Source: The Big Book of Rules by Stephanie Spadaccini (2005) TABLE FOOTBALL Equipment: (1) A long table to serve as the playing field. (2) A paper football. To make one, take a piece of 8 1/2x11 paper and fold it into thirds the long way. Then fold one corner down to the opposite edge, making an angle at the top. Fold the angel straight down along its edge. Repeat the fold all the way down the paper until you can't fold anymore. Tuck the excess paper into the open end. The football should be a 3x3x4 inch triangle. Players: Two Object: To score touchdowns and field goals. Setup: Players sit at opposite ends of the table. Play: Players take turns finger-flicking the football down the table, trying to get it to the edge of the other end of the table. If part of it hangs over the edge, the player scores a touchdown worth 6 points. If a shot falls short of the end of the table, the other player receives possession of the ball and gets to shot at his own goal from that point. If a shot goes off the side of the table, it's out of bounds. The other player gets to shoot from the point at which the ball went over the edge of the table. If a shot goes entirely off the far end of the table, the other player gets to kick a field goal worth 3 points. Holding the football so that it stands up between his finger and the table, the field goal kicker finger-flicks the ball toward the goal. The goal is formed by the other player with his fingers, tips of thumbs touching and the each other and index fingers point up so that resemble the goal posts, wrists resting on the edge of the table. If a player scores a touchdown, he can go for an extra point, executed just like the field goal. Play continues until a predetermined score or time limit is reached. Scoring: Touchdown is 6 points. Field goal is 3 points. Extra point after touchdown is 1 point. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WORD LIGHTING Equipment: (1) Pencil. (2) Paper. (3) A wristwatch or clock. Players: Two or more. Object: To think of as many words that begins with a certain letter in one minute. Play: Players take turns assigning each other a letter of the alphabet. While one player is thinking of as many words as possible within the time limit, the other player or players are keeping count of the words and watching the clock. Play continues until the player have had an equal number of turns. The player who thought of the most words wins. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD GAME: BEGGAR MY NEIGHBOR Equipment: A 52 card deck. Players: Two to six. Object: To win all the cards. Setup: All the cards are dealt out facedown into piles for each player as far as they'll go. Some players have more cards than others. Play: The player to the left of the dealer turns over the top card on his pile and places it faceup in the middle of the playing surface. If the card isn't a face card or an ace, then the next player turns over one of his cards. Play continues to the left until a face card or an ace is turned up. When this happens, the next player has to "pay" the player who turned over the face card of the ace the following: one card for a jack, two cards for a queen, three cards for a king, or four cards for an ace. The player paying the penalty turns over one card at a time. If none of them is a face card or an ace, the first player gets to keep them all. But if one of these is a face card or an ace, the original debt is erased and the first player has to pay the second player the corresponding number of cards. For example, Player A turns over a queen. That means that Player B has to pay two cards. But if the first card that Player B turns over is a jack, Player A now has to pay Player B one card. Players continue paying debts back and forth until no more face cards or aces are turned up. When this happens, the player who played the last ace or face card wins the central pile, and adds it face down at the bottom of his stack. The game then continues with the next player. Play continues until one player has all the cards who is the winner. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD GAME: HEARTS Equipment: A 52 card deck. Players: Three to seven. Four is ideal. Object: To avoid winning tricks that contains hearts or the queen of spaces. Or to "shoot the moon" by winning all of the hearts and the queen of spades. Setup: If the number of players isn't four, certain cards must be removed so each player has the same number of cards. *Three Players: Remove the two of clubs. *Four Players: Remove no cards. *Five Players: Remove the two of clubs and two of diamonds *Six Players: Remove the two of clubs, two of diamonds, three of clubs, and two of spades *Seven Players: Remove the two of clubs, two of diamonds, and three of clubs. After all the cards are dealt and before the first card is played, players pick three cards from their hands and pass them to the player on the left—without looking at the cards they're receiving from an opponent. Play: The player to the left of the dealer leads the first card with the restriction that hearts can't be led until hearts have been broken or a heart has been discarded on the previous trick. If a player only has hearts in his hand, he can lead a heart even if they haven't been broken. In one variation, whoever has the lowest club leads it. After the first card is led, the other players follow suit if they can. If not, then they can play any card. The highest card in the suit that was led wins the trick. The winner of the trick leads next. Play continues until all the tricks have been played. Scoring: Each heart counts for one penalty point. The queen of spades counts for 13 penalty points. If a player shoots the moon or has all 13 hearts and the queen of spades, she subtracts 26 from her point total. Most often, the game is played in rounds to a total of 50 points. Once one player has reached 50, the player with the lowest score wins. