Spades

[Caesar]

Does anyone here play? :)

I used to play fairly regularly and I've realized that it has been a while since I've played at all, and even longer since I've had a decent discussion about spades strategy. If anyone would like to play sometime, or perhaps ponder the finer points of spades play I'd certainly be interested.

I've always been curious about what kind of card games everyone here plays. I'd start a poll, but I'm far too lazy. :P

Cheers.

[WarBlade]

On the PC:
1.) Hunt the @#$% (Microshaft called it "Hearts" for some reason) :huh:
2.) Freecell.

Around the Table:
1.) 500 B)
2.) I used to play Arsehole sometimes, but kids games being what they are, you wind up having to find bored kids without gameboy's etc when the weather sucks. Haven't played it in years.

[kandrathe]

I love to play card games. My favorite is an old Parker Brother specialty card game called "Beggars and Thieves". My grandmother used to play Canasta with all of her grandkids, and my dad and I were huge into Cribbage. Oh, and I just won about $80 bucks last Friday night at a periodic Poker Night get together with the boys. :)

[ShadowHM]

I still play cards, more frequently in the summer than in the winter. By my own decree, the cottage has no television, no computer and no Game Boys.

So the cards come out a lot, at least when the crokinole boards are not in use. :D

Games played:

With the children:
HEARTS *glares at WarBlade*
Cribbage
Crazy Eights
Euchre

With other adults:
Hearts
Cribbage
Euchre
500
Nines

I used to play Bridge, once upon a time, long, long ago. Damn near failed a year of University for it too, due to skipping classes for 'one more hand'. Someday I may return to it. It is a great game for keeping the mind nimble.

[Quark]

Definately. Used to play all the time as a kid, then just started back up last year.

Blitz (aka 31) is also a popular one with my group, just remember to bring your ones! (As a strange side note, my family hates the fact that I've never lost money at that game. At worst I've broken even over a 2-day span. We play that game a lot over holidays).

500 sometimes, Arsehole (as Warblade so elegantly puts it) w/ my friends sometimes.

Spider Solitaire and Free Cell on XP all the time ...

But the best of all, my friend, is O' Hell. It's actually very similar to Spades, but it's singles instead of teams, and you get dealt progressively more cards from 1 to 9 (or however many you can fit for larger groups). Once you reach the high point, you simply go back down to 1. Trump suit is random, picked by top card left after dealt. When bidding, the dealer (last bidder) can never bid so that the total amount of bids = total amount of tricks. Being first dealer is a bad idea ;)

Scoring systems vary for O' Hell, but my family's system:
-Tricks Bid if you get less than you bid.
10 points if you make your bid.
+1 per trick you take if you get more or equal to your bid.

Sorry for that dissertation, but if your interested in playing it's not that easy to find rules (and I don't agree with most house rules anyway).

[ShadowHM]

Scoring systems vary for O' Hell, but my family's system:
-Tricks Bid if you get less than you bid.
10 points if you make your bid.
+1 per trick you take if you get more or equal to your bid.

Yep......house rules vary.

We do play that one too. But our scoring system is:

Tricks bid plus ten if you make your bid.
Zip for making anything else.

Accuracy counts; even when there are only two cards dealt. :P

[Baajikiil]

>Scoring systems vary for O' Hell, but my family's system:
>-Tricks Bid if you get less than you bid.
>10 points if you make your bid.
>+1 per trick you take if you get more or equal to your bid.

The rules we use for o hell is you need to take exactly the amount you bid. How you get your score is by adding a 1 infront of your bid amount. Thus a bid of 1 will net you 11 points, and a bid of 10 will get 110 points. I've never seen a bid of 10 win though so it might as well be your bid +10 is your score for the hand.

We usually go from 1 to 10 then back down to 1. You get the chance for 110 points only once a game.

[Baajikiil]

I and my family have always played many card games. Lately I've had little chance to play, but some of my favorites are Pitch, Cribbage, and O' Hell.

[Solostaran]

I do play spades, quite the fun game, though I must say I am a big fan of Euchre. It really is a classic game. Easy to learn, and fun to master. Another game that I am a big fan of is pinochle. Though I must say I like the ease of only having five cards when I play Euchre and getting much over that amount rattles me bones.

[Copadope]

I learned to play Spades once when I was in New Mexico, but I really haven't played since. As I recall, it was a fun game but I didn't know enough about it to teach any of my friends, and no one else I knew seemed to know the game either. Lately I've been playing alot of pocket change poker with my roommates. It's a great way to procrastinate while at the same time earning some laundry money ;).

Cards have always been a major part of any visit with the grandparents, and they're practically essential on camping trips. At scout camp the game of choice was usually hearts or BS (aka "I doubt it") with an occassional game of 500. At Nan and Pop's it's usually 500 or Sequence (played with poker chips on a huge board, kind of like Connect Four). But no matter where you are, no game can match the complex interaction and strategic alliances involved in a good game of Uno :D. Once a game starts, there's no telling how long a hand will last especially if the exact set of rules is not agreed upon at the beginning of the game.

