Railway

Contributed by Anoop Sankar (anoop@smilehouse.cjb.net)

This game is usually played by kids in India (at least in Kerala state), using paper pieces with film-names written on them. I modified it so that it can be played with a standard set of 52 cards. The original game with film names is called Cinema Peru.

The game is based purely on luck... Any number of participants can take part - usually 2 or 4.

Suits are usually ignored (See variations).

The arrangement of cards on the table is called the "rail".

The cards are well shuffled, and dealt equally to each of the players. The players are NOT allowed to view their cards, instead they are kept face down. The dealer gets to lay the first card. He has to pick the top-most card from his pile and place it on the table. The player to left of the dealer lays a card in the same manner adjacent to the first card.

This goes on until the value of a card played matches the value of a previously played card (i.e a card already layed on the table.) In this case, the player gets to take all the cards that are in between the two matching cards inclusive of the two matching cards. The received cards are kept at the bottom of the receiving player's pile, in the order they were laid on the table. The game goes on till a player has all the cards with him. He's the winner.

Variations

• Colours can be taken into consideration.. eg: only a red 7 can match another red 7. This could be more dramatic!
• The objective is often reversed.. i.e the winner is the person, who gets rid of all his cards first.
• Playing with a Joker -- The player who plays the joker can take all cards from the start of the rail to the end! Very dramatic.. Consider this: The railtrack is now of 10 cards and the player has only card left - the joker!