The cactus

We mix all the cards and deal 4 per person, face down (you can deal 6 for a longer game). Each person looks at half of their cards and places them in front of them, remembering where they are placed on the table. Each turn, the person playing draws a card from the deck, looks at it and chooses either to reject it in the shoe, or to exchange it for one of their cards that they reject. When a card is rejected face up, both players can discard the cards of the same sign that they have (e.g. a three, an eight, a jack, etc.). The goal is to get rid of all your cards or at least have a score of 5 or less (Ace is worth 1, eight is worth 8, queen is worth 12, etc.). There are two ways to win: get rid of all your cards and the game is over OR say “Cactus” when you know that the sum of the points of your remaining cards is worth 5 or less, then there is only one turn left. play the opponent before the end of the game.

Some cards have powers, otherwise it’s not funny:

– Rejecting a 7 allows you to look at one of your cards

– Rejecting a Jack allows you to exchange one of your face-down cards with one of your opponent’s cards.

– The red king is worth zero points, so it is the most valuable card.

Note that this game is also called Tamil, Groundhog, and about fifteen other different names. And in my opinion they are all among the best card games, period.

And Snap

A bit like Jungle Speed, but there is no totem, you just have to hit the pile like a “pile of shit”. Yes, we know, it’s less fun when you don’t get nails in your knuckles, but you just had to invest in a real board game.

The 52 cards of a classic card game are dealt out and no one looks at their cards, so far you should get there. Each in turn, the players place a card counting from 2 to Ace (2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-Jack-Queen-King-Ace). Now here are the rules:

– If you place a card corresponding to the number you have to say, everyone taps on the pile.

– If two cards of the same number/figure follow each other, everyone hits the pile.

– If the card is a 7, you must say the number in your head (ex: 4-5-…-7-8)

– If the card is a 10, everyone hits the pile

– If the card is a Queen, the pronunciation of the numbers changes meaning (e.g. Queen-Jack-10-9-8…)

– If the card is a king, the person who placed it must not say a number, their turn is skipped (ex: 8-…-9-10)*

This game is much more fun with three people, but you’re not going to invite your neighbor just for a game of cards.

The battle

Unavoidable. Deal out all the cards in the game and put them face down in a deck in front of you. Everyone draws the top card from their deck at the same time and places it in the middle, the one with the strongest card picks up the opponent’s card. (the ace is the highest card, then king, queen, jack…). If both players place two cards of the same value at the same time, there is a “battle”. We then draw the next card and place it, face down, on the previous card. Then, the two players draw a second card which they place face up and it is the latter which designates the one who picks up the cards. The goal is to win all the cards in the game.

The Corsican battle

It’s a lot like a normal battle, but with a few twists!

– Players take turns.

– If two cards of the same value are placed one on top of the other, then the first to tap the packet wins the pile, and places it under their deck.

– If a player places an Ace or a head, the opposing player must play a head in a given number of tricks (4 tricks maximum for the Ace, 3 for the King, 2 for the Queen, and from the next card for the jack), otherwise, it is the player who placed the high card who wins the pile. Conversely, if the player lands a header, then the rule applies to the other player.

That’s it that’s all. Not very complicated, after all.

The branches

We mix the cards and distribute 7 to each, the rest forms the pile of which the first card is face up. To play, you have to form combinations of cards. The different possible combinations are:

Brelan: meeting of 3 cards of the same value.

The Square: meeting of 4 cards of the same value.

The Sequence: sequence of a minimum of 3 cards of the same value.

The starting player places his first combination and chooses a card from his deck which is added to the pile. The other player does the same thing. The player who successfully places all his cards scores minus 20. If he succeeds in placing all his cards at once, he scores minus 60.

The Gin branches

It’s the same game as above, but with a few variations. Players do not receive 7 cards, but 10. The goal is to make sequences of cards of the same suit or rank. The big difference with classic Rummy is that in this version, to play the sequences, you have to be ready to finish the round.

The Mao

Close to Uno or American 8, this Eastern European game brings a little finesse: the players do not know all the rules of the game. Anyone who finishes and liquidates their game can add a new rule (like: when a 9 is placed, we change turns, the one who places a King takes two sanction cards…) and keeps it for himself knowing that the one who asks a question (it’s my turn to play? What is that? is this stupid rule?) is automatically penalized with an extra card. The Secret Story of the card game.

Le memory

Memory is a very simple game, you will really be able to play with your cat. When we were kids, our parents bought 15-ball SpongeBob memory games from Joué Club when you can play them with a 52-card deck, it’s crazy, right? Simply shuffle the cards and spread them face down on the ground. The first player turns over a card, letting the opponent see it, and tries to find its duplicate among the other hidden cards. If he doesn’t succeed, he turns over the two cards and it’s up to the other to play. The goal is to remember where all the cards are placed to find them easily; as soon as a player finds a duplicate of their card, they put it aside. The player who finds the most cards wins the game.

The Ones

You don’t have Uno because it’s actually expensive? You’re a big cheapskate, but we understand you. The cool thing is that you can absolutely play Uno with a deck of 54 cards. You just need to specify the new card values:

Jack: Change of meaning

Queen: Turn jump

Roi : + 2

Joker: +4 with choice of color

As for the real rules of Uno, we’ve already told you everything.

Belote for two

Called belote Corsica by the Marseillais and belote Marseillaise by the Parisians, we will just call it belote for two. The problem is that this game is much too complicated to explain so if you want, you can come and harass our CM with the hashtag, I’m sure he will be delighted. Ok, otherwise, you have the rules of the game here.

