Happy New Year everybody!

Recently I had some friends over and I tortured all of them by making them play a long, no name card game.  When played properly, with liberal amounts of alcohol, it can be quite a fun way to while away an hour or so.  However, somewhere along the way, we didn't quite manage that.  Was it our complaining neighbor? Was it too little alcohol? Was it the 3 separate conversations going on at all times?  Who's to say.  In any case, if you want to try the game yourself despite my glowing review of how much fun we had, below you will find the rules.

Use 2 decks for 2 - 5 players; 3 decks for 6 - 8 players.  Deal 11 cards to each player.  Place the rest of the deck on the table and turn the top card over to start the discard pile.  2s are wild and Jokers are removed from the decks. Each hand or round has a different objective, which are listed below.

Each player must being their turn by picking up a card from the deck or from the discard pile.  Once a player has the necessary cards, they may put them down during their turn; but only if they have have met all of the requirements listed for that hand.  If other players have already put down their cards, the player whose turn it is may add cards to those already down. Otherwise, the player ends their turn by discarding a card.  If the player has not yet put down their cards but other players have done so, the first player cannot discard any cards that can be used by those already down.  It is a good strategy to try to keep unnecessary cards on hand to discard.

Once a player has completed their turn and before the next player begins their turn, a third player may "steal" the top card from the discard pile if the second player allows it.  The third player then must take an additional card from the down-turned pile.  The second player then begins their turn by picking up a card.

1st hand: 2 matched sets of 3
2nd hand: 1 matched set of 3 & a run (same suit) of 4
3rd hand:  2 runs (same suit) of 4
4th hand: 1 matched set of 4 & a run (same suit) of 5
5th hand:  2 runs (same suit) of 5
6th hand:  1 matched set of 4 & a run (same suit) of 7
7th hand:  3 matched sets of 4
8th hand:  1 matched set of 3 & 2 runs (each of same suit) of 5
9th hand:  1 matched set of 4 & 1 run (same suit) of 10
10th hand: 3 runs (each of same suit) of 5

At the end of each hand, the winner is the first person to get rid of all of their cards.  All other players must then add up the point value of the cards they are still holding in their hand.  The fewer cards you have, the lower your score and the better off you are.

2s are 20 points each
aces are 15 points each
9 and greater are 10 points each
8 and less are 5 points each

So please, have fun and next time you have an hour or two to kill with friends, break out the playing cards!