Card Games Web Site Policy

• Aims of the site
• How to contribute
• Using and referring to material from this site
• Sponsorship and Donations
• Privacy policy
• Acknowledgements
• Awards, etc.

Aims of the site

The aim is to collect and disseminate knowledge of traditional multi-player card games from all parts of the world, and to encourage people to play a wide range of card games. Usually the best way to learn a game is from experienced players of a game, but this is not always possible. Therefore I try to describe each game in enough detail so that a reader with some general card-playing experience will be able to learn the rules of the game and play it with others, even if no one in the group has played it before.

By publishing rules of games, I am not suggesting that there is a single "correct" way to play each game. Most card games have a large number of minor variations and house rules - to play successfully, it is only necessary that the players should all agree on the rules at the start of a session. Where possible, I try to make sure that the rules given here are "authentic" - the aim is that they should correspond to the way regular players of the game actually play it. If there are significant variations, I try to include these as options. For games with official organisations and rules, official rules may be given, but unofficial alternative versions may also be included.

The main focus is on publishing rules of traditional card games for two or more players. I use the term traditional card games to distinguish them from

• commercial or proprietary games - games designed to be played with special equipment bought from the publisher of the game
• solitaire or patience games - games for one player
• invented games - games which do not yet have a well established tradition of play independent of the original inventor(s)

For traditional multi-player card games, I estimate that the site so far covers at most 30% to 50% of the card games that exist, depending on how you count variations, so there is plenty more work to be done, and all help is gratefully received. Originally I intended to focus on games which were hard to find elsewhere - for example in the widely available books about card games - but there turned out also to be a demand for pages on well-known games such as Bridge, Poker and Canasta, so these have been included as well. The mix of material which is now on the site has been influenced by the contributions people have offered me, by the questions I have been asked, and by my own personal tastes. There is plenty of information on other card games, but it does take time to edit it and produce it in electronic form.

As well as card games I have included traditional games played with dominoes and other types of tiles, since there is no fundamental difference between card games and tile games. Dominoes are available in card form, playing-cards are available in the form of tiles, and games played with cards, dominoes and other tiles are sometimes closely related or even identical.

Although I am not actively developing the sections on commercial, solitaire and invented games, I am happy to receive material about these, which will be placed in separate sections of the site.

The site does not carry detailed information on collectible card games (trading card games). This is not to suggest that there is anything wrong with these games - just that they are outside the scope of this site.

The site does not provide on-line games, nor does it generally carry computer software for downloading. I will however put in links to other sites which do carry on-line card games or downloadable card games software if people tell me about them.

How to contribute

I try to answer all reasonable e-mail, but please make sure you include a valid e-mail address for me to reply to. I have had several offers of help from people to whom I cannot respond, because the address in their e-mail does not work. In particular, if you send me mail from your WWW browser, for example using one of the mail links at the foot of pages on the site, please make sure you have configured your browser to show your correct e-mail address.

Here is how you can help me make this site even better.

1. Perhaps you were disappointed to find that your favourite card game is not described here. If you would like it to be included, why not write down the rules and send them to me. Please observe the following points about game descriptions:
   • They should be clear and complete, so that a group of players unfamiliar with the game can use the description to learn how to play;
   • They should be originally written, not copied from a book (to avoid infringing copyright);
   • They should preferably be submitted in plain text;
   • If you want to include diagrams or pictures, please e-mail me to discuss how;
   • In any case it is a good idea to send me an e-mail before starting work, in case someone else has already written up the same game;
   • As editor of the card-games site, I reserve the right to edit any contributions before publication, or subsequently.
2. Perhaps your favourite game is here, but I have got it wrong - or you know a better version of it - or you would like to add some extra information about it (such as advice on how to play well). Please let me know, so that I can put it right.
3. Perhaps you tried to play one of the games described here, but found that the explanation was not clear, or the game failed to work in some way. Please tell me, so that I can improve the description.
4. Perhaps you have found a mistake - however trivial - broken links, spelling mistakes or actual errors of fact. Please tell me so that I can put it right. (Don't assume that I or someone else will notice).
5. Perhaps you own, or know of, another WWW site with related information. If there is not already a link to it from this site, please tell me about it so that I can put in a link.
6. Perhaps you have some other ideas for improving this site. Other kinds of pages, other indexes. Whatever it is, please tell me.

