I've been playing card games for most of my life. I started with playing Old Maid and things like that...you know, the silly decks with pictures on them. When I was about 7 or 8, my parents taught me bridge, and it still remains one of my favorite ways to pass the time. My husband doesn't really like it. I think it's a fascinating game, since you have to keep track of so many things at once, and if you miss just one you might lose...and usually do. When we first learned how to play, my parents forgot to explain one rule to us: the fact that the person whose partner bids and wins the contract puts down his hand and doesn't play. This person is called the dummy. My brother ended up in this position and kept saying, "I don't want to be the dummy!" He's also never going to forgive me for putting that up here...;>
In any case, I like to play lots of card games, and am always willing to learn a few more. In addition to playing games with traditional decks of cards, I also play Collectible Card Games (CCGs). These are the kind where you buy packs of cards which let you make decks. Usually, the more you buy, the better the deck you can make. And the companies continue to put out expansion sets with more cards. Most people can't keep up, unless they have a lot more money than I do.
Following is a list of games I like to play...
Bridge
This is one of those classic card games...at least it is to me.
My parents used to play all the time in college, and I thought when I got there I
would be able to play too. Wrong! My sophomore year roommate played, but we
didn't find the requisite four for the game. So I usually only play when I'm at
home. Bridge is a complicated game. Basically, the object is to bid a certain
number of tricks with either a suit as trump or no-trump, and then to take all those
tricks. A bid of 2 clubs means that you think you can take 8 tricks (2+6 as a base
number) with clubs as the trump suit. Bidding is complicated because each bid can
tell your partner different things, if you both know the convention. It's lots of
fun, if occasionally a little frustrating!!! I am in the process of converting my
husband to the game. He doesn't really like it, but will play to make me happy on
those few occasions when we actually find 4 people to play.
Cheapass Games
These games range from card games to board games, so I'll put this on both
pages. My favorite Cheapass card game is probably Give me the Brain!, which
one of my friends has created an expansion for. You are in the fast food service of
hell. Everyone is dead, and the staff are all Zombies. But you have only one
brain to do all the tasks. This game is hysterical...especially at 2 am.
The Great Dalmuti
AKA President, or Corporate Shuffle. They all have the same
basic premise. There is a Greater Dalmuti, a Lesser Dalmuti, at least one Merchant,
a Lesser Peon and a Greater Peon. The object is to get rid of all your cards.
You play the cards down in sets and try to be the one with the lowest number at the end,
so you can start the next set. I love this game! OK...fine, I love games!
Hand and
Foot
The game with no official rules anywhere. You can find several sets
of rules on the web, each with their own merits. I learned this game from my
grandmother, and while I love her dearly, I have a feeling that some of the rules aren't
what they used to be. Then I discovered that my husband played Hand and Foot.
And he played with almost entirely different rules. The very very basics were mostly
the same, but not all. Since then we have merged our families rules and started
teaching this to all our friends. And in thanks...we got a dodeca-hand-ron and a
dodeca-foot-ron as a Christmas present...
Cover
and Pass
My friend Betsy taught us this game. You have to get rid of all your
cards, just like most cards games you will ever play. You put down your cards in
books (3 of a kind) or runs (4 in sequence in the same suit). And each round you
change what is required, and so it gets harder and harder. Shawna has finally won a
game...just one...after playing so long....
Hearts
This game, I've discovered, can be played with either one or two
decks. The object is to not get points. Hearts are worth a point each, and the
Queen of Spades is worth 13! If you get everything, then everyone else gets 26
points. There is also a variation where the Jack of Diamonds is worth -10 points.
The hard part is getting the Jack without getting the Queen. For Cancellation
Hearts, you have two decks of cards. If you lead something and someone else plays
the exact same card, then your cards cancel each other out, and can no longer take the
trick. Any points that get cancelled still count, but whoever played them doesn't
take the trick. This leads to really nasty things happening like the Queen of Spades
being led. This gives whoever takes the trick 26 points at a minimum!
Spades
I think of this game as a combination of Hearts and Bridge.
Spades are always trump. You bid to see how many tricks you will take, though you
only bid once. You can also bid 0. This means you think you can take no
tricks. You get points equal to 10 times the number you bid plus one for any extra
tricks. If you don't take the minimum number of tricks, you get -10 times the number
you bid. If you bid 0 you get 100 points. The downside is that if you take ANY
tricks, you get -100. But sometimes it can be fun...
Killer Solitaire
This is a variation on Klondike...you know, the basic Solitaire game
with 7 stacks and you try to get everything off your stacks and onto the ace piles.
The difference is that you start with 5 stacks, an extra stack of 10 (or 13 if you're
Shawna), and you share the ace piles. This makes it harder and easier. The
object is to get everything off your stack of 10 before everyone else. Sometimes
the shared ace piles can be really annoying...like when someone beats you to that 6 of
spades which has been on your stack for the entire game. This is not a friendly
game, and anyone who peacefully co-exists will get munched. And don't play unless
you are really good friends...the language that flies is not conducive to a good
relationship...*grin*
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This page last updated 02/16/2000. If you have any questions/problems/comments/help, write me