Suggest to me a new card game.

Cafe Society
1

I am looking for a new card game to play that uses a standard (or a couple of standard) decks of cards.

I hate trick taking games, like hearts and spades, because I view them mostly as a modified version of war which I find to be fairly boring.

I am also not interested in gambling games. This is because the games tend to have the most intensive play in the betting and second guessing phase. Plus there is no reason to spend my own money on something like that since I only ever play for fun.

I am looking for a game that can be somewhat like Cribbage, Speed, Uno, or one of the Rummy variants (like gin rummy). If you know of any could you post a brief synopsis of game play and objectives? Links to detailed rules would be nice but not required.

2

Nertz! Love that game. Can be played with as many people as have decks of cards, and can get pretty high-speed.

Here are the rules:
http://www.math.unl.edu/~lcharbon/Cards/Common/nertz.html

3

Check out “Not Necessarily Rum.” We played it for hours at Thanksgiving. It’s a blast. I’d do a search on the net to see if you can find a copy of the game, or the rules. (If you can find the rules, you can make it up yourself with a few decks of cards.) The rules SOUND complicated, but once you start playing, it’s simple, and a lot of fun. Sort of like a combination of rum and canasta.

4

Hmmm, I think I have played Nertz before but it has been a very long time. Or at least, I have played something that had similar rules.

I can’t seem to find anything other than Not Necessarily Rum combines canasta, hand and foot and rum. I have never heard of hand and foot. Aside from that, how does the game play? What are the objectives, etc?

5

Oh, I think I realized where I had played Nertz before. Is it a variation that is like Skip Bo? That was a fun game but you needed to have at least 3 people to make it interesting.

6

I really enjoy canasta.
http://www.pagat.com/rummy/canasta.html
My daughter and I play classic, 2 person.

And gin rummy (wasn’t clear from your post if you presently play gin.)
http://www.pagat.com/rummy/ginrummy.html

And 500 rummy
http://www.pagat.com/rummy/500rum.html

7

Ever hear of Rummy 5000? Play is like Rummy 500 but wildcards are used.

Prior to the Game
Remove the Jokers from the deck and give each a point value. I like making each Joker the same value (500) but some give increasing values starting at 250.

The Deal
Turn over the top card and give it to the player on your left. This card indicates the total number of cards the player will get.
[ul][li]15 for an Ace or a Joker[]10 for a face card or a Ten[]9 for a nine8 for an Eight, etc.[/ul] Continue in this manner for each player. As the dealer, you also turn over the last card to act as the wild card for that hand. If the last card is a Joker, turn over the next-to-last. [/li]Optional: if the wild card is an Ace, turn over the next-to-last to act as wild instead.

Playing the Game
Wild cards can be used as anything but once they’re set on the table they can’t be moved to represent a different card. “Floating” is allowed. Otherwise, just like 500.

Scoring
500 (or whatever) for each Joker
100 for each Ace and wild card
Other cards have the same values as in Rummy 500.

8

Well, I’d give you the rules if I had them. I just ordered my copy. The company is a little operation in Dayton, Ohio. (Sounds like it might be in somebody’s basement.) But I’ll give them to you as best as I remember them.

You are dealt 11 cards. When it’s your turn, you lay down your rums, which have to be all of the same number, or suit, such as 3-3-3, or Q-Q-Q. You have to have three of the same card to begin a rum. If you get another of these cards on a subsequent turn, you can add to it. Once you have seven of the same card, you bunch them all together and lay them aside. On your turn, you take 2 cards from the deck, and can use them to flesh out and create your rums. Discard one. If you can make a new rum out of the card on top of the discard pile, (such as, you have two Queens in your hand, and there’s one on the discard pile) you can pick up the entire pile (which pretty much guarantees you a huge score) but you cannot use the top card to add to an already existing rum.

You can use a Joker or a 2 as a wild card, but if you use them to flesh out your rums, it reduces the rum’s value ( a “natural” rum is worth 50 points, plus the value of the cards. Which is 1-7, five points each, 7-10, ten points, K,Q,J,K: 15 points. A joker or a 2 is worth 50 points itself. When you use a Joker, you just add up the point value of the cards, and add, (I think) 20 points for the Joker.) Finally, when a player has used all of his/her cards (along with discarding one) they have gone out, and any cards left in the other players’ hands are counted against them.

I know this must seem confusing, and I’m sure I’ve left out some salient details (which I’ll fill you in on once my game arrives in the mail, which should be some time this week) but the game really is a lot of fun. If you’re going to make up your own, I would suggest about four decks of cards (they go very quickly in game play). Set a point number to reach to end the game (Ususally, we go to 15,000, which isn’t as much as you might think). Trust me, it really is a great game.

9

Seems to be a variant of Spite & Malice which I think was the basis for Skip Bo. And you’re right about the game being most interesting with more than two people.

10

That reminds me, if Rummy 5000 is played by three, two decks should be used for this very reason. If more are playing, add more decks accordingly.

11

Around here we play Hand and Foot which I’m told is a variation of Canasta. It takes roughly a deck for each player and I wouldn’t do it with less than three people.

Each player is dealt two eleven card hands. One is refered to as the Hand and they get that immediately and the other is the Foot which sits off to the side until they dispose of their Hand.

At the start of each player’s turn they either draw two cards or pick up the last five cards that were discarded (there’s restrictions on that which I’ll get to soon). The players are attempting to make sets of cards and you need at least three of the same card to lay down and start a set. Twos and jokers are wild and you cannot have more wild cards in a set than you have the other cards. The initial time you lay down sets you have to lay down a certain number of points depending on which round in the same it is; 50 points for the first round, 90 for the second, 120 for the third, 150 for the last. At the end of your turn you discard one card.

