Card Games

Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game. -- Voltaire

16 Feb 2010

Over the years we've run across several fun card games taught to us by family, friends, and neighbors. However, it always seems that after a few months without playing, when we want to play again, we have to rack our brains to remember the rules. This page is a place where I will write down the rules to the various card games we learn as an easy reference for the future.

Golf
Fiddlesticks

Golf

goal: get the fewest points possible
scoring: jacks are 0, aces are 1, two's are 2, etc.., 10,q,k=10
play goes until someone reaches a given score (can be agreed upon by the players beforehand), or you get tired of playing :)
deal 6 cards to each player, face-down, in 2 rows of 3. players do not look at their cards.
players turn over any 2 of their cards.
if the two cards in a column are the same (i.e. two 5's), then that column is closed and you have 0 points.
if the cards are different in a column, you add the points of the two cards together.
you can either draw the top card from the deck, or the top discarded card. use it to replace any of your 6 cards.
whichever card you replace is put on the discard pile.
you do not have to replace any cards on your turn if you don't wish (i.e. you drew the top card from the deck and decide you don't want it)
you can replace a card that you have already replaced
once you 'close' a column, you can no longer replace either of those cards
to indicate that you've closed a column, put the two cards together and slide them towards you
once the first person has all of their cards turned over, everyone gets one final turn and then the round ends.
count your points, keep track, and start a new round.
use 1 deck with 4 players, 2 decks with 5 or more players
if the deck runs out before the game ends, shuffle the redraw pile and continue play

I have found rules for Golf (and several variations and house rules) online.

Fiddlesticks

2 or more players (3 or more is best)
use 2 decks (can use more if there are 5 or more players). No jokers.
goal: get rid of all your cards first
cards have the following values and rules:
- 2 - low, but also a wild card and can play on anything
- 10 - wild, can play on anything. removes the discard pile from play and player goes again
- 2 is low, Ace is high.
- 9 - when a 9 is played, the next card must be equal to or LOWER (or wild)
- anything else - next card played must be equal to or HIGHER (or wild)
Setup:

deal each player 3 cards, face-down (player does not look at them)
then deal each player 3 cards, face-up on top of the face-down cards
then deal each player 3 more cards which they put into their hand (nobody else views)
before the first turn, each player can trade any cards from their hand and the face-up cards.
- A good strategy is to make sure the best possible cards are in the face-up pile.

Play proceeds clockwise. Each player must play a card according to the rules listed above
You can also play 2 or 3 or 4 (or more) of the same card at the same time if you've got them.
- For example, if you've got a pair of three's, you can play them both.
- If this occurs, the next player does NOT have to play a pair, they can play a single card, or three of a kind, etc..
If 4 of the same card are played in a row, it's just like a 10 was played. The discard pile is cleared, and the player who played the 4th card goes again
After a player plays a card (or cards), they draw from the draw pile so that they have 3 cards in their hand. If you have more than 3 cards in your hand after your play, you do not draw.
If you can not play (i.e. you don't have a wild card or than or equal to card), you must pick up the discard pile. Play contines with the next player, who can play any card they like from their hand.
When the draw pile is completely exhausted and a player goes below three cards in their hand, they draw the 3 face-up cards from their pile.
When that player now gets down to 0 cards, they play the face-down cards one at a time on their turn. If their card doesn't beat what's in play, they must pick up the discard pile. Otherwise if their card is equal to or greater (or in the case of a 9 less than), or is a wild, they don't have to take the draw pile.
The winner is the first player to get down to zero cards.