The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (172 page)

are melded in groups or sequences in the normal way, but no one is

al owed to discard a Q except to go out when no other cards

remains in hand.

Play To start, each in turn may take the upcard and then discard or

pass. When somebody has taken it, or al have refused, the next in

turn begins play proper. At each turn a player may draw from

stock, meld and lay of ad lib., and must then discard one card face

up to the discard pile, which is kept squared up. Instead of drawing

from stock, however, you may take the upcard provided that you:

immediately meld or lay it of , and

take the whole of the discard pile into hand, finishing your

turn by making any more possible melds and lay-of s, and

making one reject to start a new discard pile.

You may lay cards of only against your own melds, not against

anyone else’s.

Going out Play ceases as soon as anyone goes out by playing their

last card, whether by melding, laying of or discarding. There is a

bonus for going out ‘concealed’ – that is, melding your whole hand

in one turn, having made no previous melds, and with or without a

final discard. But this does not apply if you do so on your first turn.

Scoring Everyone scores the dif erence between the total value of

cards they have melded (plus) and of those left in hand (minus),

including various bonuses, as fol ows:

plus minus

Joker

100

200

Queen

50

100

Ace

20

20

High card (8-K)

10

10

Low card (3-7)

5

5

Deuce

as above 20

Bonus for going out 100

Going out concealed 250

A The 250-point bonus for going out concealed is held in abeyance until the end

of the game. It doesn’t count towards the target score.

Game The winner is the first to reach 1000 over as many deals as it

takes. The winner adds 200 for game (sharing it equal y, if tied),

and bonuses for going out concealed are then taken into account

before set lements are made on the basis of the final scores.

Fortune Rummy

Basical y Arlington (Oklahoma), but with only ten cards dealt to

each.

Compartment Ful

(4-8p, 104c) Described and probably invented by B. C. Westal

(Games, c.1930), what sounds like a commuter game has several

novel features. Deal ten cards each and stack the rest face down

without an upcard. The aim is to convert one’s hand into one or

more melds and go down with al ten cards at once. A meld is three

or more cards of the same rank, or three or more numerals in suit

and sequence. Sequences run Ace low, Ten high. They may not

include courts.

The first player draws from stock and discards one face up. Each

in turn thereafter may draw from stock or take any one of the faced

in turn thereafter may draw from stock or take any one of the faced

discards, which are not piled up but kept separate so al remain

visible. If you take a discard you may not discard it in the same

turn. If the stock runs out it is not replaced, and play continues with

just the discards. Play ceases when one player declares

‘Compartment ful ’ by laying down ten cards arranged into one or

more valid melds and making one discard. That player scores 50 for

going out, plus scores for melds as fol ows:

eight Aces

50 eight K, Q or J 25 sequence of ten 50

seven…

40 seven…

20 sequence of nine 25

six…

30 six…

15 sequence of eight 20

five…

20 five…

10 sequence of seven 15

four…

10 four…

5 sequence of six

10

sequence of five 5

Sets of cards lower than Jack are not permit ed. Sequences of

three and four are permit ed, but score nothing. Everyone else also

scores for their melds, and there is no penalty for deadwood.

Note that, although eight of a kind is worth having, it does not

enable you to go out. Having got it, therefore, you should so play as

to assist another player to go out before everyone gets a high score.

Continental Rummy

2-12 players, 2-4 packs (52 each)

At one time the most popular form of Rummy in women’s afternoon games, until

in 1950 it lost out to Canasta.

Morehead and Mott-Smith, Hoyle’s Rules of Games

Be that as it may, Continental has the particular merit of being

suitable for a large group of players.

Preliminaries Up to six players use two 52-card packs shuf led

Preliminaries Up to six players use two 52-card packs shuf led

together, each containing one or two Jokers to taste. Use three such

packs for up to nine players, four for up to twelve.

Deal Deal fifteen each in batches of three. Stack the rest face down

and turn the next to start a discard pile. By some accounts, the

dealer scores 15 for lifting of exactly the number of cards required

to complete the deal.

Object To go out by melding al fifteen cards in sequences of the

same suit (sets of the same rank do not count), and in only one of

the fol owing pat erns: 3-3-3-3-3, 3-4-4-4, or 3-3-4-5.

Rank Ace counts high or low but not both at once. Jokers and

Deuces are wild, and Deuces may belong to any suit. For this reason

a low sequence may run A-3-4…

Play Each in turn draws from stock or takes the upcard, and

discards one.

Ending Keep going til one player melds fifteen cards in one of the

specified pat erns and makes a final discard. This earns from each

opponent the fol owing amount:

1 for winning

1 for each Deuce melded

2 for each Joker melded 7 for going out on first turn (after one

draw)

10 for going out without having drawn

10 for using no wild cards in melds

10 if al natural cards are of the same suit

Two or more such bonuses may be col ected simultaneously.

Sequence Rummy

(2-6p, 104c + 27). Deal eight each. Your first meld must be a

sequence (Ace high or low but not both), and until you have made

one you may draw only from stock, not from discards. Having once

melded, you may then (a) instead of drawing from stock, take any

discard, provided that you meld it immediately and that you also

take al those lying above it, and (b) meld sets of three or more of a

kind. Score as you go along, counting Jokers 25, Aces 15, courts 10

each and numerals at face value. A Joker may stand for any card

provided that there are not already two such natural cards visible in

melds. You may steal a Joker from any meld on the table in return

for the natural card it represents, provided that you immediately

use it in a meld of your own. When one player goes out, everybody

deducts from their current score the total face value ofcards

remaininginhand, evenifmeldable. Gameisany predetermined

number of deals.

