Be honest: how often is it that you see a group of friends (or even strangers) playing cards in a café? How many more people have their faces buried in a laptop?

We at Standart believe the pastime of playing cards should be brought back to the café space, or the coziness of your homes with vigour! So here we provide you with a few games to get you started with your Standart Playing Cards.

Set-up

• 2+ players
• 52 card deck

Objective

The player who collects all 52 cards wins the game.

Gameplay

Deal all the cards, face down, to all the players. Each player must put their cards into a pile face down. Each player one at a time, takes a card from their pile and places it face up in the center of the table. When the card facing up is a Jack , players try to be the first to slap their hand down on it. The first player to slap the Jack takes it and all the cards underneath it.

If more than one player slaps the Jack, the one whose hand is directly on top of the Jack gets the pile. If a player slaps a card that is not a Jack, they must give a card face down to the player of that card. When a player has no more cards left they are out of the game, the one who collects all the cards WINS!

Set-up

• 2+ players
• 52 card deck

Objective

The goal is to win the most ‘books’ of cards. A book is any
four of a kind, such as four Kings, four Aces, and so on.

Rank of cards

The cards rank from Ace (high) to 2 (low). The suits are not important; only the card numbers are relevant, such as two 3s, two 10s, and so on.

Deal

Any player deals one card face up to each player. The player with the lowest card is the dealer. The dealer shuffles the cards, and the player to the right cuts them. The dealer completes the cut and deals the cards clockwise one at a time, face down, beginning with the player to the left. If two or three people are playing, each player receives seven cards. If four or five people are playing, each receives five cards. The remainder of the pack isplaced face down on the table to form the stock.

Gameplay

The player to the left of the dealer looks directly at any opponent and says, for example, ‘Give me your Kings,’ usually addressing the opponent by name and specifying the rank that they want, from Ace down to 2.

The player who is ‘fishing’ must have at least one card of the rank that was asked for in their hand. The player who is addressed must hand over all the cards requested. If the player has none, they say, ‘Go fish!’ and the player who made the request draws the top card of the stock and places it in their hand.

If a player gets one or more cards of the named rank that was asked for, they are entitled to ask the same or another player for a card. The player can ask for the same card or a different one. So long as the player succeeds in getting cards (makes a catch), their turn continues. When a player makes a catch, they must reveal the card so that the catch is verified. If a player gets the fourth card of a book, the player shows all four cards, places them on the table face up in front of everyone, and plays again.

If the player goes fishing without ‘making a catch’ (does not receive a card she asked for), the turn passes to the left.

The game ends when all thirteen books have been won. The winner is the player with the most books. During the game, if a player is left without cards, they may (when it’s their turn to play), draw from the stock and then ask for cards of that rank. If there are no cards left in the stock, they are out of the game.

Set-up

• 2+ players
• 52 card deck

Deal

Deal cards one at a time, face down, to each player until all the cards have been dealt evenly. Without looking at any of the cards, each player squares up their hand into a neat pile in front of them.

Gameplay

Starting to the left of the dealer, players draw the top card from their pile and place it face-up in the middle. If the card played is a number card, the next player puts down a card, too. This continues around the table until somebody puts down a face card or an Ace.

• When a face card or an Ace is played, the next person in the sequence must play another face card or an Ace in order for play to continue.
• If the next person in the sequence does not play a face card or an Ace during their turn, the person who played the last face card or Ace wins the round and the whole pile
goes to them. The winner begins the next round of play.
• The only thing that overrides the face card or Ace rule is the slap rule. The first person to slap the pile of cards when the slap rule is put into effect is the winner of that round. If it cannot be determined who was the first to slap the pile, the person with the most fingers on top wins.

Slap Rules
• Double – When two cards of equivalent value are laid down consecutively. E.g. 5, 5
• Sandwich – When two cards of equivalent value are laid down consecutively, but with one card of different value between them. E.g. 5, 7, 5
• Top Bottom – When the same card as the first card of the set is laid down.
• Tens – When two cards played consecutively (or with a letter card in between) add up to 10. For this rule, an Ace counts as one. E.g. 3, 7 or A, K, 9
• Jokers – When Jokers are used in the game, which should be determined before game play begins, whenever someone lays down a Joker, the pile can be slapped.
• Four in a row – When four cards with values in consistent ascending or descending order is placed. E.g. 5, 6, 7, 8, or Q, K, A, 2
• Marriage – When a queen is placed over or under a King. E.g. Q, K or K,Q
• You must add one or two cards to the bottom of the pile if you slap the pile when it was not slappable.
• Continue playing even if you have run out of cards. As long as you don’t slap at the wrong time, you are still allowed to ‘slap in’ and get cards! Everyone should try to stay in the game until you have a single winner who obtains all the cards
• The player who has all of the cards at the end of the game wins.