Playing cards

[Ite ad Ioseph]

I should have gotten advice for this a while ago. My family usually come to my house for New Years Eve and my cousins and I usually play cards for a long time. What are all of your favorite card games? I'm looking for a game to play that will take a long time. Particularly something that uses chips.
Games we know:
1. Euchre- the official game of the Ohio Valley
2. 500 Rummy
3. Hearts
4. Spades
5. Texas Hold 'em
http://www.pagat.com
^Best website out there, almost.
Happy New Year

[tee_eff_em]

On my bride's side we like a progressive rummy game similar to, but not the same as any of these ones (usually 4 or 5 of us playing).

On my side, the last few years it has become the Christmas tradition to play Apples to Apples (with a dozen or so participants).

tee

[Ite ad Ioseph]

I'm not joking when I say I was seriously looking at progressive rummy type games. I have a set of Rummikub tiles I haven't used in a while either. I like pinochle and canasta myself but my cousins get confused easily.

How do you play your version of the progressive rummy, or contract rummy? I'd love to hear from someone who's actually played it before.

[Zooey]

http://www.rummy-games.com/book/ScarneOnCards

Actually, I am a bridge player. (Have not played in ages, though....I discovered a knack for Scrabble & the cards all got left behind.
But Scarne is good on all kinds of games.

[tee_eff_em]

Originally Posted by Ite ad Ioseph

I'm not joking when I say I was seriously looking at progressive rummy type games. I have a set of Rummikub tiles I haven't used in a while either. I like pinochle and canasta myself but my cousins get confused easily.

How do you play your version of the progressive rummy, or contract rummy? I'd love to hear from someone who's actually played it before.

We play with 2 decks of cards including jokers. 4-6 players (I suppose you could play with more by adding another deck, if you think you can shuffle them). 11 cards to each player. The contracts to be made (including the number of wild cards permitted):

1. 2 books of 3 (1 wild in each)
2. 2 runs of 3 (1 in each)
3. 1 book of 3 + 1 run of 4 (1 in book, 2 in run)
4. 2 books of 4 (1 in each)
5. 1 book of 3 + 1 run of 5 (1 in book, 2 in run)
6. 3 books of 3 (1 in each)
7. 1 run of 7 (3 in run)
8. 1 book of 3 + 1 run of 6 (1 in book, 2 in run)
9. 2 runs of 4 (1 in each)
10. 2 books of 5 (2 in each)
11. 1 run of 9 (3 in run, may be adjacent)

Deuces and jokers are wild. Wild cards in runs may not be adjacent except in the final run. Aces turn corners. A player must complete the contract before advancing to the next. Each contract is melded as a whole (ie you have to hold your first book of 3 until you collect a second book to lay down beside it).
Point values:
Joker = 25
Deuce = 20 if wild (5 if natural)
A K Q = 15
10 J = 10
3-9 = 5


We have played this for years. We used to joke with my father-in-law (RIP) because he kept confounding the rules with Canasta, and was he supposed to keep or get rid of red 3's? Contract number (iv) is known as "The Cursed (2 syllables) Books of 4" due to my always getting stuck there for a few hands. When the later contracts come up, the table is alive with drumming fingers as we all try to calculate the lengths of the runs we are building.
Good times.

There are other groups I used to play pinochle with, but not for years. And my bride and I used to play cribbage all the time.

tee

[Ite ad Ioseph]

Sounds interesting. How many jokers do you use? Just curious; canasta has 4.
Like your father-in-law, I like canasta. I think I'll have to teach them that next. Thanks for your advice.
Pax

[justMatt]

Ironically, considering this site's topic, our favorite card game is Oh Hell. We usually go on vacation each year with our whole family (7 kids, 4 sons-in-law, 7 grandkids) and us guys spend many evenings together playing this game.

It's like Spades except:
1. The number of cards dealt changes each hand (we start with one card each on the first hand and increase until the entire deck is used, then go back down to one. I know of others who reverse this sequence)
2. One more card is turned over to define the trump suit. (If exactly 52 cards are dealt then that hand is played "no trump".
3. Each player declares how many tricks he will take. Dealer, as the last bidder, may not allow the total tricks bid to equal the total tricks possible. This ensures that at least one player will "go down" on each hand (hence the name).
4. Scoring: Those players who make exactly the number of tricks that they bid score 10 points plus their bid. All others score nothing, even (especially) if they make more tricks than bid. Our house rule exception: Bidding and making zero tricks scores 10 plus the number of cards dealt. So zero bids can be lucrative and become very common in our game, leading to a lot of fun "feeding" tricks to the zero bidders.

There's a bid of accounting necessary to keep score - you have to keep track of how many cards to deal, what the bids were and who made how many tricks. I wrote a pretty nifty spreadsheet to do all this, which I'd be willing to share (of course it means you need a laptop on the card table.)

[PoliSciProf]

Here's a simple game that a bunch of us played while we in college: Pitch. The rules follow:

http://boardgames.about.com/od/cardgames/a/pitch.htm

While it can meet your criteria [I'm looking for a game to play that will take a long time. Particularly something that uses chips]--see point 5 (LOL!) I really recommend Bridge.
1. It is easy to learn the basics.
2. It can be as complex as Chess
3. It can go on for hours
4. It is a great conversation game (unless people take it too seriously)
5. Only three people play a hand since the Dummy sits out. He/she can get the chips (potato, of course).
6. Many communities have local bridge clubs so you can play a lot and come to appreciate the complexities.
7. Many newspapers publish a bridge column and you can really learn a lot by studying the puzzles

We have some very good friends with whom we get together with once or twice a month. They like cards but were hesitant to try Bridge. We taught them the basics during one visit and now it is a regular activity.

You might also try Crazy Eights or Go Fish:
http://www.pagat.com/eights/crazy8s.html
http://www.pagat.com/quartet/gofish.html8s.html

[PoliSciProf]

I just thought of another game since my last post. If you like canasta, you might try Samba. It is kind of like canasta on steroids:
http://www.pagat.com/rummy/samba.html

[Ite ad Ioseph]

Thank you for your suggestions. I have tried pitch before and it is a very interesting game.
Bridge sounds interesting but whenever I look at a score sheet I get freaked out with the lines and scores on it. I’ll have to try it. Samba sounds interesting, but I’ll need to buy 3 identical deck of cards. I find it interesting it is called Samba, because canasta was developed in a Spanish speaking country and Samba is Portuguese, from Brazil.