Ristiseiska
Ristiseiska is a card game for three to five players. It is a simple Stops game very similar to Fan Tan. However, in Ristiseiska, whenever you are unable to play a card, you are given one by your opponent to the right. Given that your opponent gets to choose the card, it’s not likely to be one that’s very helpful to you!
Ristiseiska is originally from Finland, and is an extremely popular game there. The name Ristiseiska is Finnish for “seven of clubs”, because the player holding the 7♣ is the first to play.
Object of Ristiseiska
The object of Ristiseiska is to be the first player to run out of cards. Players get rid of their cards by playing them to the tableau.
Setup
To play Ristiseiska, you’ll need one standard 52-card deck of playing cards. Be sure to play with Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards, because then you’ll know your cards will always be durable enough to last for game after game.
Shuffle and deal the entire deck out to all the players. Some players may end up with more cards than others.
Game play
The player holding the 7♣ plays first. They play it face up to the center of the table, becoming the first card of the tableau. The turn then passes to the left.
If the next player holds any other 7, they may play it to the right of the 7♣, forming a horizontal row. If they hold the 6♣, they may play it in the space below the 7♣. Likewise, if they hold the 8♣, they may play it to the spot just above the 7♣. As further 7s are added to the layout, the 6s and 8s of those respective suits may also be played in the appropriate spots.
Once a 6 has been played, further cards of the same suit may be built onto it, in descending rank order downward to the ace. Similarly, once an 8 has been played, later players may build onto the 8, upward to the king. Once a pile has reached the ace or the king, the pile is turned face down to show no further cards may be built upon it.
Begging for cards
A player may find themselves unable to play any card to the tableau on their turn. If it is their first turn of the game, they simply pass and play continues as normal. On any other turn, they must beg for a card. They ask their opponent to the right for a card. This player selects any card they wish from their hand (usually a card which is unlikely to be played for a long time) and passes it, face down, to the beggar. The beggar’s turn then ends.
A beggar cannot take a player’s last card from them. If a player must beg, and the player to the right only has one card, they skip over that player and beg from the player second to the right.
If a player is found to have begged when they did, in fact, have a valid play in their hand, each of their opponents passes them one card as a penalty.
Ending the game
Game play ends when one player runs out of cards. That player wins the game.
Myllymatti (Skitgubbe)
Myllymatti is a Finnish trick-taking game for three players. A hand of Myllymatti consists of two phases. In the first half of the game, players build their hands for the second half by capturing cards through trick-taking. The players then take the hands they built to the second phase and try to get rid of their cards as fast as they can.
Myllymatti is the oldest of a family of games played across the Scandinavian countries. It originated in the early 1800s in what is now western Finland, with photographic evidence of the game dating back to 1907. From Finland, it spread west, evolving into a different game in each country it entered. In Sweden, it became the very similar Skitgubbe. In Norway, it evolved into the game of Mattis. Back in its native Finland, it spawned yet another variation, for up to eight players, named Koira (a name that is sometimes used interchangeably with Myllymatti), which plays quite similar to Mattis.
Object of Myllymatti
The object of Myllymatti is to capture powerful cards through trick-taking. Then, the player uses these cards in a second round of trick-taking, with the ultimate goal to avoid being the last player with cards.
Setup
To play Myllymatti, you’ll need a standard deck of 52 playing cards. We recommend using Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards at all times to ensure your cards are durable enough for whatever comes up.
Shuffle and deal three cards to each player. Place the stub face down in the center of the table, forming the stock.
Game play
Building the hands
The player to the dealer’s left leads to the first trick. The next player to the left then responds with any card they wish (there is no requirement to follow suit). Each trick is played with only two out of the three players; the third player (in the case of the first trick, the dealer) does not contribute to the trick.
Whoever plays the higher card, according to the usual order of card rankings, wins the trick. Suits do not matter. Whichever player wins the trick takes the two cards and places them into a face-down won-cards pile in front of them. Both of the players who participated in the trick draw a card from the trick, restoring their hand to three cards. The winner of the trick then leads to the next one, playing against the player to their left.
When the two cards played to a trick tie, it is called a bounce. The cards comprising such a trick are left on the table. The same player then leads to the next trick. This continues until a player actually wins the trick. That player takes all the cards on the table.
As long as there is more than one card left in the stock, a player may choose to turn its top card up and use this as their play. Turning a card from the stock commits to playing it; it cannot be taken into the hand and another card played instead.
Ending the first half
When a player would be required to draw the last card from the stock, rather than adding it to their hand as usual, they show it to the other players. The suit of this card will become the trump suit for the second half of the game. The player who drew the card then places it directly in their won-cards pile without adding it to their hand.
The players continue playing tricks until a player has no cards to play on their turn. Any cards played to a trick in progress are added to the won-cards piles of the players who played them. Remaining cards in the players’ hands are then exposed and placed in the won-cards piles of the players they belong to.
Playing the hands out
The cards in each player’s won-cards pile form their hand for the second phase of the game. Whichever player drew the last card from the stock (the card that fixed the trump suit) leads to first trick. Players are now required to beat the last card played, if possible. A card can only be beaten by a higher card of the same suit, or a trump (trumps can only be beaten by higher trumps). If a player is unable or unwilling to do so, they take the last card played into their hand, and play passes to the left.
A trick is considered complete when it contains the same number of cards as there were players in the game at the start of the trick. When a trick is complete, the cards are discarded, and the last player to play a card (and thus the one who played the highest card) leads to the next trick. A trick can also come to an end by all of its cards being picked up; in this case, the player to the left of the last person to take in a card leads to the next trick.
When a player runs out of cards, they drop out of the game. Game play continues until only one player is left with any cards. That player loses the game.
