Neosho Rapids
Neosho Rapids is a quick and simple card game for two to four players. It was named after Neosho Rapids, Kansas, which in turn was named after the nearby Neosho River.
Object of Neosho Rapids
The object of the game is to be the first player to run out of cards.
Setup
You will need one 52-card deck. Of course, Denexa 100% Playing Cards are always recommended! Shuffle and deal seven cards to each player. Place the deck stub in the center of the table, forming the stock. Turn up the first card of the deck to form the discard pile. The card showing on the top of the discard pile is called the upcard.
Game play
The player to the left of the dealer goes first. If possible, that player discards a card from their hand which is one rank above or one rank below the upcard. For example, if the upcard is an 8, the player may play a 7 or a 9. Suits do not matter. Aces are considered both high and low, meaning that if an ace is showing on the discard pile, both a king and a 2 are valid plays.
The player may continue discarding cards from their hand until they are unable or unwilling to play further. At this point, they draw a card from the stock, ending their turn. A player cannot immediately play this drawn card; their turn is over.
Play continues as above until one player runs out of cards. If, at any time, the stock is depleted, set the current upcard aside, shuffle the remaining discards, and turn the pile face-down to form a new stock. The upcard forms the base of the new discard pile, and play continues as before.
Cash (a.k.a. Kemps, Kent)
Cash (also called Kemps or Kent) is an interesting social card game for four to eight players. Players form two-player partnerships, competing to make four of a kind, then successfully send and receive a secret signal without it getting intercepted by their opponents.
Object of Cash
The object of the game is for one player of the partnership to call out “Cash!” upon receiving a signal from their partner that they have obtained four of a kind. Alternately, notice that one of the opponents is attempting to signal their partner, and call out “Counter cash!” before their partner calls “Cash!”.
Setup
All players divide into pairs. The game is best with four players (two partnerships), but can be played with six (three partnerships) or eight (four partnerships). Players may mutually decide a method for determining partnerships, which may be as simple as merely selecting who they would like to be paired with, or by some random process. One such method for a four-player game is to remove two red and two black cards from the deck, shuffle them, and deal one to each player. The players receiving the red cards play against the two with the black cards. Seating arrangements must take care to allow all players to be clearly visible to one another, and partners should not sit directly next to one another.
Prior to the game, each partnership excuses themselves to a secluded place where they are unable to be seen or heard by any other player. They then agree upon a secret signal, which can be a hand signal, innocuous action such as taking a drink or tapping the table with your cards, or a verbal phrase. Signals that might be unintentionally sent, like scratching your head or rubbing your eye should be avoided!
The deal
Cash requires one 52-card deck of playing cards. Since players will be quickly grabbing for cards, you don’t want a flimsy deck of cards that will get easily beaten up. Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards are made to last and are sturdy enough for even the most rambunctious games.
Shuffle and deal four cards to each player. Then deal four cards face down to the center of the table, forming the board, and place the deck stub in front of the player to the left of the dealer, forming the stock.
Game play
The dealer calls, “3…2…1…GO!”, then turns the four board cards face up. Each player may then grab whatever board cards they find useful, take them into their hand, and discard back down to four (returning the board to four cards). There are no turns! If two players grab a card at the same time, whoever touched the card first (or whose hand is on the bottom!) is entitled to it.
Game play continues until this card-swapping stops because nobody wants any of the cards on the table. The player with the stock in front of them discards the board cards, then deals a new, face-down board, passes the stock to the left, and flips the cards over with a countdown, as before. (Passing the stock and the board-refreshing duties around the table ensures that the mental overhead of refreshing the board doesn’t burden any player greater than any other.)
Play continues, with players swapping cards out as they see fit, and refreshing the board as necessary.
Ending the hand
Whenever a player achieves four-of-a-kind, they send their secret signal to their partner. When the partner notices the signal, they call out “Cash!” (or “Kemps!”, or “Kent!”, or whatever the name of the game is). All players reveal their hands; if the player whose partner called “Cash!” does, in fact, have four-of-a-kind, that partnership wins. However, if there is no four-of-a-kind, they lose. If a player suspects at any time before “Cash!” is called that an opposing partnership is signaling, they can call “Counter cash!” The hands are revealed, and if a four-of-a-kind is present, the partnership that called “Counter cash!” wins (but, as with cash, if there is no four-of-a-kind, calling “Counter cash!” loses).
Some players play that the losing team receives a letter in the word “CASH” (or “KEMPS” or “KENT”, as appropriate), and that whichever partnership spells out the word first loses the match. Otherwise, play can continue indefinitely, with each hand standing alone as a separate game. Partnerships are given the opportunity to change their signal between hands, then all cards are shuffled and new hands and a board are dealt.
“Real deal”
A real deal is when the stock runs out without “Cash!” or “Counter cash!” being called. In this case, the hand is a draw. If the game is being scored where partnerships receive letters for losses, no letters are received for a real deal.
See also
Knock Poker
Knock Poker is a variant of draw poker that doesn’t require gambling. Games are quick, often lasting no more than a few minutes. You can play with two to six players.
Object of Knock Poker
The object of Knock Poker is to form the best five-card poker hand.
