Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cardgames

Identify this odd, seemingly antiquated children's card game?

adamkempa — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:53:49 -0800

Identify this odd, seemingly antiquated children's card game? I have been steadily digging through the boxes of junk that have survived my last two moves un-dug through. In a box full of childhood toys I unearthed a deck of cards featuring a very dapper duck on the back. On the face of each card there are printed four descriptions of objects.

While I do recall being aware of these cards in my youth, I have no recollection of where they came from. I'm assuming they're a part of a game of some sort. For some reason, I am now obsessed with figuring out their origin. So...anyone have any idea?

I've posted an image of the cards here.

Here are some examples of the text for those who don't feel like clicking through:

Example Card #1: "a plate of beans / a knife and fork / an old hen / a teacher's strap"

Example Card #2: "a broken umbrella / a can of milk / an old maid / a dozen eggs"

Card games for three?

Bulgaroktonos — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:36:41 -0800

My wife and a friend of ours like to play cards, but we don't know many good three person card games. Does anyone have any suggestions for good card games for three people?

A solitaire card game called suicide?

planetthoughtful — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:16:11 -0800

Some years ago someone showed me how to play a simple solitaire card game that was called (I think, with heavy emphasis on 'think') 'suicide'. I've forgotten how it was played, and I was wondering if the hive mind can help me remember. What I can remember is that you start out with a shuffled deck and you simply turn over the cards, one at a time, into a pile. You win if you manage to get through the whole pack without encountering a loss situation.

It's the loss situation part that I can't remember. It had (I think) something to do with the relationship between the card you just turned over, and the card you turned over just before.

Something like if they were the same suit, or the same face value, or a higher face value etc, you lost and had to reshuffle and start again.

It was shown to me by a retired army guy, who said he played it a lot because you didn't need much space for it.

Does anyone else know this game, and the rules that go with it?

Many thanks in advance!

Learn to Play Bridge

neoist — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:10:59 -0800

I want to learn to play the card game bridge. What do metafites think are the best beginner's books providing a general overview of the game and its strategy for a beginners bridge instruction? I am familiar with this old post but was hoping people could provide me with some recommended books. Also, plan on joining a local beginner's club...

How to poll the public on the Web?

rwhe — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:43:49 -0800

Where can I go on the Web to create an informal public poll to gather data for my next book, which happens to be about board games? I'm currently co-authoring a book of board and card games that can be played with "usual equipment", which includes things like standard decks of cards, Chess sets, six-sided dice, and so on. Almost everybody has most of those at home. There are some borderline cases, however, such as Chinese Checkers sets, double-nine dominoes or better, Scrabble sets, and so on. We would like to poll our readers to see which of these sets of equipment is really common, and which is not.

Because we are writing this book for an intelligent general audience, it's important that we don't inadvertently include equipment that only gamers have, such as 30-sided dice. Therefore, we can't just go to a site like BoardGameGeek or a gaming Yahoo group to ask this question. The people who are likely to answer the poll at those sites will not be representative; they will probably own far more game equipment than most people.

I would like to set up a poll and watch the results filter in for a couple of weeks, but I'm not married to the idea of a Web survey; if there is some more efficient or convenient way to gather the information we need, I'd like to hear about it. Scientific rigor is also welcome, but not absolutely necessary.

Thanks!

How does your Rummoli board look?

fish tick — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:04:15 -0800

Rummoli players: what's the best version to teach rummoli to newbies? I want to introduce the game to a group of people. I grew up with a rummoli board that was heavily hearts-based, like this, made by an ancestor in the 40s or 50s, I think. But I am told that a more even distribution of suits on the board is more prevalent, like this. Also, if anyone has a really good set of rules for the game, I would be very grateful.

Bridge game software for Macintosh?

ReiToei — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 12:41:18 -0800

Bridge games on the Macintosh? My mum bought herself an brand new iBook which she's delighted with. She's a card player and wants to practice her bridge skillz. All of the sotware packages I've looked at seem very dated. What is the best bridge game for the Mac?

Freeware card games to go on an older computer, for an older user?

jbickers — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 11:44:38 -0800

What are the best freeware card games (and the like) to install on my mom's computer? So I got my mom a Win98 computer, and I'm taking it to her tomorrow. It won't have Internet, no network, nothing - she just wants to be able to play card games on it.

So she's got the basic hearts/solitaire/freecell stuff, but what are some other really good, really free games I could download and install for her? She is a lifelong pinochle player, but I can't find a good free pinochle game. Bonus points for anything that is visually easy on an elderly pair of eyes (i.e. most of the pinochle games I have found use rather small text for bidding).

Sadistic kids card game?

obiwanwasabi — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 21:18:47 -0800

My niece is trying to remember the rules of a card game that involves inflicting various acts of sadism on whoever ends up holding a black Jack. Said sadistic acts are determined by the suits of cards somewhere in play - for example, a Diamond results in a punch, a Club results in a pinch, and so on. The only other thing that she can remember is that one of the black Jacks is removed from the deck before play commences, leaving just one. Any ideas what the game is called, and how it's played?

Two player card games

sugarfish — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 21:38:53 -0800

One deck of cards. Two of us. What's the best game to play?

How do I do this love fortune?

Katemonkey — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 05:15:08 -0800

How do I do this love fortune thing? When I was in junior high, I learned how to tell love fortunes using playing cards, where... ...you dealt the cards out into four piles, had the person choose one pile, then flipped through it until you came across the Ace of Spades, the Ace of Hearts, the King of Spades, or the Queen of Hearts. And when you came across one of them, you put the rest of the pile aside and asked the person to choose another pile. You kept on with the process of elimination until you had four or five cards.

You laid out the four (or five) cards, and the order they were in would tell your love fortune, with the Queen of Hearts being the fortune's receipient, the Ace of Hearts being her heart, the King of Spades being the person the receipient was thinking of, and the Ace of Spades being their heart. And if there was a fifth card, then it was another person who was in the way.

I remember a lot about this, but I just tried to teach a ten-year-old girl about it, and I couldn't remember all the explanations for how the cards turned out at the end. When I look on Google, I get a lot more complicated fortune telling rules, and I really just want to know how this works.

Did anyone else do this? Does anyone remember how it's supposed to go?

Solo two deck card games

pomegranate — Tue, 25 May 2004 19:03:44 -0800

Solo two-deck card games: what are these games called? a) Cards are distributed in four rows, eight across. (Remaining cards are the pull deck.) Any pairs are discarded. Object of the game is to get a row each of each suite from A-8.

b) Start with a row of seven cards. Second row is three cards, pull deck, then three more cards. Keep putting all the cards down on the original rows unless they go in the pull deck. The pull deck is bonuses made from Aces you find in the set-up or any cards with a number corresponding to their place in the row. (i.e. if there were a deuce in the second space, first row, or a four in the fourth place, first row.) Object of the game is to construct full suites from the pull deck and the cards in the rows.

My 85 year old grandmother plays both of these games (very skillfully) while drinking her cocktail every evening, but her age-induced aphasia has caused her to forget the names. It's making her nuts. Any thoughts? Or anyplace I can look?