Using and referring to material from the Card Games site pagat.com

You are welcome to refer to information on this web site by making hypertext links to any page of the site. I will aim to keep page moves to a minimum, and when a move is necessary I will always leave a link or redirect at the old address of the page.

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Except where otherwise explicitly stated all material on this site is copyright © John McLeod - date as given at the bottom of each page. Pages are not to be copied or reproduced in any format without permission.

Sponsorship and Donations

All the game rules on pagat.com are available to read free of charge. The website is supported by a number of generous sponsors, by some advertisements such as banner ads at the top of certain pages and Google ads within search results, and by commission from merchants such as amazon.com for books and games. If you would like to become a sponsor please contact our website manager May Walker for details.

Alternatively, you are welcome to send us a donation using the PayPal button below.

Pagat.com privacy policy

We are committed to protecting the privacy of Internet users. In the process of delivering pages, pagat.com does not automatically collect any personally identifiable information about visitors such as name, address, phone number, or e-mail address. However, we do obtain some types of non-personally identifiable information such as the the IP address from which you connect to the site, your browser type, or the type of computer operating system you use (Macintosh or Windows, for example). This information is used to assemble statistics about the use of pagat.com, such as the popularity of different pages, the number of different visitors and their approximate geographic distribution.

Certain pages may request additional personal information. If you choose to provide such information we promise that it will be used only for the specific purpose for which it was supplied.

This website uses cookies from Google to deliver its services, to personalise ads and to analyse traffic. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. Here is Google's explanation on their use of cookies. If you do not want the benefit of cookies, there is a simple procedure to manually delete your cookies. Please consult your web browser's Help documentation for more information.

If you have any questions about pagat.com's dedication to consumer privacy, please contact the webmaster at john@pagat.com.

Acknowledgements

My thanks to the many people who have made the development of this site possible by contributing descriptions of games and variations. They include:

