I've forgotten the rules to the card game "The"

November 25, 2005 2:09 AM

Rules of a card game: This very simple but addictive game we used to know as "The" - These are the rules i seem to remember but can anyone clarify/add to these? its a game of control where you must get rid of your cards to win...

OK, here's what I remember.
Object of the game, to get rid of all your cards
each player starts with 14 cards (13 if there are more than 3 players)
Each player takes it in turns to put down cards

A player can put down multiple cards as doubles, triples, or quadruples (singles aren't allowed and suits are irrelevant)

It's a game of control, the person "in control" is allowed to dictate what number of cards are put down. Eg. Bob is in control and he puts down 2 threes, players must also put down doubles.

The cards put down must go in number order (remember suits dont matter)

If a player can't go, then he doesn't put down and forfeits the chance to go

when a person is out of that round, he is out until the next person has control (i think)

if you are in a round still you are going head to head until you beat the others with your high doubles, triples etc, or you are beaten (eg you cant go high enough)


the person who wins that round, is in control for the next, and puts down triples, doubles, whatever..

I seem to remember you can do five card runs as well, and other people have to match five card runs to still be in the round, like i say, if you win a five card run hand/round - then you're laughing because you've got rid of a lot of card in one go, and you're in control.

BTW. aces are high

BUT, there is a flaw in my rules, what do you do with single cards

do you ever pick up cards


the person who has control first, is the winner of the last game. If it is the first game, it is left of dealer..

posted by jwhittlestone to sports, hobbies, & recreation (12 comments total)

It sounds a lot like the card game I know as "Warlords and Scumbags".

Rules are here.

Is that it? In my version 2 is high and the joker is the wild card. Singles get played out like any other combination. Highest card wins.
posted by arha at 2:29 AM on November 25, 2005

Is it this game?
posted by donut at 2:29 AM on November 25, 2005

arha won this round. :-)
posted by donut at 2:31 AM on November 25, 2005

that is a similar game, but it's not the one. the beauty of The, is that its so simple. that one looks a good-un though.
posted by jwhittlestone at 2:39 AM on November 25, 2005

I played a similar game at school, we called it 'Big 2'. (Mentioned at arha's link)

Singles are just played normally, increasing value of cards. You never pick up cards.

The 'five card hands' were poker hands - if someone plays a poker hand, then others can play any other poker hand, with the usual poker order.

I was told it was a big gambling game in the far east, though I never played it for cash.

One of my favourite card games!
posted by OldMansHands at 2:56 AM on November 25, 2005

We played it in college in the Midwest all the time, but we called it "Asshole." I seem to remember we had a few extra rules: a group of three cards could be played on a group of two cards (and so on, this makes the game go a lot faster); after the deal the President swapped his two worst cards for the asshole's two best (and the VP and vice ass would swap one); playing the same card or combination as the person before you would result in the next player getting skipped.
posted by web-goddess at 4:17 AM on November 25, 2005

I also know it as asshole and have seen slight variations every time it's played. The one constant is that you drink a lot.
posted by allen.spaulding at 5:59 AM on November 25, 2005

I've known it as both "Scum" and "President"
posted by blue_beetle at 7:01 AM on November 25, 2005

We called it Asshole too. That's a game that, in my experience, has about as many variations as it does groups playing it.

We played with 2's high, and one 2 could beat a pair, two 2's could beat triples, etc. Alternately, 2's could be 'wild', in that you could play say a queen and a two together as a pair of queens.

Jokers in our game beat anything. I mean, anything. If someone laid four aces, then someone laid three 2's on that, one joker would still beat it.

There was nothing in our game, however, about playing poker hands, or runs, or any of that. It's a fun, mostly mindless game.

And of course, there's the fact that after a round, whoever went out first gets the two best cards from whoever went out last (and he give whatever two cards back), as well as whoever went out second trades with whoever went out second-to-last. So whoever ends up at the top has good odds of staying at the top.
posted by vernondalhart at 8:34 AM on November 25, 2005

The Great Dalmuti is a commercial card game based on the same concept. The difference is that, in The Great Dalmuti, there are the same number of each card as the number on it--twelve 12s, eleven 11s, ..., one 1 (and two Jesters, as wild cards). Since the lower the number, the better the card, this reduces the power of the low numbers (without a Jester, you can't ever have two 1s, for instance).
posted by cerebus19 at 8:39 AM on November 25, 2005

We call it scum.

http://www.pagat.com/climbing/asshole.html
posted by devilsbrigade at 12:38 PM on November 25, 2005

Man, we were wild-crazy in our games.

2s were wild, but you required two 2s to beat any trips, three 2s to beat any quads.

3s were also wild, but more powerful. One 3 beats any pair or trips, except trip 2s. Two 3s beats any quads except for 2s, but beats trip 2s. Three 3s beats any quads.

Jokers beat anything, including quad 3s.

President gets the Asshole's two best cards. Vice-President gets the Vice-Asshole's best card. We always had six or so players, and so never had to worry about being able to fill those slots.

We'd usually skip class to play. It was awesome. Thanks for reminding me.
posted by Imperfect at 11:09 PM on November 25, 2005