I really need some suggestions for card games which are the EASIEST to explain and follow-- the least complex rules, the shortest and simplest steps. No partner games, please-- too many folks wander off halfway through! If it rains on Sunday at the group home where I work, we need something new to do. Our population is not developmentally disabled, but we do have severe and persistent mental illness, and when people are very symptomatic, they just can’t follow complex rules. (Also, poker and all betting games have been vetoed because of the past gambling issues some folks have…)
Well, you know the game of War, right? You just deal out the cards alternately to you and the other player (well, I guess you could play with more players and have it be “winner take all”, but we’ll keep it simple), effectively giving each player half of the cards. Then both of you flip over the top card on your deck, and whoever’s card has the higher value wins both cards. So if you flip a King and the other guy flips a 9, you get both cards.
The only complicating factor is when there’s a tie… if both cards are the same on the first flip, you both deal three cards FACE DOWN (upping the ante, so to speak), then flip up the next card, and whoever has the higher card on that flip gets to keep all 10 of the cards in play.
When you get to the bottom of the pile you just shuffle 'em up a bit and start with the top card again.
Play continues until one of you has all the cards and is crowned the winner.
Egyptian War is almost as easy as regular War, but when two cards in a row form a pair, the first person to slap the deck gets all the cards in the pile. So its not completely deterministic the way War is, and thus while its still pretty mindless, it still feels like your playing a game with some skill component.
Pounce, called Nerts sometimes, is fairly easy if they can handle solitaire-like games. Players essentially play their own game of solitaire but the foundations are in the middle for everyone to work on at the same time. Partners can work on the same tableau together (then it doesn’t matter if your partner leaves). Can get a bit hectic because of the rushed simultaneous play.
And I would recommend the similar game Egyptian Ratscrew (see recent thread - link to the rules is in post #4). If you don’t like the slapping, the same game without it is called a variety of names in the UK, the most common being “Beggar My Neighbour”, “Beat Your Neighbour Out Of Doors”, and “Strip Jack Naked”.
Ooh! Nerts is fantastic. I play with my mom, but she’s really good, so she beats me a lot. It’s an easy game to partner up too - you can play with both partners on one stack (when I was little, I’d run Mom’s big pile) or across the table (where your partner can play off of your stacks and such, as well as the foundations in the middle).
We play a game we call “Pass the Trash” (not the poker version). It is simple enough for our 5-year-old to play, but we all have a good time and is especially good for a larger group.
Each player starts with 4 chips or coins or some kind of counter. When a player loses a hand they pay a forfeit of 1 counter. If a player loses a hand and has no counters to pay a forfeit with, then they are eliminated from the game.
Players take turns dealing (pass the deal to the left) since the dealer has an advantage. For each hand, deal each player one card. Each player looks at their own card. Starting with the player to the dealer’s left and going clockwise each player takes a turn to make a decision. They can either keep the card they are holding(whether is was dealt to them or traded to them) or trade with the player to their left. This continues on around to the dealer who can either keep the card he is holding (again whether it was dealt to him or traded to him) or can trade with the top card of the deck. After the dealer has made his or her choice, everyone shows their cards and the person with the lowest card loses (if it is a tie, then all the tying players lose). We play that aces are low and kings are high, but some play that deuces are low and aces are high. There is one exception to the trading rules: if a player has a king and the player to their right tries to trade with them, then they can show the king and refuse to trade (make this aces if you are playing with aces high).
Obviously, this game is not duplicate bridge strategy wise, but you can do better by paying attention. Normally, you would not want to keep a three, but if someone trades you a three and you give them a two, then obviously you do not have the lowest card, so should keep the three. Also, if you are a the dealer with a five and their are eight players, but all seven of the others kept their cards without really thinking about it, then your five is likely not good and you would trade. If, though, a card had got passed around the table several positions then kept, you would expect it to be a low card that got traded for an even lower card, so would expect your five to be good.
Our population is not developmentally disabled, but we do have severe and persistent mental illness, and when people are very symptomatic, they just can’t follow complex rules. (Also, poker and all betting games have been vetoed because of the past gambling issues some folks have…)