Card games in Afghanistan

Panjpar is a two-player game featured in the novel "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. It is related to the Russian game Prostoy Durak but uses a full 52-card pack.

Gyula Zsigri reports that the standard 52 card pack is also used in Afghanistan for the following games:

• Teka - a plain-trick game with bidding for four players in fixed partnerships.
• Fis Kut - a plain-trick game for four players in fixed partnerships, in which the non-dealer's team chooses trumps.
• Betrinu - a three card vying game related to Brag.
• Chor Voli - a partition game for 4 players in which four 3-card combinations are formed from a 13-card hand. There is also a variant Ramchi for three players, making five 3-card combinations from a 17-card hand.

Gyula Zsigri has provided a Eastern Farsi Card-Playing Glossary, showing how these card game names are written and pronounced.

The page Card Games in Afghanistan (archive copy) briefly describes Panjpar and two other games:

• Dozdakaan - a game related to the Sri Lankan game Juse and the 19th century English game Muggins.
• Nowrang - a rummy game with 10-card hands.