Overall, I love cards and I'm always willing to learn a new game, especially if I can beat you the first time I play :P.

[Caesar]

On the PC:
1.) Hunt the @#$% (Microshaft called it "Hearts" for some reason) :huh:
2.) Freecell.

Around the Table:
1.) 500  B)
2.) I used to play Arsehole sometimes, but kids games being what they are, you wind up having to find bored kids without gameboy's etc when the weather sucks. Haven't played it in years.

I play lots of hunt the @#$% when no one else is around. I feel the same way about it as you do. :P

Freecell is always a good time. Far more rewarding than Klondike (I can actually win more than I lose with Freecell :lol: )

As for 500, I've never played. Don't even know what it is. Seems like quite a few people here play, though, so I might have to take a look.

Arsehole is always a blast, although it is so hard to find people that know the "real" rules. ;) It's one of my favorites, though, as I somehow manage to stay President the majority of the time. Not quite sure whether I'm better at the game or I get less drunk than everyone else. :blink:

[Caesar]

I still play cards, more frequently in the summer than in the winter.  By my own decree, the cottage has no television, no computer and no Game Boys.

So the cards come out a lot, at least when the crokinole boards are not in use.   :D

Games played:

With the children:
HEARTS     *glares at WarBlade*
Cribbage
Crazy Eights
Euchre

With other adults:
Hearts
Cribbage
Euchre
500
Nines

I used to play Bridge, once upon a time, long, long ago.  Damn near failed a year of University for it too, due to skipping classes for 'one more hand'.   Someday I may return to it.   It is a great game for keeping the mind nimble.

Bridge certainly has that effect on people. :blink: I personally prefer spades, though. I'm more into the cardplay aspect than the bidding.

I was into euchre for about a week before I figured it out. It's fun if you need something quick, but I think bid euchre is by far a better game, and just as quick. Actually, we've developed a variant of bid euchre that incorporates a bit of bridge bidding into it. Instead of simply bidding numbers, you're allowed to bid a number and a suit. The suits are ranked in bridge order, with High being above Low in the No Trump category. We have a ball everytime we play. The communication potential between you and your partner adds so much to the game. It's worth giving a try sometime. I could write up the rules sometime if anyone is interested. :)

[Caesar]

Definately.  Used to play all the time as a kid, then just started back up last year.

Blitz (aka 31) is also a popular one with my group, just remember to bring your ones!  (As a strange side note, my family hates the fact that I've never lost money at that game.  At worst I've broken even over a 2-day span.  We play that game a lot over holidays).

500 sometimes, Arsehole (as Warblade so elegantly puts it) w/ my friends sometimes.

Spider Solitaire and Free Cell on XP all the time ...

But the best of all, my friend, is O' Hell.  It's actually very similar to Spades, but it's singles instead of teams, and you get dealt progressively more cards from 1 to 9 (or however many you can fit for larger groups).  Once you reach the high point, you simply go back down to 1.  Trump suit is random, picked by top card left after dealt.  When bidding, the dealer (last bidder) can never bid so that the total amount of bids = total amount of tricks.  Being first dealer is a bad idea ;)

Scoring systems vary for O' Hell, but my family's system:
-Tricks Bid if you get less than you bid.
10 points if you make your bid.
+1 per trick you take if you get more or equal to your bid.

Sorry for that dissertation, but if your interested in playing it's not that easy to find rules (and I don't agree with most house rules anyway).

Well I'm out of the loop. I've never heard of Blitz or O'Hell. I'm especially intrigued by O'Hell, although I'm not sure I get how the play works. Are there any sites that you'd recommend with a decent write-up of the rules? I'd love to give it a go the next time we play cards. Same thing for Blitz, actually, although I gather that will have to wait until poker night. Are the rules pretty standard for Blitz? If so, I'll just go ahead and look them up myself.

Cheers. :)

[Caesar]

I do play spades, quite the fun game, though I must say I am a big fan of Euchre.  It really is a classic game.  Easy to learn, and fun to master.  Another game that I am a big fan of is pinochle.  Though I must say I like the ease of only having five cards when I play Euchre and getting much over that amount rattles me bones.

If you like spades and euchre I highly recommend bid euchre. So far I haven't been able to find a website that gives the particular rules that we use, so if you're interested I'd be happy to write them up. It only uses a 24 card deck (you can handle one extra card, right? :P ).

[Curt Dogg]

The card game that I play most often is Pitch. I'm not sure if any others are aware of this game. Great fun to play though.

[Quark]

http://www.pagat.com/exact/ohhell.html

Guess that would do, the two differences it had from my style were the scoring (already mentioned) and that it starts w/ high amount of cards instead of 1.

http://www.pagat.com/draw/scat.html

Does a decent job of Blitz, we play with dollars instead of pennies w/ three-and-out (no playing once your out of dollars).

[Caesar]

The card game that I play most often is Pitch. I'm not sure if any others are aware of this game. Great fun to play though.

Never heard of it. What's it like?

[Curt Dogg]

It's hard to describe...but tons of fun to play. Ok I'll try to describe the rules for 13 point (there are variations of 10 and 30 point).

