Pick-Up

Contributed by Justin Lake (justin14@home.com)

Cards: A regular pack of 52 in which the cards rank ace down to the deuce.

Players: 2

Deal: Players draw for deal, highest card deals. Deal thirteen cards to each player, one at a time. After the hands have been dealt, the dealer deals 6 piles of 4 cards each in a row between the two players. The remaining 2 cards are NOT looked at and, without changing their order, are set aside for the end of the game. The dealer then turns the top card of each pile and sets it face up atop the pile.

The Play: Non-dealer plays first. The object of the game is to make sets of either 2 or 4 cards, but not 3. This is done by paring the exposed cards on the table with the cards in your hand. Example: I hold a jack in my hand. There is another jack exposed on the table. First I place my jack down in front of me, then a take the jack fron the table and place it on top my jack. Then I turn the card beneath the jack (if there is one) face up. My turn is over. I am only allowed one play on each turn and I can only use one card from the table. If I have three cards of the same rank in my hand I can pair them with the fourth card from the table. Keep in mind that the card taken from the table must be on top of the set. Keep in mind also that sets cannot be taken straight from the hand. Lastly, if you have already laid down two cards of the same rank, and can lay down the other two, you cannot lay down the other two cards to make a set of four. The other two must be laid down as a separate pair. If a player cannot make a set on his turn, he is allowed to pass, but he cannot pass if he can make a set. If both players pass the play ends and scoring begins. If a player runs out of cards, the play ends and scoring begins. If there are no more cards on the table, play ends and scoring begins.

Scoring: The card values are:

• Ace: 20
• Jack, Queen, King: 10
• Deuce through 10: 5

Sets of two cards count as one card of their rank. Sets of four cards count as two cards of their rank.

FIRST: If a player wishes to, he may turn face down one of his sets and it is not scored.

SECOND: Turn up the first card of the two that were set aside at the beginning of the game. The suit of this card is the winning suit, and all sets whose top card is of the same suit are scored for the player.

THIRD: Turn up the second card that was set aside. The suit of this card is the losing suit. All sets whose top card is of the same suit's value are subtracted from the player's score. However, before subtracting anything, add 10 points to your score for every set whose top card is of nether of the signifigant suits, no matter how many cards are in it, it's worth 10.

FOURTH: Now subtract the value of the sets whose top card is of the losing suit. Subtract also, no matter what their suit, the value of every remaing card (if any) in your hand. Negative scores are possible.

Bonus: At the end of any hand, if a player's score is 0 he scores 100 points.

Winning: The first player to reach 1000 points or above, or any other agreed number, wins.

Ties: If there is a tie play another hand and the highest score wins. If there is another tie, play as many hands as you need.