The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (168 page)

Play Each in turn, starting with the player at dealer’s left, draws a

card, may make a meld, and ends by making a discard.

1. Draw. If you want the upcard, take it and add it to your hand.

If not, take the top card of stock, place it face down on top of

the upcard, push both cards to your left-hand opponent – who

must add them to his hand – and complete your draw by

taking the top card of stock.

2. Meld. Having drawn, you may, if able and wil ing, meld cards

by placing them face up on the table. The first meld you

make in each deal must meet the initial meld requirements

stated in the Table above. This applies to each player

individual y. If your partner has made an initial meld, this

does not qualify you as having made one yourself.

Once you have made a valid initial meld, you may, in the

same or subsequent turns, put down any further melds you

wish to, or lay of one or more cards to any melds already on

the table, regardless of who made them.

3. Discard. End your turn by adding a card to the discard pile.

Wild cards Deuces and Jokers are wild and may be used to

represent any desired card, including Twos. A meld must

contain at least one natural card. If you make an ambiguous

meld, you must clarify what it is. For example, if you meld

7-

-

, you must state whether it represents 5-6-7, or

6-7-8, or 7-8-9, or three Sevens. If the lat er, you need not

specify which suits they represent.

If you hold a natural card which is currently being represented by

a Joker in any meld on the table, you may, after drawing and

before discarding, take the Joker in exchange for that natural card,

provided that you can immediately lay the Joker of to another

meld or use it in a new one. You may not merely take it into hand.

If a Deuce or Joker is being used as a Two, for example in A-

V2- 3-

4, you cannot exchange it (even, in this case, for 2).

Going out Play ceases the moment one player goes out by either

melding, laying of , or discarding his last card.

Score The side of the player who went out records no penalty

points. The other side count penalties for al the cards remaining in

both players’ hands, as fol ows:

20 per wild card

15 per Ace

10 per K-Q-J-T 5 per lower numeral

The winning side is the one with fewest penalty points at the end

of the last deal.

Vatican

2-5 players, 2 × 53 cards

I was born in Prague to Russian emigre parents. We spoke Russian at home and

Czech in the street, but the home culture was largely that of White Russia.

Amongst games I learned from my parents and grandmother was Rummy – a

version which Czechs didn’t seem to play, but were aware of as Vatican. It is a

very good game. I suspect that my early mastery of it encouraged mental

combinatorial skills which came very handy later in my professional life.

Mike Arnautov, computer systems programmer/architect

Vatican features the novel concept of making melds common

property rather than belonging to individual players. It looks very

much like a model for the proprietary tile game Rummikub,

created in the 1940s by the Romanian games inventor Ephraim

Hertzano. I am grateful to Mike Arnautov for checking this

description.

Preliminaries Though playable by two to five, the game works best

with three or four. Shuf le together two 52-card packs and two

with three or four. Shuf le together two 52-card packs and two

Jokers, making 106 cards in al . Deal thirteen each and stack the

rest face down.

There is no turn-up and no discard pile.

Object To be the first to go out by playing al your cards from hand

to melds on the table.

Melds A meld is three or more cards of the same rank or in suit and

sequence. Three or four of the same rank must al be of dif erent

suits.

Sequence order is A23456789TJQKA. Ace counts both high and

low, so –K-A-2- is al owed.

Play At each turn you either draw the top card of stock and add it

to hand, or play at least one card from your hand to melds on the

table.

(If none remain in stock and you cannot play, you must pass.)

The first time you play instead of drawing, you must meld a suit-

sequence of at least three cards from hand. Having done so, you

may on this and any subsequent turn add one or more cards to the

table, and arrange or rearrange melds as you please. The only

restriction is that, at the end of your turn, al cards on the table

must remain arranged in valid melds of at least three cards.

If you find you cannot finish by leaving legal melds, you must retrieve the

cards that won’t fit. If none of them fit, you must take them all back and draw

from stock instead (if any remain).

Jokers A Joker may represent any desired card. Subsequently, it

may be replaced by the card it represents, but may not then be

taken into hand: it must remain somewhere on the table as part of

taken into hand: it must remain somewhere on the table as part of

a valid meld.

Ending If the stock empties before anyone has gone out, each in

turn must continue to play if possible, otherwise must pass. The

first player out of cards thereby ends and wins the game. There is

no scoring.

Carousel

An early member of the Vatican type, Carousel was first recorded

by Morehead & Mot -Smith (Culbertson’s Card Games Complete,

1952), and closely resembles Gin. Two players use 52 cards and

one Joker, three 104 and two Jokers. Jokers are wild, and melds in

the two-pack game may not include duplicated cards. Deal ten

each. Each in turn draws a card from stock and either makes one or

more melds or draws again. A player’s turn ends after three such

draws.

The minimum meld is three or more of a kind or a suit-sequence

of three or more (Ace low). In melding, you may steal required

cards from opponents’ melds provided that al melds remain legal.

For example, from 6-7-8-9 you can take only the Six or Nine. There

is no discarding.

On your turn to play you may knock to end the game, instead of

drawing, provided your deadwood is down to 5 or less. (Original y

10 or less, but 5 is now usual.) There is no laying of . The player

with the lowest deadwood (Jokers 25, courts 10 each, Aces and

numerals face value) scores the dif erence between their deadwood

and that of each other player. Undercut ing the knocker earns a

bonus of 10 points. Tied players divide equal y. Add 25 for zero

deadwood. Game is 150 points, and the winner adds 100 for game.

Anyone with a zero score loses double.

Krambambuli

(2-3p, 52c; 4-6p, 104c)

Des Abends spät, des Morgens früh, Trink’ ich mein Glas Krambambuli –Kram-

bim-bam-bambuli, Krambambuli!

German drinking song (trad.)

Deal eleven each and stack the rest face down. At each turn draw

from stock or take the upcard, optional y put out melds consisting

of at least three cards of the same rank or in suit and sequence (Ace

high), and discard one. Having once melded, you may subsequently

lay of additional matching cards to your own melds. You may then

also, on any future turn, steal a card from another player’s meld,

provided that (a) the meld from which it is robbed remains valid,

(b) you combine it with at least two cards from your own hand to

make a new meld, and (c) you do not steal more than one card in

any one turn. When one player goes out, the others count their

deadwood at the rate of Aces and courts 10 each, numerals face

value. Lowest score wins when someone reaches 500. (From

Pennycook, The Book of Card Games, 1982.)

Shanghai (Manipulation)

In recent versions of this game, played under various names by up

to five players, you do not draw if you can meld, and you must

meld if you can, rearranging as necessary. (The process of

rearrangement is cal ed ‘shanghai’ in one variant and ‘manipulation’

rearrangement is cal ed ‘shanghai’ in one variant and ‘manipulation’

in another.) If unable, you keep drawing until either you can meld

or the stock runs out. Aces may be used high or low in sequences,

and count 15 against, while numerals below Ten each count 5

against.

Don’t forget…

Play to the left (clockwise) unless otherwise stated.

Eldest or Forehand means the player to the left of the dealer

in left-handed games, to the right in right-handed games.

T = Ten, p = players, pp = in fixed partnerships, c =

cards,† = trump, 7 = Joker.