The Daring Book for Girls - Andrea J. Buchanan [26]
The player who has the 2 of Clubs goes first and must “lead,” or put down, that card. The play goes clockwise, with all the other players following suit (putting down a card of the same suit), if possible. That means each player must put down a Clubs card—if a player doesn’t have any Clubs in this first hand, she can play any other card except for a Heart or the Queen of Spades. The player with the highest card takes the trick (stacking the cards face down next to her) and starts the next round. After the first trick, a Heart or the Queen of Spades can be used if a player doesn’t have a card in the suit being led. Hearts can only be led (that is, be the first card in a trick) after a Heart has been “broken”—played on a trick where a player couldn’t follow suit.
Play continues until all the cards have been played. Then you add up the points for each player. Each Heart card gets 1 penalty point, and the Queen of Spades gets 13 penalty points. The game is over when at least one person has 100 points or more, and the winner is the player with the lowest score.
But there is one last “trick” to be played in Hearts: a player can do something called “Shooting the Moon.” That is when one player takes all the point cards (all Hearts and the Queen). The player who does this has her points reduced to zero, and everyone else automatically gets 26 points added to their score.
GIN RUMMY
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This two-player card game is said to have been created by a man named Elwood T. Baker, who was inspired by an 18th-century game called Whiskey Poker. Gin rummy became popular in America in the 1930s, when Hollywood stars began playing the game in much the same way that celebrity poker is played today.
To play the game, you need a standard 52-card deck, and a pen and a pad of paper to keep score. You also need to know a bit of card talk to understand the game.
GIN VOCABULARY
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Combination
Two cards of the same rank, such as 2-2; or consecutive in the same suit, such as 2-3 of Clubs.
Count
The point value in a hand after deducting the total melded cards.
Deadwood
Cards that are not a part of any meld.
Gin
Ten melded cards.
Knock
To end the round.
Layoff
Getting rid of deadwood by incorporating it into the other player’s melds, so that it is not counted.
Meld
Either a sequence or a set.
Sequences
A group of three or more cards of the same suit in consecutive order, such as 3-4-5 of Spades, or 8-9-10-J of Hearts.
Sets
A group of three or four cards of the same rank, such as 3-3-3 or J-J-J-J.
TO PLAY
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Decide who will be the dealer. The dealer then deals 10 cards to each of the two players and places the remaining cards in a stack between the players. Another card is placed face-up, next to the deck, to create a discard pile.
The goal of gin is to try to get your 10 cards grouped in melds—sequences of cards (three or more cards of the same suit in order) or sets of cards (three or four cards of the same value). Before you take a turn, check to see if you have any melds, or any groups of cards that could easily turn into melds.
Each turn involves taking a card and discarding a card. The player who goes first draws a card from the deck. Now she must discard, choosing a card from her hand that is least likely to become part of a meld. High-point cards, like face cards, are good to discard if you can, since getting rid of them decreases your deadwood (the cards that are not part of any meld). Aces are low in this game: face cards are worth 10 points each, Aces are 1 point, and the other cards are equal to their numerical values (a 2 card of any suit is worth 2 points, a 3 card is 3 points, etc.).
When a player discards, the card must be placed face-up on the discard pile. The other player then has a turn, and she can draw from either