There are "pointer cards" and non point ones. The Ace=1 point, King=0 points, Queen=0 points, Jack=1 points, Jick (off Jack)=1 points, Jokers=1 each, 10=1 points, 9-4=0, 3=3 points, off 3=3 points also, and the 2=1 point.

The Ace is the high card, and then King, Queen, Jack, Jick, Joker, 10, ..... 2

Each player is delt 9 cards and a person bids on how many points they think they and thier partner can get. After all persons have bid the high bidder calls a suite (sp?). All cards of the called suite are kept, also Jokers and the Jick are kept. Each person is then delt enough cards to get 6 in thier hand. If after this there are extra card they are given to the person that won the bid. After everyone has thier six cards, the person who got the bid leads. The person who lays the highest card takes the trick, and is the one who leads the next one. The high card takes all card that were played, and the goal is to make as many points as you bid. If not you go "set", and go back as many points as you bid. The first team to get to 54 points wins the game.

Thats about it, if ya need any clarification let me know.

[kandrathe]

Rules for Pitch
The game of Pitch can be played with either 3 players or 4 players. In the 4 player
game the individuals sitting across from one another are partners and scored as
a team.

Start of the game
The game starts by selecting a dealer and the dealer deals six cards to each player.

The Bidding Process
Once all the players have been dealt six cards, the player to the left of the dealer will make
a bid. The valid bids are Pass, 2, 3, or 4. After the first player makes a bid, each player to
his left (moving clockwise) will make a bid in order. Once a player bids either 2, 3, or 4,
the next player must bid higher than the current bid (except for the dealer). The last
person to bid is the dealer. The dealer may submit a bid at the current bid level.
In this case the dealer would win the bid. For example if the highest bid were
3, the dealer could also bid 3 and win the bid. If all the players have passed on
their bids, the dealer may not submit a pass bid. The player that bids the highest
will win the bid with the exception of the dealer, who may win the bid by bidding
the same as the current highest bid.

Selecting the trump
Once the winning bidder is established, that person will need to select a suit that
will be trump for this game. The trump suit is a suit that will have the highest
priority over all other suits for that game. The trump suit is actually determined
by the first card the winning bidder throws.

Playing the trick
A Pitch game is made up of six tricks. During each trick every player selects one
card to play in order starting from the trick leader. After the bid process
the trick leader is the winning bidder. After the first trick, the trick leader is whoever
won the previous trick. The player that wins the trick will gain procession of
all the cards thrown for that trick and the cards are keep face down except for the
first card of the first trick (this represents the trump suit for the game).

Winning the trick
The lead suit for a trick is the suit of the first card that is thrown. The trick
is won by the person throwing the highest value lead suit, unless a trump suit was
thrown. If a trump suit was thrown, then the person throwing the highest trump suit
value will be the winner of the trick. The value of the cards are 2 being the lowest
and Ace being the highest.

Valid cards to throw during a trick
The trick leader (person throwing the first card) may throw any card in his hand.
After that, players have certain restrictions on the cards they may throw. If the
first card thrown is a trump suit, each player must throw a trump suit card if they
have one, otherwise they may throw any other card. If the first trick card thrown is a
not a trump suit card, then each player may throw a trump suit card or a card that
matches the lead suit of the first card thrown. If a player has no cards in the
lead suit, he may throw any card. A player may throw a trump card at any
time.

Ending the trick
When all the six tricks have been played, that game ends and the score for that game
is tabulated.

Scoring a Pitch game
There are 4 points that are possible to be awarded for each pitch game. The points are
calculated from the cards won by each player during the six tricks played during
the game.
One point is awarded to the person that has won the highest trump card.
One point is awarded to the person that has won the lowest trump card.
One point is awarded to the person that has won the Jack trump card.
One point is awarded to the person that has won the most trick points.

Trick points are calculated as follows.
An Ace is worth 4 trick points.
An King is worth 3 trick points.
An Queen is worth 2 trick points.
An Jack is worth 1 trick points.
An Ten is worth 10 trick points.

There are always 2 points awarded for each game (high trump and low trump). The point
for Jack of trump may not be awarded if no one has won that card. Also, if there is a
tie for high trick points, that point is not awarded.

The players (or team) that did not win the bid are automatically assigned the points
that they won during the game. The winning bidder (or team) must have won enough
points during the game to either equal or exceed their original bid to be credited
with the points for that game. If the winning bidder (or team) does not win his bid,
points are deducted in the amount equal to the original bid. In the 4 player game,
the players cards are combined for each team and calculated accordingly.

A Pitch round
After the pitch game is scored, the person to the left of the dealer of the last game
becomes the new dealer. A new game is dealt. A pitch round is won when a player or
team reaches 11 or more points and was the winning bidder and won their bid. If
the team or player that reaches 11 or more points was not the winning bidder, the
team with the most points (11 and greater) will win the round. in this case, if there is a
tie when a player or team reaches 11 or more points the round continues with a new
game until a clear winner is established.

[Curt Dogg]

Whoa, I've never played that kinda of pitch.