User:Jonts26/Dritzak

The rules of Dritzak:

Dritzak is a card game of mostly skill. There are of course minor factors of luck, but a skillful player is able to win with whatever hand they are dealt.

You will need:

* One standard deck of 52 playing cards. * 2-5 players. (Variations exist for more players and will be discussed in the rule variations section.)

Objective:

* Each player is dealt a hand. The first player to play all of their cards is the winner.

The Deal:

* One player is selected to be the dealer. * The dealer will deal in whatever way they see fit so long as each player receives three face down cards and six additional cards that will form the players hand. The three face down cards may not be seen by any player. The additional six cards can be dealt face up or face down at the dealers whim. * The player picks up and looks at all six hand cards. * The player will choose three cards from their hand and place them face up on top of the face down cards. These cards will remain there until the second stage of the game. * The remaining cards are placed in the middle to form the draw pile.

Stage 1:

* Play starts so that the player with the lowest card in their hand is allowed to play first. This is generally accomplished by the dealer asking if anyone has 3s, then 4s, then 5s, etc. * If more than one player shares the lowest card, then the starting player is chosen so that the maximum number of the lowest card can be played to start the game. For example, players A, B, and C are in a circle, with C playing after B, who in turn plays after A and so on. Players A and B both have threes while C does not. Thus, A will start play with a 3 followed by B.   * Note: While it is not expressly forbidden, it is considered poor form for B in the above example to not play a 3 during the start of the game, unless doing so creates a really funny situation. * If there is more than one possible way to create the greatest number of lowest cards played, for example a four player game where the players sitting opposite from each other each have 3s and the other players do not, first play goes to the winner of a best of three rock, paper, scissors match. If more complicated situations arise, get creative. * Play moves in a clockwise direction. * A player may play any card so long as it matches or beats the card already down with two exceptions: a player may play a 2 or a 10 at any time. Aces are considered high. * The 2 acts as a start over card. A 2 may be played on any card and any card may be played on a two. The 10 is referred to as the clear card. It may be played on any card. After doing so, the player discards the entire pile of cards and is allowed to play again with any card in their hand. * If a player is unable to match or beat the top card, and does not have a 2 or a 10, they must pick up the entire pile. The player to the left then begins play again choosing from any card in their hand. A player may pick up a pile even if they have a legal move for strategic purposes. However, if it is your play and there is no pile, you are forced to play a card. * If you possess two or more cards of the same value, you may play them all on your turn, assuming they match or beat the top card. * After you play, draw cards from the draw pile so that your hand size is back to three. If after you play you have three or more cards in your hand, do not draw new cards. In addition, after playing a 10, you may draw a card if you only have two cards in your hand before playing again. * If at any time all four of the same value card are played directly after each other, either by one player or multiple players, it acts as if a 10 and the pile is cleared with the player who completed the set taking another turn. If a player has all four of one value card, they may not be played unless they match or beat the top card in the play pile. * Play continues in this manner until the draw pile is empty and a player plays the last card in their hand.

Stage 2:

* Once the draw pile is depleted, play continues in the same manner as stage 1, except no new cards are drawn. * Once all cards have been played from a players hand, the player plays from the face up cards in front of them. If no face up card can be played, the player picks up the pile and must play all cards in hand before being able to play from the face up cards again. * A player is allowed to play more than one face up card at a time assuming the cards are of the same value. A player may not play the last card from their hand and a matching face up card at the same time. Face up cards may not be played until the turn after a player rids themselves of all hand cards. * Once all face up cards have been played, the player selects a face down card to play on their next turn. If this card does not make a legal play, the player picks up the pile, including the offending card and puts them in their hand. * The player cannot play another face down card until all cards have been played from their hand.

Winning the Game:

* When one player plays their last card so that none remain face down or in their hands, they are declared the winner. * In the event that one is playing, it is not possible for a female to win Dritzak. It is the goal of the player to her right to make sure she does not win. When a male does end up inevitably winning, all the males are considered to have won. Since it is impossible for a female to win, whenever a game ends with a female playing her last card, it is declared that she has cheated and the win does not count. Another game must be played in order to guarantee a fair ending. * There exists a special victory condition. That is when a player plays the second to last face down card and reveals a 10. This immediately clears the pile and he plays his last face down card and wins. This is known as the walk-off Deegan. It is an acceptable reason to gloat. Other variations of this include the double, triple and quadruple walk-off Deegan. For these conditions to apply, the last two, three or four cards played before the final face down card must all be 10's. Having a 10 as the final card played does not count towards any walk-off.

Rule Variations:

* Skip Rules - If a player plays the same value card as the top card, the next player in line is skipped over and misses their turn. If two of the same value card are played on the same value top card, the next two players are skipped. If playing any number of same value cards causes all four to be together in the play pile, the pile clears with the player completing the set playing again. No players are skipped. Note that a player must play on a same value card already played in order to skip. Playing two of the same valued card on a lower valued card will not skip any players. * Rule of 7s - When a player plays a 7, the next player must play a card that either matches or is lower than 7. This rule applies only when a 7 is the top card and is no longer in effect if the next player plays lower. * 6 player game - since there are insufficient cards to deal 9 each with 6 players, only deal 5 cards to each players hand. Each player puts three cards face up and keeps a hand of 2. After a play, a player draws back up to two cards if necessary. * Multiple decks - it is possible to play with multiple decks for larger groups. Play should be exactly the same except for how to handle getting a set of cards to act as a 10. Three possibilities exist: any four same face value cards, all 8 (or 12, 16 etc), and any four same value cards of unique suites. * Reversal - Matching the top card of the play pile causes the direction of play to reverse. If play is moving clockwise, switch to counter-clockwise and vice verse. It only reverses once for one player playing doubles on a same value card. Clearing a pile by completing the set still reverses play.

Miscellaneous Notes:

* While it may seem random, deciding on which face down card to play most certainly is not. The value of each card is known by the one they call Shijo. If you are blessed enough to be in his vicinity during play, you may ask for his advice of which card to play. If the Shijo is feeling benevolent, he may even reveal which card to play. Even if he is not at your location, he is still able to give you advice if you ask. You must be strong with the Shijo to get accurate results, however. Any misplay is a result of your own weakness. * The walk off Deegan is rare enough by itself and certainly reason to celebrate. However, the double walk-off will most assuredly amaze all who are watching. The triple walk-off is likely to cause every person withing half a mile to fall into a stunned silence for upwards of five minutes, whether they were watching the game or not. The quadruple walk-off has never happened in recorded history. There is a legend of a man who once accomplished the feat and immediately began to glow and ascended into the sky, never to be seen from again.