Sevens

Get rid of your cards first and take the money!

Materials needed

  • A deck of 52 cards

Rules

This is a game of luck and light hand management that, as a bonus, looks pretty on the table.

It is also known as Fan Tan, Card Dominoes, and Parliament.

setup

Dealer shuffles and deals all the cards to all the players. It is okay if people end up with more cards than others, as it will even out through play.

Dealer starts by playing a 7 from their hand to the center of the table.

If they cannot play a 7, they instead put a coin into the pool and play continues to the left.

Play

On your turn you want to either continue a row or start a new row. If you cannot do either, you must pass and give a coin to the pool.

To continue a row, you can play a card of the same suit that is next in order, going up or down.

So if there is only a 7♣ on the table, you can play the 6♣ or 8♣. You would put it to the left or right of the 7♣, respectively.

Alternately, if you have a 7 of a different suit, you can play that instead, starting a new row above or below as you see fit.

If you cannot continue an existing row, nor play a 7, you must pass. Put a coin into the pool.

(It is illegal, and rude, and frankly immoral, to pass when you could play a card.)

End game

The game ends when one person runs out of all their cards. They take the prize pool.

Depending on if people are lavish you can play with the dditional rule that they take the prize pool AND one coin from each player for however many they have left in their hand.

example

Lou wins the game. Al has 3 cards left, Kelly has 2. Lou takes the center prize pool plus 3 coins from Al and 2 coins from Kelly.

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