Eric Aboagye, Enrique Acevedo, P.J.Ackerson, Itay Adler, Aings Aingaran, Yuji Akagiri, Enzo Albeni, Roberto Alberdi, Larry Alexander, Mark Alexander, Samuel Alexander, Kerry Allemann, Rand Allgaier, Bob Allison, Jim Allwright, João Pedro Almeida, Hans-Joachim Alscher, Kelly Aman, Israel Ameh, Elena Anaya, Andrea Angiolino, Mark Anson, J.R. Arner, Tim Arview, Sarah Ash, Faizal Asmal, Edon van Asseldonk, Craig Atkinson, Peter Azzi, Becky B, Sascha Baer, Jógvan Bærentsen, Stefano Bagnara, Brandon Bahti, Jona Baily, Barbara Bain, Michael Baker, Derek Bal, Ofer Ballin, Rory Barclay, Wadih Bargach, Dennis J. Barmore, Florent Barraco, Wanda Bartholmai, Cindy Basaure, Mark Bassett, Bob Bassin, Eugene Beach, Mary Beale, Andy Beben, Dany Bédard, Matt Beeken, Lee Beiermann, Dennis Bell, Glen Benjamin, Co van Bennekom, Brian Berard, Kim Bertholm, Antony Berzack, Eric Betito, Bill Bigger, Ankit Bhageria, Jim Black, Tony Bleyer, Mike Block, Gabriele Boccone, Fritz Bockstege, Carol Bott, Jan Böttcher, Martin Bourgeois, Bruce Bowman, Don Boyer, Steve Bradbury, Mark Brader, Marcus Bradley, David Brandt, Joseph Bratt, Michel Braunwarth, Paul Brennan, Andrew Daniel Brinn, John and Linda Bristol, Leo Broukhis, Trevor Brown, Jim Buckley, Arthur Buderick, Duine Buile, Dan Burzo, Ben Butzer, Alan Byrne, Shandas C., Andre Caissie, Ben Callaghan, David Calvert, Gualberto Campos, Enric Capo, Spencer Cappallo, Guillaume Carcaro, Danielle Carlson, Oscar Carillo, Ben Carroll, Stuart Carroll, Annalisa Cathomas, Joe Celko, Cesar, Cindie Chaise, Gary Chan, Jackie Chang, Jason Chan, Jason Chang, Mae Channing, Chen Shu Hui, Nicholas Cheung, Joe Childers, Suvendi Chinnappen, Yishin Cho, Wayne Choi, Si-lam Choy, Jens Brix Christiansen, Reinhardt Christiansen, Stefano Cirolini, Nick Cleveland, Bruno Colaço, Stephen Coleman, Rand Collins, Julien Colvin, Peter Conlon, Al Connor, John H. Conway, Colin Cook, Keven Cook, Megan Corino, Patrick Corr, Sefa Costa, Jean-Pierre Coulon, Adam Courtney, Cory Cregan, Mirko Cristescu, Maxence Crossley, Áron Csathó, Shiva Ctylyctyc, James Cumming, Bob Da Costa, Brian Daglish, David Dailey, Matt Daligan, Donncha Daly, Sean Daly, John D'Ambrosio, Adva Dar, Neil Darbyshire, Nicolas Darchis, Jim Davidson, Justin Davidson, Danielle Davis, Jim Davis, Mark Allen Davis, Michael Davis, Steve Dawson, Jeri Day, Debojyoti De, Carol DeFur, Thierry Depaulis, Christian de Ryck, Ivan Derzhanski, Eduardo de Tello, Terry Detrie, Marc Dewart, Richard Dewhirst, Zachary Dexter, Ashbir Dhillon, Vlad Diaconu, Victoria Diemer, Gejus van Diggele, Dr Kamran Dodhy, Michael Doer, Petar Đorđević, Vladimir Radulovitch Dowllah, Du Jing Yu, Lorraine Dube Barnes, Andreas Duerloo, Brad Duhon, Daniel Dunne, Jonathan Dushoff, Judy-Ann Dvernychuk, Justin Eagle, Brent Easton, Robert Ebanks, Ed Eby, Pete Eccles, Jeff Eggen, Bob Ekins, Yoni Elhanani, Nancy Emerson, Sergio Estives, Rodrigus Etienne, Pauline Evans, John Eveleigh, Bess Fai, Jay Feaster, Virgilio Ferrari, David Fimble, Alex Fink, Ellen Finkelstein, Sam Finn, Bonnie Fishell, Ann FitzGerald, Steve Fleurant, Claude Foley, Jerry Frank, Woody Frank, Lutz Franke, Thomas Franzén, Adam Fritz, Ann Fulton, Davorin Fundak, John Furlong, Selwyn