The Game Of Sums
A Card Game for Two or More
What you need
- One or more deck(s) of cards - Jokers Included!
- A six-sided die.
The value of cards
- All numbered cards are worth their shown number
- Jokers are 0, Aces are 1, Jacks are 11, Queens are 12, Kings are 13
- Black cards (Clubs and Spades) are positive, red cards (Hearts and Diamonds) are negative
Rules of the Game
- Each player gets dealt 7 cards.
- On his or her turn, the player must lay down a certain amount of cards that total a certain number.
- The number the cards must total changes with each turn, going sequentially from 1-13, returning to 1 after 13. The first sequence will be all postive numbers (On the first turn, the cards must total +1; on the second, +2; the third, +3; the fourth, +4; etc.), the second sequence is all negatives (-1, -2, -3, -4, etc.), the third is all positives again, and so on.
- The amount of cards the player must use is specified by the dice. If the player rolls a five, he or she must lay down five cards.
If he or she succeeds, the player is awarded two points.
- If the player fails, the person to the left gets a chance at laying down the specified number of cards that total the specified number. If that player fails, the next person to the left gets a chance, and so on. If one of them succeeds, that player is awarded one point.
- If all fail, then the original player gets a second chance with some leeway.
- The player can lay down the specified number, with an allowance of one card. For example, if the player rolled 5, and must lay down cards totalling positive 2, he or she can lay down either 4 or 6 cards totalling +2. If the player rolled a 1, of course, he or she may attempt with two cards, but not 0.
- The player can lay down the specified number of cards that total the number's counterpart. Using the example above, the player would lay down 5 cards that total negative two.
In either case, the player is awarded 1 point.
- After the turn is over, whoever has laid down cards replenishes his or her hand, so that the player holds 7 cards again. The next to go is the person to the left of the person whose turn it originally was.
- The winner is the first player to reach 50 points.
The Rules of 0
- If a person feels he or she has a truly wretched hand, instead of rolling the dice, the player may lay down cards that total 0, taking a penalty equal to the number of cards left in that person's hand. Thus, 7 cards that add up to 0 would mean the entire hand is replaced, and no penalty is incurred. Regardless of penalty, the player skips his or her turn; the number the person would have had to equal would fall upon the next player.
- A rare result of playing with 4 or more decks is a hand of 7 Jokers. This hand (known as Parliament Hill or Congress) is worth 3 points. The dice is not rolled; the player replenishes the hand and skips the turn, the same as above.
