Nameless

Contributed by Ben (LuckySeven70@aol.com), who writes: "One day me and my friends were playing euchre. I left my seat and someone else stole it. When I came back I decided to create a game with the cards you don't use in euchre. Two of my friends and me created a game we call Nameless. Here is the gameplay, rules and everthing else you need to know about the game of Nameless."

RULES FOR THE GAME OF NAMELESS

THE CARDS

You use 2's, 3's, 4's, 6's, 7's, and 8's only - a 24 card deck.

THE DEAL

You deal 5 cards to 4 players dealing in twos and threes like in euchre. The dealer then sets the remaining 4 cards down and flips the top one up (also just like in euchre).

THE PEOPLE

3-4 players. With 4 you play in partners. For 3 see the Variations section below.

OBJECT

You try to take the most tricks. Each trick is worth apoint. The first team to 20 points wins.

SCORING

You get one point for each trick you take. If you go alone (try to play against the opponents without your partner), and you take 3 of the 5 tricks, you receive a total of 4 points and your opponents lose 1 point. If you go alone and you take 4 of the 5 tricks, you receive a total of 6 points and your opponents lose 2 points. If you go alone and take all 5 tricks you receive a total of 7 points and your opponents lose 3 points. If a player reneges (does not play according to the card that was led) their team loses 2 points and their opponents gain 2 points.

TRUMP

7's are always trump. They are ranked in the order of Spades, Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs. Therefore the 7 of spades is the highest 7 and the 7 of clubs is the lowest. The card that was flipped up at the end of the deal is also trump. The order of the rank for the flipped up card is confusing so I'll give an example instead of trying to explain it.

Example - Say that the card flipped up was a 4 of hearts. That means that 4's and 7's would be trump. 4's however are a higher trump the 7's. The highest 4 would be the 4 of diamonds. This is because the highest trump is the opposite of the flipped up card (opposite of hearts is diamonds and the opposite of spades is clubs).

After the highest trump is determined, the other two 4's (or what ever else the flipped up card was) go in the order of Spades, Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs. This means that if the 4 of hearts was flipped up the order of trump highest to lowest would be: 4 of Diamonds, 4 of Spades, 4 of Clubs, 7 of Spades, 7 of Diamonds, 7 of Hearts, and the 7 of Clubs. That makes 7 trumps all together. If a 7 is the flipped up card then you only have 3 trumps.

GAMEPLAY

The person to the left of the dealer leads any card they want to. If the lead is a non-trump card then all other players have to play according to suit unless they have none in which case they may trump it or throw any card they want. If the lead is a trump card all the other players must play trump as well unless they don't have any. The person with the highest card among the 4 wins the trick for his or her team and then leads the next card. This is continued till all five tricks are taken. The points are then tallied up and the first team to 20 wins.

TWO'S SWITCH

If you are dealt 3 twos you can exchange them for the 3 cards underneath the flipped upcard.

VARIATIONS

To play with 3 people you deal the cards as if there are 4 players and the 4th hand serves as a Switch hand. Each person is hisown team and you win if you get 10 or more points. If you do not like your hand you can switch it with the Switch hand. If you switch your hand you cannot switch it again.

To play with 5 people you deal 4 cards to each player and one of the players plays by himself while the other 4 play in partners. In 5-player mode you cannot go alone.

To play with 6 people you add the 5's into the deck and deal everyone 4 cards. Other than that you play normally with 3 sets of partners.