Furman, Kumar G, Ivan Gaj, Bill Gardner, Paul Gareau, Joana Garcia, Paul Gardner-Stephen, Richard Garfield, Jon Garibaldi, Ken Garinger, Martin Garrod, Doran Gaston, William Gaul, Gregory Gauthier, Kyle Geiszler, Dave George, Mathew George, Andrei Georgescu, Melanie Giedlin, Rick Gilbertson, Chris Gillespie, Luis Fernando Gimnez, Joan C de Gispert, Mark Given, Matt Glasspole, M Glatt, Dan Glimne, Martin Glynn, Sagi Goldman, Kishor Gordhandas, Brian Gordon, Gorgon, Ugen Govender, Daniel Grad, Jerry Gray, Bengt Green, John Greer, Jennifer Gregorio, Adam Gregson, Scott Grengs, Cristian-Bogdan Grigore, Daniel Grimes, Kallen Group, Beth Grove, Jonny Groves, Jane Guarducci, Vincent Guerin, Serge Guilbert, Gatya Gumilang, Daniel Halber, Ben Hall, Kent Hamilton, John Hanson, Sion Hanson, Suad Harms, Jim Harris, Michael Harris, Zbyněk Hartmann, Kim Hatch, Larry Hawkins, Adam Hauerwas, David Haworth, John Hay, Kirsty Healey, Lydia Healey, Martin Heath, Steve Heath, Hank Hebhoe, David Heckel, Bob Heerdink, Esko Heimonen, Tony Hellmann, Sten Helmfrid, Bruce Herhenson, Eik Hermann, Fernando Hernandez Morondo, Maria Luisa Hernandez Ron, J. Hétu, Ernie Heuer, Vincent Higginbotham, Derek Hill, John Hill, Jonathan Hillier, Sherly Himawa, Werner Hintze, Alan Ho, David Hodgson, Carter Hoerr, Dale Holaday, Alan Holdsworth, Dave Holdsworth, Anita Hollister, Julia Holm, Ruurik Holm, Darren Holmes, Leo Hong, Rachel Hooley, Anthony Horsley Sr, Chris Hovanic, Gheorghe Tapu Howarth, Hilary Howarth, Wei-Hwa Huang, Lois Hurst, Farhan Hussain, Richard Hussong, Kris Huston, Harold Hutabarat, Theodore Hwa, Asif Al Hye, Hernan A. Iannella, Kim Ieven, Abaeze Ikeewuku, Raimo Ikonen, Massimo Ilardo, India Cardmaster, Cindy Ingels, Ivan Ip, Richard Irving, Leo Isen, Ishihara, Kayes Islam, Byron Ioannou, Markku Jaatinen, Jeffrey Jacobs, Leanne Jaeb, Ali Jahanshiri, Vikeer Jaichand, Markus Jalmerot, Terry Jantz, Joseph Jaureguy, Beverley Jenkins, David Jennings, Chris Jepson, Jesse, Sofus Joensen, Marisa Johnson, Michael Jones, Mike Jones, Robert Jones, Rodney Jones, Enda Joyce, Gordon Joyce, Warren Juenemann, Árni Daníel Juliusson, Jun Chulmin, Thomas Junk, Mikko Jutila, Ka Lun, Sheldon Kahn, Sylvia Kalisch, Anthony Kam, Bart Kampers, Craig Kaplan, Erol Karataş, Kassim Adewale, Veselko Kelava, Matthew Keller, Denise Kelly, Jim Kennedy, Eric Kent, Sjaak Keyser, Datis Khaje`ian, Miller Kim, Patricia King, Vanessa King, Peter Kinoo, David Kirchner, Robert Kissel, Patrick J. Kobly, Tom Kochuyt, Frankie Kolb, Roddy Kok, Gerard Kopp, Chet Korff, Tamás Korinek, Tuomas Korppi, Alexandros Kouridakis, Laco Kováč, Róbert Kovács, Jakub "JayJay" Kowalski, Johanna Kristoffersen, Lorraine Kruger, Kuromiya Kimihiko, Bill Kushniryk, David Kuznick, Michael Labranche, Veikko Lähdesmäki, Denis Landry, Lennert Lanssens, Michael Latash, Todd Latta, Vicky Lavoie, Phong Le, Noel Leaver, Chris Leblanc, Ian Ledgerwood, Henry Lee, Jinpil Lee, Belinda Lehmkuhle, Steve Leigh, Janet Levy, Peter Lewin, Shayne Lewis, Li Jin, Eefje Limpt-Bogmans, Enoch Liu, Anthony Lloyd, Humbernio Lockward, Jared Long, Gavin Longmuir, Jodi Love, Stephen Lowry, Kenneth Lu, Nico Luijten, Mike Lunney, Steph Lynch, Matthew