2. War family

SNAP

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3 to 8. The game is best for 4 or 5 players.

THE DEAL: Any player deals, 1 card at a time, until all the cards have been dealt out. It doesn't matter if they don't come out even.

OBJECT: TO win all of the cards.

THE PLAY: AS in Slapjack, each player turns up 1 card at a time at his turn to play. The card must be turned away from the player and dropped on the table, except that each player starts a pile in front of himself for his turned-up cards. For example, in the game for 4 players, after each player has had a turn, there will be 4 piles of face-up cards and 4 packs of face-down cards.

When a player turns up a card that matches a face-up card on any other pile, the 1st player to say "Snap!" wins both piles and puts them face down under his own pack.

A player who says "Snap!" at the wrong time, when the turned-up card does not match one of the other piles, must give the top card of his pile to the player who just turned up his card.

As in Slapjack, a player who runs out of cards may stay in for the first "Snap!" in the hope of getting a new pile. If he does not win the first "Snap," he is out. A player who cries a false "Snap" is out if he has no cards to pay the penalty.

SKILLFUL PLAY: YOU have to keep looking around to make sure you know which cards are on top of the piles, since they keep changing as the game goes on. You must be ready at all times to shout "Snap!" very quickly. If 2 or more players begin the word at the same time, the player who ends the word first, wins. If you're a slow speaker, this is no game for you.

My grandmother used to play this game with me. She preferred it to Slapjack—which can become rough—when one of the players was a girl. We had to make a special rule once because little Lisa said "Snap!" every time a card was turned. She had to pay a penalty card most of the time, but this was more than offset because she won every single pile.

Grandma said this wasn't fair, so we adopted the rule that after three false "Snaps" a player was out.

WAR

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2.

THE DEAL: Count out 26 cards for each player.

OBJECT: TO win all of the cards.

THE PLAY: Each player puts his stack of cards face down in front of him and turns up the top card at the same time. These top cards start a new pile in front of the player. The player who has the higher of the two turned-up cards wins - both of them and puts them face down at the bottom of his own stack. The King is the highest card, and the Ace is the lowest. The full rank of the cards is:
K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-A

If the two turned-up cards are of the same rank, the players have a "war."

Each turns one card face down and then one card face up. The higher of the two new face-up cards takes both piles (a total of 6 cards).

If the newly turned-up cards again match, there is double war. Each player once again turns one card face down and one card face up, and the higher of these two new face cards wins the entire pile of 10 cards.

The game continues in this way until one player has all of the cards.

This is a good game to play when you have a lot of time and nowhere to go. I used to play it with my brothers when one of us was getting over an illness. It's just the sort of game to play at such a time, when you don't feel like thinking very hard or moving very quickly.

WAR FOR THREE

When 3 players want to play War, take any card out of the deck and give 17 cards to each. For the most part, the play is the same as in two-handed War.

When two cards turned up are the same, all three players join in the war by turning one card face down and one card face up. If two of the new turned-up cards are the same, all 3 players must once more turn one card down and one card face up. As usual, the highest card wins all cards that are used in the war.

If all three turned-up cards are the same, the players must engage in double war. Each player turns two cards face down and then one card face up. If the result is a tie, all 3 players engage in single war.

BEAT YOUR NEIGHBOR

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2.

THE DEAL: Give each player half of the deck.

OBJECT: TO win all of the cards.

THE PLAY: The non-dealer puts a card face up in the middle of the table.

If it is an ordinary spot card (from the deuce up to the 10), the dealer covers it with a card from the top of his pile. This process continues, each playing one card in turn on top of the pile, until one of the players puts down an Ace, King, Queen, or a Jack.

The moment an Ace or picture card appears, the other player must pay out the proper number of cards, one at a time, face up:

For an Ace, 4 cards. For a King, 3 cards. For a Queen, 2 cards. For a Jack, 1 card.

If all the cards put down for payment prove to be spot cards, the owner of the Ace or picture card takes up the entire pile and puts it at the bottom of his stack. This is the way the cards are won, and the object of the game is to win all the cards.

If you turn up an Ace or picture card while you are paying out to your opponent, the payment stops and he must now pay you for the card that you have put down. This process continues, since either player may turn up an Ace or picture card while he is making a payment. Eventually, however, a player turns up only spot cards in payment, and then the entire pile is lost.