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD GAME: CRAZY EIGHTS Equipment: A 52 card deck. Players: Two to four. Five or more requires two decks. Object: To be the first to get rid of all the cards in one's hand. Setup: If two players are playing, each are dealt seven cards. Three or more players get five cards each. The rest of the deck is placed facedown in the center of the table. The top card is turned over and placed faceup next to it. If it's an 8, the dealer buries the card somewhere in the stack and turns over the next card. Play: Players try to match the rank or suit of the faceup card. If the top card is the jack of spades, any spade or jack can be laid on it. If, say, the first player laid down the two of spades, the next player would have to play another two or a spade. If a player can't match the top card, he has to draw cards one by one from the stack until he finds one. Play proceeds clockwise, each player laying down a card that matches the top card in rank or suit, except in the case of those crazy eights. Eights are wild. One can be played no matter what the faceup card is. After an 8 is laid on top of the pile, the player has to call a change of suit. Note: Even if a player can match the faceup card or even play an eight, he can still draw as many cards as he likes from the stack during his turn. When the stack is exhausted, players must play from their hands, and pass if they can't lay down a card. The first player to get rid of all his cards is the winner. In four hand partnerships, both players have to get rid of all their cards to win. If the stack is exhausted and no one can play a card, the game ends in a draw. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD GAME: GO FISH Equipment: A 52 card deck. Players: Two or more players. Object: To make "books" or four cards of the same rank or four of a kind. Setup: The dealer deals five cards to each player or seven cards to each player if there are two players. The remaining cards are put in the center in a pile which is the stock. Play: The first player looks at her hand. Since she's allowed to ask for a card that she already has, she asks another player by name if they have a particular rank of card that will match one of her cards. For instance, "Joe," she might say, "Do you have any jacks?" If Joe has one or more jacks, he has to give them to the first player, and her turn continues. If Joe doesn't have any, he says, "Go fish." That means the first player must pick a card from the stock. If the card the first player picks isn't a jack, she adds it to her hand and the person to her left goes next. If the picked card is a jack, the player shows the card to the other players and gets another turn. If the jack completes a book, the player shows the four jacks to the rest of the players, places the book facedown, and goes again. Play continues clockwise until one of the players, the winner, has no more cards or there are no cards left in the stock, in which case the player who put together the most books wins. Optional: Books can be made up of two cards or two of a kind instead of four cards or four of a kind, an easier option for beginners. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD GAME: I DOUBT IT Equipment: A 52 card deck for 3-6 players. Two decks for 7 or more players. Players: Three or more players. Object: To be the first player to get rid of his cards. Setup: All the cards are dealt facedown. It's okay if some players have more cards than others. Play: The first player puts from one to four cards facedown on the table and announces that he's putting down as many aces as the number of cards. For example, he might put down three cards, saying, "Two aces," whether the cards are aces or not. The second player has to put down from one to four cards while announcing the cards are twos; for example, "Three twos." The third player will do the same with threes, and so on around the table, all the way up to kings, at which point the next player starts over with aces again. But whenever a player puts down cards, any other player can say, "I doubt it," in which case the cards have to be turned up. If the player's statement was true, the doubter has to take those cards into his own hands and any other cards that have been played on the table previously. If the player's statement was false, he has to take all the cards on the table, including the ones he just put down. If two or more players doubt it, the one who said, "I doubt it" first is the official doubter. If two players doubt at the same time, the one nearest to the player's left is the official doubter. The game ends when a player puts his last card on the table and either is not doubted or is shown to have told the truth. A player is allowed to pass. For example, a player says "No sevens," even if he has one or more sevens. When two decks are used, players can lay down any number of cards from one to eight. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD GAME: OLD MAID Equipment: A 52 card deck with three of the four queens removed. Players: Two or more players. Object: To avoid being the player with the single queen or being the Old Maid Setup: All the cards are dealt facedown. It's okay if some players have more cards than others. Play: Players look at their cards and discard any pairs they have. If they have three of a kind, they can discard two. If they have four of a kid, they can discard them as two pairs. The player to the left of the dealer fans out his cards and offers them facedown to the player on his left, who selects one card and adds it to her hand. If the selected card makes a pair with one of his original cards, she discards them. Then it's her turn to offer her cards facedown to the person on her left. Play continues until all the players have managed to pair and discard their cards. There's no winner in the game. There's a loser who is the one with the queen or the Old Maid. