIATION 2: SPOONS

Spoons is a great all-around game. You may play it Pig-style or Piggly Wiggly-style (with or without a stock pile). The only difference is that instead of touching noses, the first player to collect four of a kind grabs a spoon from the center of the table (be sure to start with one fewer spoon than the total number of players; for example, start with four spoons in a five-player game). As quickly as possible, all other players follow suit. The player who is unable to grab a spoon fast enough is out. Remove sets of cards and one spoon from circulation, as appropriate, and then deal another hand. The last two players are declared co-winners.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   high
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   long
   
3. DECKS
   :
   multiple
   

Do you or your kids like Solitaire? If so, you will really enjoy Pounce. Each player in this Solitaire-inspired game uses her own deck of cards to build communal foundation piles—at speed, in a jumble, each player trying to outthink and outmaneuver the other.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
2 to 6

HOW TO DEAL
Each player needs a fifty-two-card deck (each deck should have a different design so you can tell them apart). Each player deals his own Klondike-style tableau (see “
Klondike
”) like so: Starting to your left, deal one card to the first pile, two cards to the second pile, three cards to the third pile, etc., until you have five piles. All cards are dealt face down, except for the top card in each pile, which is turned up.

Next, deal a sixth “Pounce” pile by taking the top card off your deck and placing it face down, followed by the next card off your deck, etc., until there are nine cards in the Pounce pile. Now turn the entire Pounce pile face up. The remaining cards are your stock.

WINNING
The goal is to play all your Pounce cards. Each player earns -2 points for each of their remaining Pounce cards and +1 point for every card built on the foundations (different card backings make it easy to assign points to the correct player). Games are typically played to 100 points.

HOW TO PLAY
Nominate a scorekeeper before dealing. Once each player has created a five-pile tableau plus a Pounce pile, the scorekeeper says “go!”

Each player starts by moving aces to the foundations, which are shared among all players. Start building on the foundations—any foundation—by suit in ascending rank (on 4 of hearts you may build 5 of hearts, on J of spades you may build Q of spades, etc.). The game is cutthroat, so if you and an opponent can both build on the same foundation, the first player to lay down the card prevails.

On your own tableau, you may build in descending rank by alternating color (e.g., on 4 of hearts you may build 3 of clubs or 3 of spades, on J of spades you may build 10 of diamonds or 10 of hearts, etc.). After you play the topmost card in a tableau pile, turn up the card below. Fill voids in your tableau with a king or the topmost card in your Pounce pile. At any point, you may also use Pounce cards to build on the communal foundations (but never on your tableau piles).

If you get stuck at any point, play cards from your stock to your tableau (never to the foundations) by turning over cards in groups of three. The first player to empty their Pounce pile declares “stop!,” and points are scored.

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

This is an easy game for kids to master, and there’s just enough head-to-head competition to keep everybody fully focused on the game. After all, nobody likes being called Pond Scum.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
4 to 7

HOW TO DEAL
Use a fifty-two-card deck, and deal cards clockwise, one at a time, to all players. It’s OK if some players have an extra card or two. Card rankings are standard, with aces always high.

WINNING
The goal is to get rid of your cards. The last player holding cards loses the game—and all players are entitled, for just a minute, to heap abuse and insults on the losing player. A game of President & Pond Scum, much like life itself, is tough going sometimes.

HOW TO PLAY
The player to the left of the dealer starts. If that’s you, lead any single card or multiple cards of equal rank (5-5, 3-3-3, etc.) face up on the table. The next clockwise player either passes or plays an equal number
of higher-ranking cards. You’re never required to play higher cards, even if you have them—it’s always OK to pass. The last person to play wins the lead, when all other players pass. He or she starts from the beginning by playing any card or set of matching cards. A typical round looks like this: