Card Games For Dummies - Barry Rigal

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you see ♥K and ♠7 rather than “the king of hearts” or “the 7 of spades.”

      I show you entire hands of cards in figures to help you see what a set of cards looks like when you’re actually holding it in your hand.

      During the printing of this book, some Web addresses may have broken across two lines of text. If you come across such a situation, rest assured that we haven’t put in any extra characters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break. So, when using one of these Web addresses, type in exactly what you see in this book, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist.

      For the most part, I’ve tried to avoid using more technical jargon than is absolutely necessary. However, the book does include some sidebars that give you historical perspective on how certain games were created or about where you can go online for additional information about specific games. These are asides and not critical to the text. You can spot them easily enough — the text is on a shaded background.

      In each chapter, I place icons in the margin to emphasize the following types of information:

      

With this icon, I point out the wrong way to play a game. Pay special attention to these icons so that you avoid finding things out the hard way.

      

This reinforces a point of the game that may be less obvious (or intuitively right) than meets the eye. You should keep these points in mind as you play the game.

      

I’ve been playing cards for quite some time, and I use these icons to emphasize some insights born of experience that will help make you a sharper player.

      

Next to this icon, you’ll find a list of all the stuff you need to play a game — I tell you how many players you need, what type of cards you play with, and if you need any other special equipment, such as something to keep score with.

      

Most of the games in this book have so many variations, I’d have to write a whole library to include them all. Instead, I cover the most popular variations of a game and tag them with this icon.

      In addition to the material in the print or ebook you’re reading right now, this product comes with some goodies on the Web that you can access anywhere. Simply go to www.dummies.com and type in “Card Games For Dummies, 3rd Edition Cheat Sheet” in the Search box. You’ll find handy tips and tricks on picking the best games, card game do’s and don’ts, and more!

      Each game in this book is a self-contained chapter. If you want information on a particular game, consult the appropriate chapter and discover everything you need to know in order to get started.

      Along with the Table of Contents at the front of the book, the index at the back of the book can help you locate the game you want to play without too many diversions. Having said that, one of the more interesting ways to experience this book may be to open it at random and discover a game that you’ve never heard of before.

      Discovering Card Games

      After I explain some of the basics of cards (along with some tidbits about the history of cards and the etiquette of card games), I introduce a diverse range of games for you to deal out. If you don’t have anyone to play cards with, don’t worry. I provide an entire chapter of Solitaire card games. And if you’re a beginning card player, teaching children to play cards, or just a kid at heart, check out the chapter on popular children’s games, including War and Go Fish. Enjoy!

      Card Game Basics

      IN THIS CHAPTER

      

Speaking card game lingo

      

Following the rules and etiquette of card games

      

Hand-picking the best card game

      I’m sure that if you’ve ever played cards at all, you don’t need me to explain what fun 52 pieces of pasteboard can be. But just in case, here goes …

      Because you don’t know what the other players have in their hands in almost every card game, playing cards combines the opportunity for strategy, bluffing, memory, and cunning. At the same time, you don’t have to play cards all that well in order to enjoy yourself. Cards allow you to make friends with the people you play with and against. A deck of cards opens up a pastime where the ability to communicate is often of paramount importance, and you get to meet new faces and talk to them without having to make the effort to do so.

      If you want to take the plunge and start playing cards, you encounter a bewildering range of options to choose from. Cards have been played in Europe for the last 800 years (see the sidebar “Card Games Through the Ages” for more details), and as a result, you have plenty of new games to test out and new rules to add to existing games.

      One of the features of Card Games For Dummies, 3rd Edition, is the diversity of card games covered in it. I can’t hope to list all the rules of every card game within the chapters, so this chapter discusses the general rules that apply to most card games. Get these basics under your belt so you can jump in to any of the games I describe in detail later in the book.

      Card gamers have a language all their own. This section covers the most common and useful lingo you encounter as you get to know various card games.

      

When card games come together, the players arrange themselves in a circle around the card-playing surface, which is normally a table. I describe

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