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD GAME: PIG Equipment: A 52 card deck. Players: 3-13. Object: To get four cards of the same rank or four of a kind, and not become the pig. Setup: The deck has to be specially prepared. It should have one set of four cards (one for each suit) for each player. So for three players, twelve cards total such as four aces, four kings, and four queens; for four players, sixteen cards or four 4 of a kind; for five players, five 4 of a kind; for thirteen players, the entire deck. Play: If a player has been dealt all four cards of the same rank, she puts her finger on her nose. As soon as they see her, the other players have to do the same. The last player to put her finger on her nose is the Pig. She is "awarded" a "p," the first letter in PIG. If no one gets four of a kind on the deal, the dealer says, "Go." The players remove one card from their hands and put it facedown to their left. Once all the cards are put down, players pick up the facedown card on their right and add it to their hands. If the new card hasn't helped anyone to get four of a kind, the dealer calls "Go" again. As soon as a player gets all four cards of the same rank or four of a kind, she puts her finger on her nose. The last to follow gets a letter. A player who loses three times gets a P-I-G, loses the game, and has to oink like a pig. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD GAME: SLAPJACK Equipment: A 52 card deck. Players: Two or more players. Object: To win all the cards. Setup: All the cards are dealt, divided as equally as possible among the players, who stack them up in front of themselves without looking. Play: The first player takes the top card of his stack and places it faceup in the middle of the playing surface so that all the players can reach it. If the upturned card isn't a jack, the next player going clockwise, does the same, and so on until someone turns over a jack. This is where the "slap" in slapjack comes in. As soon as a jack is spotted, players try to be first to slap a hand down on the pile. The first player who covers the stack with his hand takes the whole pile and adds it to the bottom of his stack. The game ends when one player has all the cards who is the winner. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD GAME: SPIT Equipment: A 52 card deck. Players: Two players. Object: To get rid of all one's cards. Setup: All the cards are dealt out equally. Players arrange the cards so that each has a stock facedown in front of them. Play: The players turn over the first four cards, laying them out faceup in front of themselves and making two "spreads." Then they count together, "One, two, three, SPIT!" At the word "spit," each turns over the top card of his stock and lays it down in the middle of the table, making a "spit pile." Then as quickly as they can, using one hand and moving one card at a time, they put as many of their own stock cards and spread cards as they can onto the spilt piles. The cards must be next in sequence up or down; for example, a 6 can go on a 5 or a 7; aces are high/low and can go on a 2 or a king. Suit and color don't matter. When a card from a spread is put on a spit pile, the player replaces it with a card from the stock. When neither player can add another card to the spit piles, they start all over again. Play continues until one player has no cards left on his stock or his spread cards. The player who is out of cards takes the smaller spit pile to be his new stock. The other player takes the larger one and adds it to his current stock. Both players shuffle their stocks and start again. The game ends when one player is completely out of cards. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD GAME: SUIT OF ARMOR Equipment: A 52 card deck. Players: 3-7 players. Object: To be the first player to collect seven cards in the same suit. Setup: Players are dealt seven cards each. The rest of the deck won't be used. Play: Players look at their cards and, if they have more cards in one particular suit, try to see if they can collect even more of them. The dealer starts by putting one card of a suit that he doesn't want facedown to his left. The player to his left puts down a card he doesn't want to his left, and picks up the card the dealer put down. The third player puts down an unwanted card, and picks up the second player's discard, and so on around the table. Play continues until one player has all seven cards of the same suit and calls, "Suit of Armor!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD GAME: WAR Equipment: A 52 card deck. Players: Two players. Object: To win all the cards. Setup: One player deals out the complete deck, so that each player has 26 cards. Without looking at their cards, players arrange the cards in a neat pile. Play: Players turn over their top cards at the same time and put them faceup in the center. High card wins. The player who wins take both cards and puts them at the bottom of his deck. Play continues until the players turn over the same card, two jacks, for instance. This means War! The two cards are placed in the center and each player plays three cards facedown and a fourth faceup. The highest card wins. If they've drawn another pair, they repeat war. Toward the end of the game, if one player doesn't have enough cards to complete the war, his last card has to server as his war card. If he loses this round, the game is over. The winner is the player who ends up with all the cards.