Macfadyen, Jonathan Madden, Bill Maher, Randall Maden, Magnus, Charles Magri, Peter Magyar, Alicia Mahmot, Jean Maillard, Vasant Mali, Andrew Manston, Silviu Mara, Ania Marczyk, Paolo Marino, Monty Martin, Paul Martin, Ulf Martin, Sebastiaan Marynissen, Constantin Marza, Sergio Mastromarino, Leah Mathis, Toni Matni, John May, Sheryll May, Amir Mazuver, Brendan Mc carrick, Bruce McCosar, Les McDonald, Kit McKormick, Dave McManus, Ray McNeil, Paul Medvit, Michael Mee, Hedin Meitil, Jon Melton, Rui Mendes, Olli Meretoja, Alexander Meschnig, Rammy Meyerowitz, William Mihalic, Michael Mihelakakis, Jaroslav Mikovec, Miroslav Miljkovic, Ben Miller, Lisa Miller, Nirmal Misra, Trevor Mitchell, Christian Moeller, Javed Mohammed, Monico Molinar, Thais Moncrief, Roberto Montesi, Lynda Moore, Stephen Moraco, Linda Moran, Adrian Morgan, Ian Morgan, Nicolas Morlino, Rama Morovati, Miriam Moules, Tereen Mowrey, Babak Mozaffari, Augustino Mponzi, Theodore L Mullett, T.D.Mullikin, Lee Murrah, Jane Muscato, Anwar Mustafa, Raj Nair, Stefan Nedelcu, Noam Nelke, Brent Nelson, Erik Nelson, Tomás Nemec, Richard Newman, Walter Niesz, David Nijjar, Douglas Nitch, Tom Niwinski, Lovro NJavro, Paul Nomikos, Fernando Noordam, Laura Noritz de Carrera, Jonathan Norris, David Nugraha, Riza Purwo Nugroho, Zoran Obradovic, Stephan Ocker, Gina Odichukwumma, Luke O'Grady, Henry Ogungbile, Clint Okayama, Dax Oliver, Thomas Olsson, Sam Oppenheim, Alan Orcutt, Attila Ördög, Juan Orgeira, Osiris Atom-Ra, Eyolf Østrem, Wayne Ostrowski, Michael Oxner, Vivian Mari Ozalbo, Mike Paine, Greg Pallis, Justus Pang, John Pannell, Mahesh Parab, David Parlett, Henry Park, Russell Parkinson, Allister Paterson, Palash Paul, the Paulussen family, Michael Pearson, Spencer Pearson, Reuben Peeris, Scott Peslari, John Peterson, Greg Petras, Dave Petrie, Charles Petro, Johan Pettersson, Ernest Petti, Nicholas Pfeiffenberger, Dave Phillips, Gary Philippy, Dmitryo Polovinkin, Ash Ponders, Steve Povey, Tahelia Powe, Craig Powers, Vinod Poyilath, Chris Pratt, Olga Prebushewski, Jamie Prestidge, William Priester Jr., Mel Prokop, David Przednowek, Malia Pugh, William Putt, Szymon Pyżalski, Jun Qian, Rudy Quezada, Bill and Rita Rabe, Vinodh Rajaraman, Ben Rasmussen, Hamdanil Rasyid, Sultan Ratrout, Jeevan Ravi, Colin Rawlinson, Trevor Redmond, Mark Reed, Robert Reid, Gábor Révész, John Benton Rhodes, L. Michael Riccardi, Barry Rigal, Glenda Ritter, Ola Rinta-Koski, Marc Riou, Chris Roberts, John Roberts, Simon Roberts, Tony Roberts, Bill Robfogel, Phill Rogers, Peter Rollinson, Brian Rollo, Paolo Ronzoni, Sean Ross, Salvatore Rossi, Dan Roth, Jerry Rubinow, Angela Ruisz, David Rutter, Mikko Saari, Olli Salmi, Michael Sanderson, Surjit Sandhu, Ola Sassersson, Cleo Saulnier, Jakob Sauntved, Scott Sauri, Andrew Savinykh, Kim Scarborough, Gustavo Schafaschek, Tilman Schieber, Matt Schmitt, Judd A. Schorr, Shirley Schwartz, John Schweigel, Bernard Scott, Michel Scott, Antonio di Sebastiano, Panagiotis Seferlis, Lorraine Seman, Günther Senst, Cristian Seres, Amber Sexton, Burçin Kerem Seyis, Kirit P Shah, Matt Shapiro, David Shapp, Shay Shevach, Shi Ji, Howard Ship, Tanya Shively, Ken Short, Chad Shumate, Kamel Sidiqi, Guðjón