The double solitaire

With two packs of cards, for twice the happiness! The game remains the same as the one you discovered on your old computer, except that you switch to competitive mode. To do this, there are two possible methods: either you race against your opponent, to the one who finishes his 4 piles first. Or, you take turns. In this case, the player keeps his hand as long as he manages to place his cards. When he fails, he places the card he cannot use under the deck, and lets his opponent play. The first to collect their 4 packets wins the game.

The Crapette

To begin with, it’s a way too cute name. For that alone, you HAVE to play it. Then, it looks a bit like a double solitaire, but it’s a bit different all the same. We take a deck of 52 cards (without the jokers), and we deal the entire deck. Everyone places a line of 5 cards in front of them, the first face up, the others turned over. Then a face up card on the 2nd pile, turned over on the following ones. Then on the third, and so on (watch the video, it will be clearer). The rest of the two piles form the two heels. We turn over the first card from its pile, and to cover it, we must take from our crapette a card just above or just below. When no one can pose anymore, we return a new one. The first to get rid of their game wins.

Le “Santase”, ou “66”

This game, particularly popular in Germany, is played with 24 cards. We transfer the cards from 2 to 8, and we play with the 9, the 10, the Ace, and the heads. Each card has assigned points: Ace = 11 pts, King = 10 pts, Queen = 4 pts, Jack = 3 pts, 10 = 2 pts, and 9 = 0 pts (not the best card). The suit of the trump card is determined at random.

Players receive 6 cards at the start of the game, and each take turns drawing to complete the game. The goal is to reach 66 points at the start. The player who did not deal goes first. His opponent will then have to play a card of the same color, or a trump card.

Certain associations allow you to gain points more quickly: a king and a queen of the same color are 20 points, and 40, if they are of the trump suit. If the heel is completed without reaching 66 points, then the player closest to it wins.

The Durak

This Russian game can be shared by 2 to 6 players. Here, we only play with cards going from 6 to Ace (considering that the Ace comes after the king). Here too, each player has a deck of 6 cards at the start of the game. The first card of the draw pile indicates the trump card of the game. The starting player plays whatever card he wants. As above, the next player must play either this suit or the trump suit. The goal is to get rid of all your cards first. Whenever a player cannot play, he is called “Durak”, and receives an additional card. At the end of a round (when one of the two players has got rid of their cards), the remaining points in the other player’s hand are counted. The first to reach a number of points established at the start loses.

Le Pinochle (ou “binocle”, ou “Pinohle”)

You need two decks of cards. In these two games, you only keep the cards going from 9 to Ace, i.e.: 8 cards of each type (and 48 cards in total). 12 cards are dealt per player. The first card of the draw pile designates the trump card. Once you reveal your cards, you announce a number of points that you think you can achieve on this trick, 250 being the minimum bet. For each new trick, the bet must be higher, and be a multiple of 10 or 25. To gain points, there are 5 possible card combinations:

– The Pinochle = the jack of diamonds + the queen of spades. If you have two jacks of diamonds and two queens of spades, then it is a double Pinochle.

– The square = four cards of the same value, of different suits. A double square multiplies the points by 10. However, for them to be counted, they must be composed of heads or Aces. (Basically, square of 9 or 10, it’s rotten. Trash.)

– Marriage = a king + a lady of the same color. Yeah, not very inclusive as hell. If it is the trump color, its points are doubled.

– The suit = Ace + king + queen + jack + 10 in the trump suit. Any duplicate card increases the points. Is your suit not the trump color? Well, it’s worthless. Damage.

– A trump nine = it’s just a nine, in the suit of the trump suit. It’s worth 10 points.

For the rest of the points, the details are here.

Once all the combinations have been placed, the remaining points are counted, each card corresponding to a defined number of points. If the cumulative points are less than the stake, then the announced stake is subtracted from the points accumulated during the different tricks.

Complex ? Yes. Nice ? Sure, but I was discouraged when reading the rules.

The chinchon

Particularly popular in Spain and Argentina, chinchon is played with a Spanish deck of 40 cards (yeah, that already complicates things a little). They are arranged in the order Ace-2-3-4-5-6-7-Jack-Knight-King. The ace is worth 1, cards from 2 to 10 are the value of their card, and each heads are worth 10 points. Initially, each player receives 7 cards, and the rest forms the draw pile. The aim of the game is to combine at least 3 sequences of cards of the same value or color. To do this, everyone draws a card to discard another. The first to reach all 3 sequences wins the round.

Le Yaniv

Of Israeli origin, this card game combines reactivity and strategy. Each player receives 5 cards, the rest forms the draw pile. The first player plays either a single card, a pair, three of a kind, a four of a kind or even a sequence of at least 3 cards of the same color. The joker replaces any card. The second player takes the first card from the draw pile or the last from the discard pile. As soon as a player accumulates 5 points or less, and he thinks he has a score two points lower than his opponent, he says “Yaniv!” “. At this point, the cards are turned over, and the one with the fewest points wins the round.

Le Whist

To begin, we take a deck of 52 cards, ranked from Ace (strongest) to 2 (weakest). The game is divided in half between each. In detail: 8 cards are placed face down on the table, 8 others face up, and the 10 other cards form the hand. The one who has not distributed then announces “high” or “low”. If he says “high”, no negotiation possible: victory goes to the one who wins the trick. If he says “low”, it’s the distributor who decides. If he chooses “weak” in turn, then he must do everything not to win the trick.

Each player plays with 2 cards, either in their hand or those placed face up. If this is the case, the bottom card can then be revealed, before the other plays. If the opponent holds certain cards of the same color as the card played, he is obliged to play it. Both must then respond to the color, for as long as possible. Whoever places the highest card wins the trick.

Throwing cards at each other for no reason

If you have young children, this will definitely make them laugh. If you have a cat, it will probably look at you with pity.

Whoever draws a jack washes the dishes for a week

It might be a bit annoying if you really play with your cat.