The Book of Card Games: The Complete Rules to the Classics, Family Favorite and Forgotten Games (29 page)

The multiplier is obtained by adding up any values applicable as follows:

The matadors are the J♣ and an unbroken sequence of top trumps. If you are the soloist and have a matador plus the skat, you are “with” that number of matadors. If the opponents have a matador in their combined hand, the soloist is “against” that number of matadors. The game point is just a standard point added in.

For example, you are the soloist and declared a suit game with hearts as the trump. You looked at the two skat cards, you had the J♣ and J♠ as matadors, and you won ninety-one points. The multiplier value would be 2 matadors + 1 game + 1 Schneider + 0 Schneider announced + 0 Schwarz + 0 Schwarz announced + 0 open = 4 multipliers. This is multiplied by the base value of ten for hearts, and the game is valued at forty points.

Here’s another example. Say you are the soloist and declared a grand game. You did not look at the two skat cards, you announced Schneider, your opponents had the J♣ as a matador, and you won all the tricks. The multiplier value would be 1 matador + 1 game + 1 Schneider + 1 Schneider announced + 1 Schwarz + 0 Schwarz announced + 0 Open = 5 multipliers. This is multiplied by the base value of twenty-four for grand, and the game is valued at 120 points.

If the soloist declares a null game, the value is as follows:

If you are the soloist and win your game and at least as many points as the value of your bid, you receive points equal to the value of the game. If you lose the game by making less than the value of your bid, you lose points equal to double the value of the game. If you announce Schneider but take fewer than ninety card points, or if you announced Schwarz or open and lost a trick, you lose and count the multipliers that you would have won with the tricks available. At the end of an agreed-upon number of games, with each player having dealt an equal amount of times, the player with the highest total score wins.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Two to six

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Half an hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Easy

Slap the jack, and don’t make the mistake of slapping another card! If you’re the first to slap a jack, you win all of the cards on the table. The more cards you collect, the closer you are to winning the game. The objective of Slap Jack is to collect the entire deck of cards, while developing awareness and fast response skills.

A random dealer is selected, and he deals out the entire deck evenly to all players, face down. You each make a neat stack with your cards and place the pile directly in front of you. The game begins with each of you simultaneously turning over a card from your deck. If a jack is played, the player to first slap the card wins and collects all cards on the table. The player then places those cards at the bottom of her stack. You all continue to turn over the cards simultaneously until another jack is played. If you run out of cards, you can stay in the game by watching the others discard and being first to slap the jack. If you slap a card that is not a jack, you must give a card to each of the other players. The game ends when one player has all of the cards.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Four

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
One hour +

PARTNERSHIP:
Yes

COMPLEXITY:
Easy to medium

Spades is an American card game that became popular on college campuses in the 1940s. Many sources state that spades originated from the game of whist, while incorporating play from bridge, euchre, pinochle, and other trick-taking games. Spades is less complicated than its predecessors and has an easy bidding system, allowing fast-paced games and quick hands. The object of spades is to be the first team to make it to 500 points by making correct bids and winning tricks. Aces count as high and twos as low. Spades are always the trump suit, but the other suits are equal in value.

A dealer is chosen at random, and she deals out the entire deck, face down, one a time, to all four players. In turn, each player must make a bid by stating the amount of tricks they hope (or expect) to take in that hand. The dealer’s opponents bid first. You may discuss your bid with your partner, but you may not disclose any specific information about the cards or suits that you hold. You are not competing to get the highest bid, just stating a number of tricks. The player’s individual bids are added together to form a team bid.

Bidding “nil,” or zero, means that you will not win any tricks during that hand. Any player may bid nil. The nil’s partner will bid the number of tricks he will take. If your team is 100 points behind, you can bid a “blind nil,” which must be declared before you look at your cards. Then, after you’ve looked at your cards, you’re allowed to exchange two cards with your partner by choosing two cards from your hand and passing them face down. Your partner looks at those cards, and returns two cards from his hand face down.

The game begins with the dealer leading the first trick by laying down any one card in his hand. Play continues clockwise around the table.

When it’s your turn, you must follow suit if you can or discard any one card of another suit from your hand. The player who played the highest card in the suit led, or the highest spade, collects that trick and leads the next one. You may not lead spades unless a spade has been “broken” (played on a previous trick) or you have no other suit in your hand.

After all the cards have been played, the teams score their hands. If you captured the number of tricks (or more) that you bid, you receive ten points for each trick bid and one point for each extra trick won. (For example, if you and your partner bid seven tricks between you, and together you won eight tricks, you win seventy points for the tricks you bid plus one point for the extra, or seventy-one points.) If you did not capture the amount of tricks bid, you lose ten points for each trick that you bid. If you bid nil and won no tricks, your team receives a bonus of 100 points. If you bid nil but won one or more tricks, your team loses 100 points. A blind nil receives a bonus or penalty of 200 points, depending on if you won any tricks or not. The first team to score 500 points over multiple hands wins the game.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Two

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Ten minutes

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Easy

If you’re fast at laying down your cards, and you can match them to the next higher or lower number, then Speed is the game for you! Make sure to slip your card in before your opponent’s so that you can fulfill the objective and get rid of your cards to win the game. Speed helps to develop rapid responses, sequence recognition, and suit recognition skills.

A random dealer is selected, and he sets up the playing area. In the center of the playing area, two cards are dealt face down next to each other. On the top and bottom of these cards, five cards are dealt, face down and next to each other. The remaining cards are dealt face down to each player. The game begins with both players turning their respective five cards over and yelling, “Go!”

You both immediately turn the two cards in the middle over. You may then place any of your five cards on the stacks of two cards, as long as your card has a value one above or one below the top card in that stack, regardless of suit. An ace can be played on a king and vice versa.

You can play on either stack of cards. Whenever you play one of the five cards in your hand, you may replace it from your stack of face down cards. When neither you nor your opponent can play on the two stacks, play stops. You each then take the top card from your face-down stacks and place that card on top of the stack of two cards. Play immediately begins again. The speediest player to get rid of all her cards wins!