Torfi Sigurðsson, Rob Simons, Tony Simons, Rana Pratap Singh, Adam Joshua Smargon, Bill Smead, Andrew Smith, Anthony Smith, Bonnie Smith, David Smith, James Smith, Lindsey Smith, Stephen Smith, Zach Smith, Don Smolen, Chris Smyth, Robert and Candace Snyder, Martin Sorensson, James Sorhagen, Mary Sorum, Joel A. Soto, Jiří Soukup, Andrew Soule, D'Andrea Spann, Mark Spinelli, Reinhard Spode, Guy Srinivasan, Siddhartha Srivastava, Yash Srivastava, Mike Stabosz, Sherman Staffer, Domenico Starna, Doug Stein, Norbert Steinkellner, Brett Stevens, Dave Stevens, Henry Stevens, James Stevenson, Dwight J Stockham, Predrag Stojadinovic, Bryan Stout, Bjørnar Strand, David Stratful, Tony Street, Paul Stuurop, John Suchan, Gary Sullivan, Katie Sutton, Carl Svensson, Tomas Svoboda, Aleksandar Svredojević, Ken Swain, Pomai T., Nobuaki Takerube, Nicholas Tallyn, Tan Thor Jen, Simon Tanguay, Cathy Tavangarian, Alonso Tapia, Adam Taylor, Tom Tempelaere, Teranishi Isamu, Griffin Termalage, James Thomas, Lucas Thomas, Sean Thomas, Toby Thomas, Jack Thompson, John Thompson, Stan Thompson, Hans Jacob Thomsen, Justin Thurkettle, Mike Tobias, Adrian Todea, Martin Tompa, Kantaphon Tongmee, Tom Torfs, Alan Trangmar, Thanos Tsakonas, Denise Tuemmler, Alexander Tvaladze, Jonas Uebel, Turgay Unalan, Elías Urizábel, Eduardo Valcarcel, Tom Valentine, Paolo Valentini, Gilbert Vanheule, Tim Vannote, Ed Vasicek, Freddy Verhuizen, Tanya Veverka, Nick Vidargas, Eduardo Moitinho Vieira, Alexander Vissokomogilski, Francis Voisey, Keith Waclena, Damien Walsh, Howard L Wagner, ErikPeter Walker, Linda Wang, Debby Warren, Salah Wassef, Eddie Watkins, Bryan Weaver, Jeannine Webb, Nick Wedd, Wei Ming Zhi, Paul J. Welty, Clive Whitear, Bill Whitnack, Harrie Wiering, Ralph Wiggum, Lucia Wilford, Jim Wilkin, Clark Williams, Dayton Williams, Stephen Williams, Andrew Williamson, John Williamson, Jeffrey Wilkins, Dorothy Wilkinson, Mike Williams, Rutger Wimmenhove, Chris Winter, George Wittig, George Witty, Michal Wojwoda, Jo Ann Wolff, Jiang Fung Wong, Szu Kay Wong, Richie Wormald, Phil Wrench, Wu Jun Jun, Wu Xiao Xiang, David Wuori, Marek Wylon, Hwei Yin, Yoshimura Mayumi, Tony Young, Fiona Zahedi, Zbyszek Zdanowicz, Joel Zehr, Zefciu, Joe Zeng, Vladlen Zeniukov, Zhang Chuansheng, Virginia Ziegler, Igor Zmeták, Gyula Zsigri.

I would also like to thank two people who have allowed me to use their hand-drawn images of playing cards to illustrate the site. They are Oliver Xymoron, who drew the international pattern cards, and Sefa Costa, who drew the Spanish cards.

Chinese chess (Xiangqi) icons used on the index pages were adapted from images by Inductiveload, licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons: elephant, horse and chariot.

Thanks also to the many others who have helped by supplying information, pointing out errors and omissions, providing links, etc.

Finally, special thanks for their encouragement and help to

• Sally Prime and Nick Wedd of The Map Room
• Steve Derrick of Woolly Monkey Design

Awards, etc.

Here is a collection of buttons, representing awards the site has received over the years, and various affiliations.

GameSiteReviews.biz Hand selected website listings