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Card Games

Train, Plane and Automobile Solitaire (One Handed Solitaire)

This is a card game for one where you keep all the cards in your hand. It’s perfect to play when you have no space, waiting in a line, or in transit. I learned it back in the late 80’s at the Manchester Arms in Oakville (my home town) and it’s still one of my favourite. Before reading this, have a deck of cards ready and to go step by step. Read the entire thing before really trying it out.

SETUP

Place the entire deck face down between your index and middle finger on your left hand (do everything opposite if you are left handed).

Now pick up the top card of the deck with your right hand, turn it over and place between your thumb and index finger of your left hand….. do this again until you have 4 cards face up spread out so you can see them (only turn one card over at a time to keep the order correct).

When you have cards to remove you will place them face down between your ring and middle finger.

HOW TO START THE GAME

Once you have the first 4 cards face up you can start to play. You are trying to MATCH  the TOP card and 4th card (3 cards down from the top)  either by number or suit. If the number or suit is the same (example the TOP card and 4th card are both 8’s or both Hearts)

IF THEY DO MATCH you take the 2nd and 3rd card out turn them upside down and place them between your middle and ring finger, then you would turn over another new cards and see if you can match the new TOP and 4th cards.

IF YOU DO NOT MATCH you take out a new TOP card  and try and MATCH it with the new  4th card. If they match you would then take out the new 2nd and 3rd cards out (place upside down between middle and index finger) …. if they didn’t match you would take out a new TOP card and continue the process.

When cards have been removed AND you still have 4 or more cards turned up, always check to see if the TOP card matches the 4th (three down from the TOP card). You may be able to back track a lot and get rid of many in your hand before turning a new TOP card over.

The game is finished when there are no more cards to turn over.

OBJECT OF THE GAME

After all the cards have been turned over you have won the game if you have only 2 cards left facing up. You should always have an even amount of cards left over (I’m a total geek and keep track of how many I had left).

HINT

I like to put my index and middle finger from my right hand on the two cards I am trying to match up. It is really easy to miss a move otherwise.

It sounds more confusing than it actually is. It is tricky to hold everything at first, but if you are bored enough I have faith you can make it work. I hope the photo’s make it easier, and if you watch the video a few times it should help….. (that game I played for the video I had 8 left).

Enjoy, and if you have any questions feel free to write me :).



Card game for two people….. Using 2 decks of cards

Object of the game is to get rid of all your cards first. Whoever has cards left in their hand must add the points against them. Person with the lowest score is the winner.

There are 6 rounds to the game, plus an optional penalty round :).

In each round you are trying to get sets of either: runs (min. 3 cards all the SAME SUIT), or sets of all the same number, called “trips” (min. 3 cards). Jokers are wild cards that can replace any card in a set as long as there are more cards then Jokers. (6-6-J, 6-6-6-J-J, 5-6-J).

For each round you must get the mandatory set or sets before you can begin putting anything down. After you’ve played what is mandatory for the round, on your next turn you can start putting down any other sets you have. You can add to already-played sets on yours or your opponent’s after mandatory sets have been played.

You do not receive points for having the most cards down, but you DO get penalized for anything left in your hand when the other person goes out.

Rounds Mandatory Description
1 Full house You must use all your cards. Either in runs (min 3) and/or trips (min 3 of a kind) You do not need to discard at the end of this round.
2 One trip (3 of a kind) Three of any number ( 3 Queens, 3 twos) You must be able to discard at the end of this round.
3 Run of three + One trip A run of three cards all the same suit (5-6-7H) AND three of a kind You must be able to discard at the end of this round
4 Run of 4 + two trips A run of 4 cards the same suit AND two sets of three of a kind You must be able to discard at the end of this round
5 Run of 5 A run of 5 all the same suit. (4-5-6-7-8H) You must be able to discard at the end of this round
6 Run of 7 + two trips A run of 7 cards all same suit AND two sets of three of a kind You must be able to discard at the end of this round
Optional 4 of a kind Four of a kind, but all different suits. You must be able to discard at the end of this round

Person with lowest cut deals 13 cards to each, and turns top card up.

The non dealer either picks up the turned up card if they want it, or puts the top card face down on that card and makes the dealer pick it up, then picks up the next top card.

Eg. Dealer turns over a 6H. Either the non-dealer picks up 6H. Or if they don’t want that card picks up the next top card not looking at it and gives that card and the 6H to the dealer, then picks up the next top card.

It’s still the non-dealer’s turn and if they can play the mandatory starter for that round they can put it down face up, then discard placing the cards face up . If you can not play mandatory starter just discard face up.

Eg. Say the mandatory start was three of a kind (a trip). After picking up either the 6H or the next top card, see if you have 3 of a kind (a trip) if so you can play then you can play only that (when you first play the mandatory part you can not put down anything else until your next turn). Discard and then it’s the dealer’s turn.

The dealer then gets to either pick up the discarded card or give it to the non-dealer with the next top card.

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