Fast Food

Contributed by Dan Wakefield (Crazyfrienddan@aol.com).

This game is for two players. The deck is prepared by first removing the kings, queens, and jacks, and then separating the colors, leaving you with two 20-card decks.

Either deck is used first, the other being put aside for now. Each player is given three cards, and the other 14 cards of the reduced deck are set away as stock, in a face down stack. Each player takes turns taking one card from the stock and playing a card, calling out the total of the played cards. If the first player drops a four, he calls, "Four." If his opponent drops a ten, she calls, "Fourteen," and so on.

The point of the game is to make the total of the played cards add up to a multiple of 3, 5, or 7, or add up to be a number with 3, 5, or 7 in it. Players keep a running total of the sums of the cards, and the cards are kept face up so they can be added up in case of a dispute. Aces are one, twos two, etc.

When the total of the played cards have seven in it or is a multiple of seven, the person dropping the card to make that total scores Cheeseburger. If the first player plays a 2, and the second player 5, the second player scores a Cheeseburger. If the first player drops a 10 next, he too scores a Cheeseburger. Seven, 14, 17, 21, 27, 28, etc. are Cheeseburger numbers. Cheeseburgers are worth seven points.

When the total has a five or a multiple of five, the player making that total scores Soda. If a player starts with a five, he makes Soda. If the second player drops another five on top, she scores a Soda, too. If the first player returns with a 10, he gets another Soda. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, and so on are some Soda numbers. Sodas score three points.

When the total has a three or is a multiple of three, the player making that total scores Fries. They're made the same way as Cheeseburgers and Sodas. Three, six, nine, 12, 13, 15, and others make Fries. Fries score one point.

Notice that all the numbers between 70 and 79 are Cheeseburgers, all between 50 and 59 (and 60, a multiple of five) are Sodas, and all between 30 and 39 are Fries.

Also note that some numbers can be in more than one category. Fifteen, for example, score both Soda and Fries. Thirty five brings in all three.

After the stock is ehxausted, play continues until both players no longer have cards. Then, using the other deck, with the player that went second the first game going first this time. (Because the last play is for a total of 110, the second player gets an advantage, since she gets an easy Soda. Switching first and second for the second game makes sense.) The cards used for the first game are put aside and not used, and the total of the cards start again at zero.

The second game is played in the same way as the first, and the player with the highest score after both games is the winner.

One last note: since scoring is continuous, you might want to play with a cribbage board if you have one. But if you don't, pencil and paper work fine, too.