I Pináculo (‘Pinnacle’)

2-5 players, 2 × 54 cards

This Spanish game, also spelt Pinacle, looks like a forerunner of

Canasta and has points of interest meriting separate description. (It

is not the same as Pinnacolo, an Italian Rummy of the 1940s.)

Preliminaries Two to five players, four usual y in partnerships, play

to the right. Double 52-card pack plus four Jokers. Jokers and

Deuces are wild. After the shuf le, the player at dealer’s left cuts the

cards. Deal eleven each in ones from the bot om half, stack the rest

face down and turn an upcard. If exactly the right number were cut

for the deal – for example, 44 in the four-player game – the cut er

scores 50 points.

Object To reach 1500 points over as many deals as necessary,

scoring plus for melds and minus for deadwood. A meld is three or

more cards of the same rank, or in suit and sequence (escalera), and

must contain at least two natural cards. In escaleras, Three is low

and Ace high.

Play At each turn either draw one from stock or take the whole

discard pile (in which case you probably must meld the upcard, but

source gives no guidance). You may then start a meld or lay of

cards to an existing meld of your own or partner’s. End the turn

with a discard.

A The melds of an individual player or partnership must be kept separate from

one another, and no two may be combined even if they match rank or complete a

sequence.

Minimum meld A player or side standing at 750 or more points is

said to be barbele (French for ‘barbed wire’). The first meld they

make must contain cards total ing not less than 70 in point-value. A

lower meld must be withdrawn and incurs a 50-point penalty.

Premium melds Eleven of a kind is a pinnacle. An 11-card escalera

is ‘complete’, and is further described as ‘clean’ (limpia) if it

consists entirely of natural cards, ‘dirty’ (sucia) if it contains any

Deuce of a dif erent suit, ‘unclean’ (semilimpia) if it contains wild

cards that are Deuces of the sequential suit or Jokers.

A In partnership play, melding a part-sequence card by card from left to right

tells your partner that you hold at least seven to an escalera.

Wild cards If you hold a natural card that is being represented by a

wild card in a set of like cards, or at either end of an incomplete

escalera (but not within one), you may put the natural card in its

place. You do not then take the wild card into hand, but place it

sideways at one end of the meld as a reminder to score for it at the

sideways at one end of the meld as a reminder to score for it at the

end of play.

Ending The game ends if the stock runs out. Otherwise, you may go

out at almost any time by melding or laying of al cards remaining

in your hand, with or without a discard. When you have only one

card in hand you must announce this fact (by cal ing ‘Pumba!’) or

lose 50 points. In that situation, you must draw from stock if there

is only one discard.

Scoring Each player or side scores plus for melded cards, other than

those in premium melds, and minus for deadwood at the fol owing

rate: Jokers 30, Deuces 20, Aces 15, high cards (KQJT98) 10, low

cards (76543) 5 each.

The fol owing melds carry premium scores in place of their total

face value:

pinnacle from one hand (11 of a kind all at once)

3000

pinnacle from one hand (gradual

1500

clean escalera (suit-sequence of 12 natural cards)

1000

unclean escalera (with one Deuce of matching suit)

800

unclean escalera (with both Deuces of matching suit) 750

dirty escalera (one or more non-suit-matching Deuces) 550

eight natural Aces

1000

eight natural Kings, Queens or Jacks

750

seven natural Aces

400

seven natural Kings, Queens or Jacks

300

six natural Aces

300

six natural Kings, Queens or Jacks

200

six Aces (including a wild card)

180

six Kings, Queens, or Jacks (including a wild card)

120

In addition:

there is a bonus of 20 for going out;

going out without the aid of a wild card doubles the face

values of al cards played to go out (in addition to the 20-

point bonus);

going out concealed (melding al 11 cards) doubles the face

values of al cards played to go out, or, if they are al natural,

quadruples them (instead of the 20-point bonus);

eight natural numerals score 50 plus their total face value;

each Joker that you replaced with a natural card in course of

play scores 30;

each Deuce that you replaced with a natural card in course of

play scores 15 in an escalera, or twice the face value in a set

of like ranks.

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.

21 Competitive Patiences

The games cal ed Patience in some countries and Solitaire in others,

and Cabal in a few, are al slightly misnamed. By definition, a

solitaire is any game for one player, though in America it applies

specifical y to solitaires played with cards, while in Britain it

applies specifical y to the game known in America as Peg Solitaire.

In a typical card solitaire, you shuf le your pack of cards and then

try to put them back into order. The most basic method is to deal

cards one by one face up toa wastepile. When an Ace turns up it

goes to the centre of the table. Each of the four Aces is then to be

built upwards in suit untilit supports a 13-card suit-sequence

headed by the King. The building is done with the appropriate

cards as and when they are turned from stock. When the stock runs

out you turn the wastepile to form a new one. Given these rules,

the game is bound to ‘come out’ eventual y if the wastepile can be

turned often enough. In practice, however, custom decrees a limited

number of redeals – hence the factor of real-life ‘patience’. Most

Patiences are variations on this theme, some involving highly