Black Jack (card game)
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| Black Jack (card game) | |
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| Alternate names | Blackjack |
| Type | Shedding-type |
| Players | 2-5 |
| Deck | 52 |
| Cards | Anglo-American |
| Play | Clockwise |
Black Jack is the name of a shedding card game which shares its name with the casino card game Blackjack. It is a variant of Crazy Eights.
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Dealing
The dealer deals each player 7 cards, places a single card face-up on the table and the remainder in a pile face-down on the table.
[edit] The Stacks
There two stacks of cards on the table, one is face-up and other is face-down.
Should the face-down stack be exhausted, then the top card of the face-up stack is placed on the table and the remainder of the face-up stack is used as a new face-down stack. Players may choose to shuffle the new stack at this time.
[edit] Player turns
On each turn, the player attempts to place cards from their hand onto the face-up stack.
A card can only be placed on the stack if it matches either the rank or suit of the top card.
If a player cannot take their turn, they take the top card from the face-down stack.
Once the player has played their turn, they must say "Last card" if they only have one card left. If they fail to do so, there is a penalty (see Endgame).
[edit] Magic cards
Certain cards have special effects on the gameplay.
Aces The player playing an ace nominates a new suit, which the next play must follow.
Two The next player is forced to pick up two cards unless he is able to lay another two, in which case the player after must pick up four cards. If he is able to play another two, he may do this instead, in which case the next player picks up six, etc.
Seven The player may lay any or all cards from his hand which are of the same suit as the 7 just laid.
Ten The direction of play is reversed.
Jack A black Jack causes the next player to pick up seven cards, unless he can follow with a red jack (which neutralises the black jack) or another black jack, in which case the next player must draw fourteen cards, unless able to lay a red jack.
Queen The next player is skipped.
King The next two players are skipped.
Sometimes some cards such as the 7, 10, Queen and King are ignored: it should be agreed before the game begins which magic cards will be used.
[edit] Endgame
The first player to get rid of all of their cards wins the game.
If the player places their last card, but failed to say "Last card" at the end of their previous turn, then they must pick up another 7 cards from the top of the face-down pile.
[edit] Variants
- Multiple cards can be placed on a single turn, where each card matches the previous card in rank or suit. There is no limit to the number of cards which can be played, but the player may not finish by placing more than one card.
- Runs within a suit are sometimes allowed (in both ascending and descending order), for example with a top card of 6 of clubs it would be possible to play the 6, 7, 8, and 9 of diamonds.
- Aces can be put onto any card, regardless of suit, and twos and black jacks can be used together (putting a 2 on top of a jack causes the next person to pick up 9 cards).
- 8's cause the next person to be skipped, the queens are used to put any card on top of them, and kings reverse the order of play.
When these rules are in use, a player may only finish the game on a single card, i.e. they cannot finish by placing multiple cards, instead the must play all but one and play the last card on the next turn.
These rules tend to lead to faster play, and can make gameplay more exciting as sometimes a large number of cards can be played in a single turn by taking full advantage of both of these rules in a single turn (for instance with the 6 of clubs on top, it would be possible to play 6D,6H,6S,7S,8S,9S,10S,JS,JC,10C,9C in a single turn).
