No of Players

2 - 5 (two packs if more players)

Stake

5 coins to represent lives

Cards to be Dealt

5 to each player

Object

To be the last player with a life and win the kitty. (The runner up may receive a percentage of the kitty as agreed).

Deal

Cut for deal, which passes in a clockwise direction after each round. The cards are not disclosed until played.

Preliminaries

Any cards not dealt are placed in the centre of the table and the top card is revealed to start a discard pile.

Play

The player to the left of the dealer plays a card to the discard pile as follows -

1. By following suit.
2. By pairing the card showing on the top of the discard pile, thereby changing the suit to a new suit.
3. By playing an ace and nominating the suit to be followed, (not necessarily the same suit as the ace).

If the player is unable to follow using any of the three methods above, he/she must pick a card from the residue of the pack to add to his/her hand. This card may not be played until the next go.

NB If all the cards of the residue pack have been taken, the cards from the discard pile (with the exception of the last card played) are shuffled and used as the residue pile.

Strategy

A player may choose which of the first three options to deploy. Option 3 should be retained until options 1 and 2 are exhausted.

The first player to dispose of all his or her cards wins the round. The rest add up the value of their unplayed cards which count as follows -

Aces = 1 Point, 2 - 10 = face value, Picture cards = 10 points

Any player whose cards add up to more than 12 forfeits a life. When only two players remain in the game (all others having forfeited their 5 lives) the number is reduced to more than 6.

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