# Any card games in which suit color matters? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 31, 2012, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356 "2012-03-31T05:26:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/1 "2012-03-31T05:26:18Z")
Clubs and spades are both black while diamonds and hearts are both red. Are there any games in which suit color matters? If not, why not make clubs green and diamonds blue? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/2 "2012-03-31T06:07:20Z")
If not for suit color, we wouldn’t have Monty Python quotes such as “Oh, yes, black as the Ace of Spades they were…” ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/3 "2012-03-31T06:13:42Z")
Suit colour matters in games like Euchre and Five Hundred, where the Jack of the same colour suit as the trump suit becomes the third highest card in the trump suit (after the Joker and the Jack of the trump suit). ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/4 "2012-03-31T06:55:15Z")
In the game pitch, suit color can matter: the jack of trump is worth points, but so to, is the “off” jack, which is the same color as trump, but not the same suite. So if trump is hearts, the jack of trump is the jack of hearts and the off jack is the jack of diamonds. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/5 "2012-03-31T07:40:59Z")
Klondike solitaire? Since you have to alternate the colors. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/6 "2012-04-01T01:24:21Z")
Euchre. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/7 "2012-04-01T01:37:07Z")
There is poker variants, usually played by drunk college kids, called [7-27](http://www.online-gambling-77.com/more-games/7-27.html), usually very low stakes. Sometimes 7-27 Red or 7-27 black. I hated that game. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/8 "2012-04-01T01:40:25Z")
Oddly, I haven’t played euchre since I was a drunk college student. On Wisconsin! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/9 "2012-04-01T04:10:29Z")
[Canasta](http://www.pagat.com/rummy/canasta.html#classic-threes) - red threes are an immediate bonus, and black threes on the discard pile prevent the next player from picking it up. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/10 "2012-04-01T04:26:47Z")
Spider solitaire too. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/11 "2012-04-01T04:38:51Z")
Tuxedo, a game very similar to [Casino](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casino_%28card_game%29), gives a point bonus - “Red Take” - if a heart and diamond are captured in the same turn. ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/12 "2012-04-01T05:16:47Z")
Btw, I have a couple decks that are colored like that. I like them for poker. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/13 "2012-04-01T10:46:47Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > Klondike solitaire? Since you have to alternate the colors. And this solitaire version popularized by Windows is far from the only solitaire that requires alternating colors. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/14 "2012-04-01T12:27:34Z")
> [@J\_Cubed](#): > > Btw, I have a couple decks that are colored like that. I like them for poker. Four-color decks are best for poker and I wish they would be used in other table games as well, even though the suit may not matter. They’d be nice in any poker-based table game. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/15 "2012-04-01T16:58:39Z")
In addition to various types of solitaire and double solitaire, the multi-player kids’ game called “kings around the corners” requires piles to be built, fanned downward in descending order in alternating colors. Suit doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/16 "2012-04-01T17:37:37Z")
The multi-player/multi-deck game “Hand and Foot” penalizes you 500 points if you have a red 3 in your hand when someone goes out. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/17 "2012-04-02T14:49:11Z")
I can think of a handful of them. I’ll try to sort them out by genre. Games where card rank is determined by suit color: [L’Hombre](http://www.pagat.com/lhombre/lhombre.html) (and its variants Spadilla, Manilla, etc.) [45](http://www.pagat.com/spoil5/45.html) aka Auction Forty-Fives, Spoil Fives, etc. “High in red, low in black.” See also [25](http://www.pagat.com/spoil5/25.html#55-110-220) for a similar game. [Konigrufen](http://www.pagat.com/tarot/koenig.html) and other Tarock games. Tarock decks also have different card ranks depending on suit color, usually 10, 9, 8, 7 in black; 1, 2, 3, 4 in red. [Vier-Anderle](http://www.pagat.com/rams/4anderle.html), sort of the same. Cego is like that too. Games where the “off-suit in color” of a trump card is also given trump status: Euchre, as mentioned above Five Hundred, as mentioned above. Incidentally 500 was invented by the US Playing Card Company with no mention of how close it was to Euchre. [Pedro](http://www.pagat.com/allfours/pedro.html), where the trump 5 and the off-suit 5 have special rank. [Solo](http://www.pagat.com/lhombre/solo.html) and its variants, where the black Queens are the highest and third-highest trumps, regardless of what the trump suit is. Fits here because originally just the Queen of Clubs was a permanent trump. Games where card color plays a part in determining score/gameplay: Canasta and its millions of variants (of which Hand and Foot is one). [Costly Colours](http://www.pagat.com/adders/costly.html), the ancestor of Cribbage, in which having three or four cards of one color in hand scores a special bonus. In some versions of [President](http://www.pagat.com/climbing/asshole.html) (aka Bum, Asshole, Zheng Shenyou, etc.) a red card can be beaten by a black card of the same rank. In some versions of Old Maid you can only match cards of the same rank and color. What a pain in the neck. [Crates](http://www.pagat.com/eights/crates.html) is a Crazy Eights extension where nines have to be matched by color. I’m sure there’s more but I can’t think of them now. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/18 "2012-04-02T15:07:00Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > [Costly Colours](http://www.pagat.com/adders/costly.html), the ancestor of Cribbage, in which having three or four cards of one color in hand scores a special bonus. Slight nitpick: I’m not sure Costly Colours is the ancestor of Cribbage, but more a cousin. The ancestor of cribbage would be a game called [noddy](http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/game-recon-noddy.html). It’s hard to find anything that definitively states whether costly colors or cribbage came first. It seems to me that they’re both obviously derived from noddy, but that’s about all that can definitively be said. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/19 "2012-04-02T16:00:04Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Slight nitpick: I’m not sure Costly Colours is the ancestor of Cribbage, but more a cousin. The ancestor of cribbage would be a game called [noddy](http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/game-recon-noddy.html). It’s hard to find anything that definitively states whether costly colors or cribbage came first. It seems to me that they’re both obviously derived from noddy, but that’s about all that can definitively be said. Could be either, really. David Parlett (card-games author) thinks that Costly Colours came first and introduced the idea of the crib, which then was borrowed by Cribbage; i.e., Noddy and Costly Colours are co-ancestors of Cribbage. But even he doesn’t know for sure (and he would if anyone did). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356/20 "2012-04-02T16:13:45Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > [Canasta](http://www.pagat.com/rummy/canasta.html#classic-threes) - red threes are an immediate bonus, and black threes on the discard pile prevent the next player from picking it up. …Unless he can immediately meld black threes (another variant says “unless he can go out”). This can produce some interesting reactions. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-card-games-in-which-suit-color-matters/617356.md?page=2)