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History on Flinch
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The creator of Flinch was A. J. Patterson (1869-1948). Patterson was born in 1869 on a farm in Eaton County, grew up there, and graduated from Grand Ledge High School at the age of 16. He took various jobs as a teacher,clerk and a bookkeeper (in Beecher & Kymer, a prominent book and stationery store). Patterson was an avid card player; in 1901 he came up with the idea for a new game that would be played with a special deck that he would produce and sell. He called the game “Flinch” and ran the Flinch Card Company out of the offices of Beecher, Kymer, & Patterson. Flinch went on to become a national sensation. In 1903 nearly 1 million Flinch games were sold, and by the time Patterson sold the rights to Parker Brothers in 1936, over seven and a half million had been sold.

How to play Flinch
This is a source on how to play Flinch.

OBJECT The object of the game is to be the first player to play all ten cards from your "Stockpile." Players will do this by playing a card in numerical order onto a "Play Pile" in the center of the table. Players also hold a hand of cards and the players will form several "Reserve Piles" during the game to store cards from their hand until they are playable. These cards will eventually help the players to play their Stockpile cards. EQUIPMENT: The equipment consists of 3 identical decks, totaling 135 cards. Combined, these cards make up nine "series," each numbered from 1 through 15. NOTE: remove the 9 FLINCH Wild cards from each deck before beginning play. PLAYERS: Any number from 2 to 8 may play. When more than four people play, you’ll need to combine two games’ worth of cards. THE LAYOUT: FLINCH is a game where cards are laid out in several different piles. • THE STOCKPILES consist of the first 10 cards dealt face down to each player. The player places their Stockpile cards in a pile directly in front of them and turn the top card of the pile face up, keeping it atop of thier pile. • THE HANDS are the next five cards dealt to each player. The player will pick up their hand and hold it so that they can see the cards, but no one else can. • THE STACK is made up of all the cards remaining after the Stockpiles and the Hands have been dealt. These are divided into groups of five cards each and are not exposed. If you wish, you can use the tray in the package to arrange the five card groups in criss-cross fashion, so that each group lies crosswise on top of the group immediately beneath it. If not, just form a Draw Pile. The Dealer will give the 5 cards on top to each player when a new hand is needed. • THE RESERVE PILES are formed after play has started. Whenever you pass or complete your play, you must place one card in front of your Stockpile. You place these cards alongside each other until you have started 5 Reserve Piles. From then on, you may play on top of any of the five Reserve Piles you desire. If, during the course of the play, you exhaust one or more of your Reserve Piles, you must start them again before you can play on top of any of your remaining Reserve Piles. THE DEAL: Select a player to be Dealer. The Dealer shuffles all the cards in play thoroughly and deals them as described above, forming the Stockpiles, the Hands, and the Stack. THE PLAY: The player to the left of the Dealer plays first. If thhat player has a 1 card exposed on in the Stockpile, play it to the center of the table. This is the first card of the first Play Pile. Turn up the next card in Stockpile. If that card is also a 1 card, they must play it to the center of the table alongside the first card, starting the second Play Pile. When the card exposed on the Stockpile is not a 1, look in your hand and play in a similar manner any 1 card that you may be holding. If you’ve been able to play a 1 card and hold in your hand (or have exposed on your Stockpile) a 2 card, you may play it on top of any 1 card that has already been played. You may continue to play as long as you can build up in sequence on top of any of the Play Piles. All 1 cards in your hand must be played, but other cards may be held and played as desired. NEW HAND: If during your turn you exhaust your hand, you draw a group of five cards from the Stack to form a new hand, then continue your turn. When you cannot play any cards or do not wish to play any more cards, you select a card from your hand and place it on the table face up to start a Reserve Pile. If, as occasionally happens, no player has a 1 card to start the game, each player lays down all five cards from his/her hand and starts five Reserve Piles. Each player, in turn, draws a new hand from the Stack. If there is still no player able to play a 1 card, players again place their entire hands in their Reserve Piles; since all five Reserve Piles have now been started, they may distribute them as they wish. All five cards may go onto one Reserve Pile if a player thinks it is advantageous to do so. After the first 1 card has been played, each player must end his/her turn by playing a card from his/her hand to one of his/her Reserve Piles. THE PLAY PILES: The Play Piles go up from 1 to 15. Once a 15 is played, the entire Play Pile is removed from the table. When several Play Piles have been removed and all of the cards have been used from the Stack, shuffle these used cards and deal out again to continue the game. CHALLENGING On each turn players must first play from the Stockpile if possible. If they fail to do so, any opponent may call "Flinch!" Any player so challenged must stop playing immediately, draw the top card from the Stockpile of the opponent who issued the challenge, and place it at the bottom of his/her own Stockpile. You may also challenge an opponent if you believe the opponent is holding a 1 card in his/her hand after it should have been played. If you are correct, the player challenged is penalized as above; if not, the challenger draws the penalty. A player who is challenged and penalized ends his/her turn and does not discard to his/her Reserve Piles on that turn. If two players issue a challenge at the same time, the challenger nearest to the left of the chall enged player receives the credit or penalty for the challenge. HOW TO WIN: The player who first succeeds in playing all of the cards from his/her Stockpile wins the game! ADDITIONAL NOTES: Once a card in the players hand is exposed, it must be played. If it cannot be played, then the player must take it back into their hand, their turn ends, and they do not discard to a Reserve Pile. If a player expose a card when it is not their turn, they must play that card first on their next turn. If they cannot, they must pass that turn. If the game becomes blocked (the Stack is exhausted and no player is able to play except one who refuses to play), the player holding the releasing card must play it. If there is more than one player holding a releasing card, the first player with a releasing card, beginning with the player on the Dealer’s left, must play it.

Source 1
This is source number 1.

Number of Players: Best with 4 players.

Age: 7 and up.

Source 2
This is source number 2

Trivia Flinch is a commercial version of the traditional card game Spite & Malice.

Source 3
This is source number 3

Flinch was, in 1913, advertised as "The Acme of Parlor Games."