ANIMALS

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3 or more. The best game is for 5 or 6 players.

THE DEAL: 1 card at a time until the entire deck has been dealt out. It makes no difference if the cards don't come out even.

OBJECT: To win all of the cards.

THE PLAY: Each player takes the name of an animal, such as pig, kangaroo, rhinoceros, hippopotamus.

When everybody fully understands which player represents which animal, the play begins. The player at the dealer's left turns up a card and then each player in turn turns up a card. As in Snap, the action takes place when a card that has just been turned up matches some other card that is face up on somebody's pile.

The players who own the two matching cards must each call out the animal that the other represents. The one who says the other's animal name 3 times first, wins both piles.

For example, suppose 3 boys have adopted the names, Goat, Pig, and Elephant. The 1st turns up a Queen, the next turns up a 10, and the 3rd turns up a Queen. The 1st and the 3rd go into action, but the 2nd must keep silent. The 1st boy shouts, "Elephant, Elephant, Elephant!" and the 3rd boy shouts "Goat, Goat, Goat!" Both piles are won by the boy who finishes first.

Play continues in this way, until one player has all of the cards.
SKILLFUL PLAY: When some other player is about to turn up a card, make sure that you have firmly fixed in your mind the card that is at the top of your turned-up pile. Then you will be ready to call out the other person's animal if he matches your card.

When it is your own turn to turn up a card, make sure that you have looked at each of the other turned-up cards so that you can instantly spot it if you match one of them. Nine-tenths of the skill in this game consists in being alert.

As you may have noticed, it takes longer to say "Elephant, Elephant, Elephant," than it does to say "Goat, Goat, Goat." For this reason, it always pays to give yourself a long animal name rather than a short animal name. The longer it takes an opponent to say your animal name three times, the better for you.

Good names to use in this game are: hippopotamus, rhinoceros, elephant, mountain lion, boa constrictor, and so forth. One boy, after reading about some of the ancient skeletons that had been dug up, tried to call himself Pithecanthropus erectus, but we didn't let him get away with it.

BARNYARD

This is the same game as Animals, except that the players take barnyard animals and go by the noises made by these animals instead of by the names of the animals themselves. For example, if the first player takes Cow, he is called "Moo-Moo-Moo" rather than "Cow, Cow, Cow." Similarly, a player who took the name of Duck would be called "Quack-Quack-Quack," and a player who took Cat would be called "Meow-Meow-Meow," and so on.

I DOUBT IT

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3 or more.

CARDS: Use a single deck for 3 or 4 players. Shuffle two decks together for 5 or more players.

THE DEAL: 2 or 3 cards at a time so that each player gets an equal number of cards. When only a few cards are left, deal one at a time as far as the cards will go.

OBJECT: TO get rid of all of your cards.

THE PLAY: The player at dealer's left puts from 1 to 4 cards face down in the center of the table, and announces that he is putting down that number of Aces. The next player puts down 1 to 4 cards and announces that he is putting down that number of deuces. The next player in turn does the same thing, stating that he is putting down that number of 3's. The play proceeds in this way, in the sequence—Ace, deuce, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King.

When any player puts down cards and makes his announcement, any other player may say, "I doubt it." The doubted cards must immediately be turned face up. If the statement was true, the doubter must take the entire center pile into his hand. If the statement was false, the player who made the false statement must take the center pile.

When the players are using two packs shuffled together, a player may put down any number of cards from 1 to 8.

When a player puts his last cards down on the table, some other player must naturally say, "I doubt it," since otherwise the game ends automatically. If the statement turns out to be true, the player wins the game.

A player who has no cards at all of the kind that he is supposed to put down is not allowed to skip his turn. He must put down one or more cards anyway, and must try to get away with his untruthful announcement. If somebody doubts his claim, he will have to pick up the center pile.If two or more participants say "I doubt it" at the same time, the one nearest the player's left wins the tie. That is, he picks up the center pile if the statement turns out to be true after all.

THREE-CARD I DOUBT IT

Deal the cards out equally as far as they will go, and put any remaining cards face down in the middle of the table. Each player in turn puts down exactly three cards. Instead of starting with Aces automatically, the 1st player may choose any denomination at all. For example, he may say, "Three 9's." The next player must say "Three 10's,' and so on. When a player has only 1 or 2 cards left, he must draw enough cards from those put face down in the middle of the table to make up a total of three.

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