When you run out of cards in your hand you pick up the foot and continue playing if the last card was not discarded. When you run out of cards in your foot, assuming you’ve made a clean and dirty set (more in a second), that round is over, you’re awarded 100 points for going out, and the points are totalled.

Points you have set are totalled and points in your remaining cards are deducted from that. The points are scored with 5 points for each card from four to eight, 10 points for each card nine to king, 20 points for twos and aces, and 50 points for jokers. You create a set by collecting seven of the same card; a clean set is one without any wild cards and is worth 500 points, a dirty set is one that uses wild cards and is worth 300 points. Clean sets are marked by putting a red card on top and dirty are marked by black cards, though whatever you want should be fine. Red threes are worth -300 points if you have one in your remaining cards and black threes may not be used to make a set.

To pick up cards from the discard pile you must have two of the same card on top in your hand and set those three down immediately. If a wild card is discarded the pile is frozen and it cannot be picked up. Finally, you must pick up five cards and if there aren’t enough in the discard pile or if a wild card blocks it then you can’t pick them up.

12

You definitely need three or more people to make Nertz interesting. Sorry, I should have pointed that out. I’ve never heard of Skip Bo before, but if it’s like Nertz, it’s fun. Heh.

For brainless fun, there’s always good ol’ Bullshit (also known as B.S. or I Doubt It) or Egyptian Ratscrew. Both are quick-paced and a fun way to pass the time, although again, you need at least three people.

13

Well, I was about to recommend the magnificent game of Pounce, but now I see that it’s also known as Nerts (or Nertz), which ** Beadalin** already mentioned. I got to play quite a bit of it with my family at Thanksgiving, but now I’m in withdrawal. It’s very addictive.

14

Spoons…

For the number of people playing use one less spoon. So 6 people would mean 5 spoons. Place them in a circle in the middle of the table handles facing out.

The cards…with six people you would need 6 sets (4 cards each) the ace through the 6 for example but it does’t really matter, all you will be doing is matching them up anyway You take the 24 cards…with 6 people playing and deal them out. Each player gets 4 cards. On a signt from the dealer each player passes one card to the left and so on until someone gets four of a kind. When you do you either try to sneak a spoon or just up and grab one. Much hilarity then ensues because when one grabs all can grab. The person without a spoon gets a letter or a point depending on how you want to keep score. But we rarely keep score. We just play for fun.

Simple game…much fun.

15

Hoyle’s Modern Encyclopedia of Card Games would be a good source for ideas.

16

Egyptian ratscrew sounds fun but it reminds me of some other game that I have played.

I used to have that book, Jeff. Well the condensed version of it anyway. They had the games divided up by types (it didn’t include Bridge or Pinnochel) and there were a lot of borrowed rules between the given cards. It was fun and what I used to refer to when learning cribbage.

17

Do you read Terry Pratchett? Here are the rules for Cripple Mr. Onion.

My family plays a game called Screw Your Neighbor. Not good for serious cards, but it’s fun with a big group who likes to have fun. Each person needs three pennies. The dealer then deals one card to each person, and each person looks at her card and reveals it to no one. The goal in each hand is to not have the highest card. The person to the left of the dealer, after looking at her card, has the option of switching with the person to her left. So if, for example, she has a 10, she’ll probably want to switch, but if she has a 4 she’ll probably want to stay. Aces are high. The person to her left has no choice but to switch with her if she chooses to switch.

After she switches, or chooses not to switch, the person to her left then makes the same choice. If the first player had a king, let’s say, and the second had an ace, then the first person would switch giving up a king but, to her dismay, gaining an ace. Then the second person wouldn’t switch, even though she now has a king, because she knows that the first person has an ace. But if the second player started with a low card and gets a high one, then she’ll want to switch.

Anyway, play continues around the circle to the dealer, who is the last player in the hand. The dealer has the choice of switching with the top card on the undealt deck. Dealing shifts to the left one person after every hand.

Then the cards are revealed and the person(s) with the highest cards must place a penny in the pot. After a person has put all three pennies in the pot, she must say, “I am on my honor.” She then continues to play until she looses another hand and she is out of the game. Play continues until only one person remains.

This is not a very technical game, but it is fun and easy. Bonus: kids can play along as well, since it is so easy to follow. We’ve played the game for as long as I can remember and it is always a good time.

18

Forgot to tell ya . . . .

Not Necessarily Rum can also be played as a team game.

You are not allowed to give advice to your partner, but can give them cards to add to their rums. If playing with two sets of partners, a 2 or Joker can be used to “freeze” the discard deck until it gets to your partner, in hope that they can pick it up, or prevent the other team from doing the same.

19

From the OP:

Are you kidding? Equating trick-taking games with war, especially the queen of trick taking card games, bridge, is ludicrous. This is about like saying Rembrandt sucks because both he and Jack Chick draw pictures. Trick taking games require strategy and finesse. War is just luck. I would suggest you might enjoy trick taking games more if you learned to play them better. Very intelligent people spend their lives mastering their skills at these games.

Rant over.

Gin Rummy would be my suggestion. Fun whether you’re playing for money or not, involves both luck and skill.

20

Frank, if you don’t like it tough titties. Trick taking games are exactly like war because a higher card trumps the lower card thus winning. In my opinion they are boring and not fun. I would much rather play a game that didn’t develop so many cut throat and unfun variations.