Angel

Contributed by Rick Orobko (Excalibur531@home.com)

An alternative name for this game is "Afterlife".

The object of the game is to earn credits by scoring the most points in each round. Each player at the start of the game starts out with five credits.

This is a 4-player game and the cards used are Aces (being the lowest) through tens in each suit plus the Jack of Spades (the Devil or bug card) and the Queen of Hearts (the Angel or wild card) - 42 cards in all.

Play begins when each player is dealt five cards faced down. Each player starting with the player to the left of the dealer blindly discards one card from their hand leaving only four cards. The discard is played face up. If either or both the Devil and Angel cards are discarded, they are out of play for the round but the initial holder of them can't play first. The player with the lowest discard goes first and the discards are placed in the trash file not to be played in the round. Then the players look at their cards to start play.

Going counter-clockwise players discard one card from their four card hand and places it onto the trash file face up, then takes the top card from the play pile to reform his/her four-card hand. If a players gets the Devil card (Jack of Spades), he/she is stuck with it for the entire round and is worth nothing but it's still mathematically possible to win. (see Scoring) The Angel card (Queen of Hearts) is used as a wild card and matches any card and is worth 15 points. Play in each round goes on until either all of the cards from the play pile are used or a players calls out "judgement day" in which case he/she becomes the caller. If the caller makes the incorrect call (his hand doesn't win), the caller committed a "sin" and becomes the only player in the round to lose one credit and the player with the most points wins one credit. Otherwise when all cards from the play pile are played, the player with the most points wins the round and earns one credit and the player with the lowest score commits a "sin" and loses one credit. In the event that two or more players tie for most points, each player earns one credit. If two or more players tie for lowest score, no credits are taken away. Game ends when either one player earns 10 credits and becomes the Angel to win the game or a player loses all of their credits (0 credits) and becomes the Devil and loses in which case, the player with the most credits wins.

Scoring:

All cards are the value on the card in points. Aces are always one point and the Angel card is worth 15 points. For instance the following hand: Ace of clubs, 5 of diamonds, 7 of diamonds and 10 of spades totals 23 points (1+5+7+10=23). The points are tallied up for each player with any bonus points meaning extra points depending on the style of the hand.

Bonus points are scored for the following. If the hand:

• contains a pair: 20 points for each pair (40 points for two pair)
• is in sequence (6-7-8-9 for example): 50 points
• consists of three of a kind: 50 points
• is all in the same suit (flush): 50 points
• is all in sequence and the same suit: 100 points
• consists of four of a kind: 100 points

Example 1: 3, 4, 4 and J (Devil card)

(3+4+4+0=11 + 20 points for a pair = 31 points)

Example 2: 4, 5, 6 and 7

(4+5+6+7=22 + 50 points for the sequence = 72 points)

Example 3: 2, 4, 6 and Q (Angel or wild card)

(2+4+6+15=27 + 50 points for the flush = 77 points)

Example 4: 7, 7, 7 and 7

(7+7+7+7=28 + 100 points for four of a kind = 128 points)