Setup
Knock Poker requires one 52-card deck. If you really want to make your game night shine, you’ll need a great deck of cards. Get a deck of deluxe Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards and wow your friends.
Deal five cards to each player. Place the remaining deck stub in the center of the table, forming the stock. Turn up the first card of the stock and place it next to it, forming the discard pile.
Game play
The player sitting to the left of the dealer goes first. On each player’s turn, they have the option to draw the top card of the discard pile, adding it to their hand. If they don’t want it, they draw the top, unknown card of the stock. The player then discards one card face-up to the discard pile, returning their hand to five cards. Play continues on with the next player to the left.
Play continues until any player is satisfied with their hand. After discarding, they knock on the table, signaling this to the other players. Play continues, with each player taking one more turn to finalize their hands. When the turn of play returns to the player who knocked, hands are then revealed, with the highest-ranking poker hand winning.
See also
Thirteen
Thirteen, also known as tiến lên, is a quick and easy game from the climbing family. It works best with four players, but you can play with as few as two or as many as six or so.
Thirteen is originally from Vietnam. There, it has been described as the national card game. A game takes about five or ten minutes, which means it’s great to play with a friend during a quick break from work or school. It’s a popular pastime among the staff in casino break rooms here in Oklahoma.
Object of Thirteen
The object of the game is to be the first to run out of cards.
Many players consider a hand dealt all four 2s or all four 3s to be an automatic win for the player holding them. (Such a combination in one hand makes the game unbalanced enough that it’s best for the hands to be shuffled and redealt.)
Setup
You will need a standard deck of 52 cards (we, of course, recommend Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards). Starting with the player to the left of the dealer, deal out thirteen cards to each player. If you’re playing with more than four players, deal an even number of cards to each player. Set aside any unused cards.
Card ranking
Thirteen is unusual among games most players are familiar with because of the unconventional ranking of the cards. Aces rank high, as they do in many other games, but twos rank even higher than the ace. That means that the lowest card in play is the three, giving us a rank progression of (high) 2, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 (low).
Another unusual feature of Thirteen is the fact that the suits play a vital role in card ranking. The suits break ties when cards have the same rank. Suits rank in the following order: (high) hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades (low). (If you’re having trouble remembering the order, just remember that the two black suits are lower than the two red suits, and that a garden spade is used to dig lower in the ground, and hearts represent love, which is highly sought after by most people.) So the 6♠ would be beaten by the 6♣, but the 6♥ would be beaten by a 7♠. The lowest-ranking card in the game is the 3♠, while the highest is the 2♥.
Game play
The first person to play is the person who starts the game with the 3♠. They play it, face up, in the center of the table, either by itself, or as part of a combination of other cards. These are the permissible card combinations:
- Single card
- Pairs
- Trips (three of a kind)
- Straights (three or more cards in sequence, e.g. 3-4-5)
The next player to the left must play a higher-ranking instance of the same type of combination. Straights must be followed by another straight of the same length (e.g. a four-card straight must be followed up by another four-card straight, not a three-card or five-card or any other straight), and cannot include 2s. The highest-ranking card present is used to determine the ranking of the entire combination. For example, if the first player were to begin play with 3♠-3♥ (a pair), the next player could not play 3♣-3♦, since the highest-ranking card present (3♦) is lower than the highest-ranking card (3♥) played by the previous player, although they could play 4♠-4♣, since the 4♣ is higher than the 3♥.
Play continues to the left, each player playing higher than the most recent combination. If a player cannot or does not want to play higher, they knock on the table, signifying such. Upon knocking, a player is temporarily out of the game, and play continues to their left. When all players but one have knocked, the sole remaining player is free to play whatever combination of cards they choose (i.e. they are not compelled to play the same type of combination as before), and all other players rejoin the game. As before, play continues to to the left, with the next player following up on the most recently played combination with a higher one of the same type.
When a player is out of cards, they win! Some players will continue to play out the hand, awarding second and third-place finishes to the remaining players. It should be established whether or not this is being done before the game, since it can alter players’ strategy considerably. If you play again, you can either let the winner go first (giving them the option to play whatever they choose), or start with the player holding the 3♠, as usual.
Chops
Two types of card combination are considered chops:
- Quads (four of a kind)
- Three or more consecutive pairs (e.g. 3-3-4-4-5-5)
A chop can be played at any time on a player’s turn, so long as they have not knocked, regardless of what has been played before. (Many players restrict chops to only being able to defeat combinations of 2s, limiting their power.) Chops can only be beaten by a higher chop of the same type, so, in most cases, they hand control of what type of combination will be played next to whoever played them. Chops are the most powerful combination in the game!
Playing with more than six players
Playing with more than about six players is generally not advised, since each player will receive such a low number of cards, that the game is essentially reduced to luck of the draw. However, you can accommodate about twelve players by shuffling in a second deck of cards. The second deck should have a contrasting back design (for example, Denexa playing cards come in two-deck sets, with red and blue backs).
Select one back design as the higher-ranked one (if you are using red and blue decks, this is usually the red one, to mirror the fact that the red suits are higher). If two cards of the same rank and suit come out, the higher-backed one will prevail. Keep in mind that your opponents will be able to see how many of each back type you have, and astute players may be able to judge the strength of your hand accordingly!
See also
