Around 600 years ago, playing a card game was one of the fastest and most exciting activities around once the local dragon was slain. Sure, there were sword fights, maybe even a race or a nice joust, but after they beat one another senseless, the landed gentry would often turn to a deck that looked amazingly similar to what exists today.
Of course, old-fashioned card playing now competes with 900 cable TV channels, high-speed personal computers, Wii and electronic board games for families’ leisure time attention — when we manage to find leisure time at all.
Given all that nonstop, spoofed stimulus, there may be no better time to dust off that old deck of cards, start shuffling and rediscover the infinite variations of fun that any family can experience together.
Yes, the new social media bring people together, but essentially each participant is alone, notes author Scott McNeely, whose new book, “Ultimate Book of Card Games” (Chronicle, 2009), aims to breathe new life into the four suits.
Virtually any traditional card game can be played online as well but, again, with an artificial barrier. Card playing around a table is “massively social,” intimate and direct, McNeely says. It covers all ages, interests and attention spans.
“Cards are a catalyst,” he writes in the book’s introduction. “And their real power is to draw friends, families and even strangers together.”
In college, McNeely started playing bridge with friends every Sunday. Later, while living in San Francisco, he organized card nights that attracted about 50 people per event. As a travel writer, he found himself in far-flung places where a deck of playing cards served as a “universal translator.”
New York City card games expert David Galt, the director of the Manhattan Bridge Club, has written three books on card games. Galt also holds a doctorate in education from Yale. Learning, he says, doesn’t have to be boring, or even conscious.
“It’s well known that play in general is a form of assisted learning because you’re doing what you want to do,” Galt says. “If you play a game that has elements useful in other areas, those will just happen in your mind. A card game will help you add numbers together, whereas if you were sitting at a desk and adding up (numbers) it’s not as interesting and it doesn’t sink in as well. And playing games is one way for people to have a better balance in their lives.”
Noel Goldberg, a clinical psychologist in Alexandria, Va., further notes that card games activate the memory centers of the brain, naturally teach learning from mistakes and help grease the wheels of civilized exchange by reinforcing turn taking, playing fair (not cheating), willful interaction and frustration tolerance. People who build frustration tolerance early in life, he says, tend to have better grades and are more successful later on.
But as McNeely’s book makes clear, there are hundreds of other games, dozens of regional variations on the same games and infinite house rules.
“The reality is that 99 percent of the world’s card games have no definitive rules,” he writes. “Bridge is the one exception; formal committees approve its rules. Every other game is in a continual state of flux … It’s in the very nature of cards to be variable.”
Though the book is written for adults, children’s games are well represented, with a chapter devoted to the younger set — though with practice, most kids can master more difficult games. The children’s chapter games include titles such as authors, boodle, Egyptian ratscrew, president & pond scum, ride the bus, slapjack and all the mainstays, such as war and crazy eights.
“Kids generally love card games as long as you follow a few simple rules,” he writes.
“First off, make sure everybody understands the game. Spend a few minutes reviewing the rules and strategies … On the flip side, remember that card games are not a chore — so don’t make them one. If your kids don’t want to keep score, don’t make them. If your kids don’t want to play a certain game, don’t force them.”
He also urges the adults in the room to rein in their competitive instincts, saying there’s a “fine line between spirited competition (which is healthy) and getting an ego boost from crushing a 10-year-old opponent.”
His author’s picks at the end of the book include three choices in each of several categories. Best games on a lazy Sunday with friends? Spades, 20 down and whist. Most exciting games for three players? Big three, cutthroat 1,000 and three-hand pinochle.
The book also features many games most of us haven’t heard of, such as pisti, the national card game of Turkey, and a 100-page chapter on variations of solitaire with names like German patience, Babette, interregnum and stalactites.
Fellow card expert Galt suggests one more rule to live by as families and friends gather around the table: “Take it easy. I advise remembering that there’s always a next deal, so don’t let feelings from one hand lead to the next.”
McNeely can relate. “The only fight I’ve ever been in was when my best friend almost punched me in the face in Italy because we argued about the rules.”
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Authors: Great for kids
Authors is an excellent choice when kids are ready to graduate from go fish, Scott McNeely writes in his book, “Ultimate Book of Card Games” (Chronicle, 2009). The games are very similar, but Authors requires more concentration.
Fun fact: Authors was one of the first widely available card games from Parker Brothers and dates to the 1890s, McNeely writes. The original game deck featured illustrations of — you guessed it — popular authors. (Fun tip: Paste family members’ photos to the face cards on your deck, and call the game by your surname.)
Number of players: 3 to 8
How to deal: The dealer deals out all cards; it’s OK if some players have one or two fewer cards.
Objective: The player who collects the most four-of-a-kinds wins. (In case of a tie: shake hands and congratulate each other. Or find a coin to flip.)
How to play: The player to the left of the dealer starts by asking any other player at the table for a card, specifying number/rank and suit. But you must already have at least one card of matching rank in your hand; so, you can only ask for a 7 of hearts if you already hold a 7 of some other suit. You get another turn if your request is successful. Otherwise, the next player to the left goes.
If you are the player being asked for a card, you must hand it over. If you don’t (intentionally or not), you lose the game if your error is discovered.
At the start of each turn, you display any four-of-a-kind you have collected. When you run out of cards, your turn is skipped in all subsequent rounds. The game ends when all players but one run out of cards.
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Busca: A multiplayer game
Fun fact: Busca is played across Italy, Scott McNeely writes. It is similar to hearts.
Number of players: 3 to 5. You need to keep score.
How to deal: Remove all the 8s, 9s and 10s from the deck.
Dealer deals cards counterclockwise to all players, face down, as follows: eight cards each for five players; 10 cards each for four; 13 each for three. (In a three-player game, the extra card goes to the dealer, who discards one card and sets it aside, to be given to the winner of the final trick, or round.)
How to play: The player to the right of the dealer leads the first trick, or round, by playing the card of their choice. The other players must play that suit if they can; otherwise they may play any other card. Tricks are won by the highest card in the leading suit. The trick winner leads the following trick. Scores are tallied once all cards are played. The deal rotates to the right.
Scoring: The goal is to avoid scoring points. Aces are worth 1 point; 3s, 2s and face cards worth one-third of a point; 4 to 7 are worth face value. The game ends when a player’s score hits or exceeds 31; the player with the lowest score then wins.
At the end of each round, scores are calculated as follows: The winner of the last trick scores the difference between 11 and the sum of the other players’ scores. All other players add up points taken in tricks and round down (so, if you have 4 1/3 points, you score 4 points).
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It’s all in the cards
Some Web sites worth a visit:
pagat.com: David Galt suggested this site, a source to virtually all card games from around the world.
bicyclecards.com: The maker of Bicycle playing cards has a site filled with games and rules and even personalized products (put yourself on a deck of cards!).
acbl.org: Want to learn bridge? This is the site for the American Contract Bridge League.
— R.A.
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sunday@tribune.com
