Low Card High Suit

Contributed by Nicholas Bos

Players: This is a four player non-team game.

Deal: The dealer shuffles the deck. He then lays 3 cards face down in the discard pile, and one card face up in the center of the playing area. Each player then receives twelve cards.

Play: The card in the center is called the "playing card". Starting with the person to the left of the dealer, each player in turn must lay a card of the same suit, but of a lesser value (ace is high), face up on top of the playing card - the card played becomes the new playing card.

A player who does not have a playable card (all his cards are of other suits or higher than the playing card) must pass. If four people pass in a row, the next player (the player who passed first of the four) may move the stack of playing cards onto the discard pile, and play a new card of a different suit as the "playing card". If he cannot, because all his remaining cards are the same suit as the "playing card", the player before him (to his right) must lay a card of a different suit, and so on around the table.

In the very rare case where everyone passes a second time, because no one is able to change suit, the play ends at that point and the scores are calculated.

At any point during the play you may discard sets for four equal cards. If you are dealt four of the same value (A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, or 2) you may place all of them face up on the discard pile.

When you have only one card left you must lay it face up in front of you and show the other players what it is.

Scoring: The way to win a round is by running out of cards. Then, you get 0 points for that round, and everyone else gets 1 point for every card they have. The next player to the left then deals for the next round. After five rounds the person(s) with the least number of points win(s).