Card Games

I should not be talking about card games..for I have not even played the solitaire on the computer. There are times when there is nothing better to do when you have a lot of people visiting you....it might be too hot outside..it might be raining dogs..playing chess with so many people is not an option..if we think of going out ..may be not everyone will agree to the plan.(This has been the case with us all the time and we planned to go to the moon and ended up eating dinner at the terrace). There is nothing more entertaining than a pack of cards. But otherwise too card games are both entertaining and addictive. Well I have always seen our thatha (Swaminathan thatha) play solitaire a lot. He also used to understand the bridge game
that comes on the hindu paper. I have always been curious to know what that game is about. We all have played rummy, declare, war declare, theif - whatever u call it. But there are a lot of other card games that are popular around the world. Have you played russian rummy? I went to the library and got a book on card games. This book also has pictures..but I think my explanation will be fine and I wont need pictures to support (!). Try out these games if you didnt know already..

russian rummy - (a different version called rummikub in the US)
2 or more players - 2 packs of cards.
Deal 13 cards each. Keep fresh pile in the center. The top most card from the pile is opened.

Aim : Each player has to make 4 sets or MORE. Lets get to the MORE part later. First set you keep down "must" be a sequence of FOUR of same suit (2 spade,3 spade,4 spade ,5 spade) If you dont open your first set - you cannot keep down any other sets...(even if you have a three set 4,5,6 or you have a 4 set of 7777.

Only two sets like "8,8,8" , "2,2,2", "A,A,A" are allowed- that means essentially you can have only two non sequences and all the rest must be sequences.


BEST PART HERE IS : You can attach to other sets..say someone has kept A Q K J of spade. If you have 10 spade you can attach and say you are attaching to this one. Better to keep your own sets in vertical line - attached in horizontal fazhion..So you know you are attaching and others know. You can attach to an attached card. Say player 3 has 9 spade. He can attach it to the player2's 10 spade..

Your sets are kept down like this

A spade
K spade
Q spade
J spade
(Player A)


(Player B)
2 diamond
3 diamond
4 diamond
5 diamond
10 spade(Attached to A K Q J of player A)




HOW TO PLAY:
A player takes a card from fresh pile or discarded pile . Checks if he needs it and replaces that card with a card of his own OR throws the card back if he does not need it.(as usual stuff)

Whats different here is : The card that all the players discard will make another pile called discarded pile. This will be in the center too next to the fresh pile. But this pile has the cards open in a ROW..Same order that cards are discarded..
Any player can take cards from the fresh pile OR discarded pile. pile provided
1. it is the last card (so that means he takes this instead of opening the fresh pile)
2. He takes (ALL) the cards say for example ..starting from the card he needs and below..say he needs 8 spade and the discarded pile is like this
10 spade
5 diamond
3 diamond
8 spade
K clubs
Q hearts
2 diamond
He has to take all the cards 8 spade and below..
and make sure HE HAS to make a set with the 8 spade (if that is his first set he must make a 4 sequence set)
and he has to take 8,K,Q and 2 although he does not need those.

Here you see there is a chance that you can make more than 4 SETS with the remaining cards.

POINTS: When you make sets and keep it down remember anything starting from 10 and above 10,J,Q,K,A have 10 points each - the rest all have only 5 points.
When you finish if you dont make a single set (because you could not get your first 4 sequence) you get -80. For each card that remain in your hand -5 if they are below 10 , -10 if they are above.
The one who makes 500 and wins the last game that is equal to or above 500 is the winner.


INow I realize..it is hard to explain a card game. Please someone (I think srikanth has got cards - saw his latest photo and others also thos who have it) please try with these instructions and tell me if you are able to have fun..