For those of you who attended the 52 Plus Joker Annual Convention in Cleveland this month, some of us started playing a couple of card games that I learned as a child and seemed to have an awfully good time of it! So I'm sharing the rules of the two games here.
First is Ninety-Nine. This was one of two games that I learned when I was somewhere in my tween years, taught to me by a lifeguard who'd co-invented it with a bunch of her friends one night while having a few beers. It's definitely the more SANE of the two games, and completely family-friendly. Depending on the number of players, it can take as little as a few minutes to complete a hand or as much as fifteen or twenty minutes if things really get going. A two-deck game with a LOT of players will obviously take much longer. The pace is fast and it puts your basic arithmetic skills to the test as you have to do a lot of simple addition and subtraction, so it's as fun for younger grade schoolers as it is for adults (perhaps even more fun, since they're usually more recently practiced at it than the older folks are)!
Minimum number of players: 2
Maximum number of players: one-deck version, 5; two-deck version, 10-12 (but the game will take a LOOOONG time to play)!
Object of the game: keep the discard pile from going over a value of 99 points. Players are eliminated if they can't play a card to the discard pile without making it go over 99 - be the last player left!
How to play: play starts by dealing seven cards to all players and creating a face-down draw pile in the center of the table with the remaining cards. The first player chooses a card, announcing its value (based on the card's rank), and places it in the discard pile next to the draw pile. He or she then draws a card from the draw pile and their turn is over. The next player clockwise from the first player chooses a card to add to the discard pile, but literally adds the value of that card to the card already there, announcing the discard pile's total value, then draws a card from the draw pile. This continues from player to player going clockwise.
Example: Bob goes first, plays a Jack (worth 10) in the discard pile, says "Ten!" and draws a card from the draw pile. Jane goes next, plays a 7 to the discard pile, says "Seventeen!" and draws a card from the draw pile, ending her turn. Pete goes next, playing a 5 to the discard pile, saying "Twenty-two!" and drawing a card from the draw pile.
The value of the discard pile can't exceed 99. If you can't play a card without making it go over, you're out - discard your entire hand and play continues until only one player remains. The last player doesn't have to be able to play a card without making the pile go over - they just have to be the last player left when all the others have gone out before them.
Aces are worth 1 point. Jacks and Queens are worth 10 points. Other cards are worth their numerical rank, with the exception of the special cards mentioned below.
There are FOUR SPECIAL CARDS, used to prevent the discard pile from going over 99 (and make the game interesting!). When played, you announce them as described below:
* KINGS are called "Pass Me By." When you play one to the discard pile, you say "Pass Me By," you add nothing to the discard pile, you draw a card from the draw pile and the next player goes. The pile's value remains the same as it was at the start of your turn.
* FOURS are called "Back To You." When you play one to the discard pile, you say "Back To You," you add nothing to the discard pile, you draw a card from the draw pile and you REVERSE the order of play - the player who played before you is now the next player to play, and play continues in that direction (if you were playing in turns clockwise, you now go counter-clockwise, and vice versa). The pile's value remains the same as it was at the start of your turn.
* TENS are called "Minus Ten." When you play one to the discard pile, you SUBTRACT 10 from the pile's value. So if the pile was valued at 99, you now say "Eighty-Nine!," draw a card from the draw pile and play continues as normal. If the discard pile was worth 70, it's now worth 60; if the pile was worth 0 (zero), it's now worth -10 (negative ten), and so on.
* NINES are called "Ninety-Nine." When you play one, the pile is automatically worth 99, regardless of what it was worth previously, even it if was already 99 to start with. You can even play a Ninety-Nine as the very first card, launching the discard pile to 99 on the first turn played! When you play one, you say "Ninety-Nine!," draw a card from the draw pile and the next player goes.
If at the end of your turn, you forget to draw a card from the draw pile before the next player successfully plays a card to the discard pile and draws from the draw pile, YOU DON'T GET TO DRAW for that turn - you are now playing at a handicap, with one less card in your hand! So remember to draw! (You have to give the previous player a moment after they've played their card before you go to play yours.) If two players in a row forget to draw, they have until the third player draws to remember to draw (and if the second player draws before the first player, the first player doesn't get to draw). If three or more players in a row forget to draw, they have until the next player draws to remember to draw (and if at some point any player remembers and draws in time, any players BEFORE that player don't get to draw).
The player who picks up the last card in the draw pile takes the entire discard pile, leaves the top card on the table in the new discard pile and reshuffles the rest, placing them face down to make a new draw pile.
STRATEGY: Different people will want to play in different ways. Here's a few strategic suggestions to start with.
High-Value Cards - it's best to play them as quickly as you can to get rid of them, as they'll get harder to play once the discard pile's value gets closer to 99. Alternately, they're fun to jam up other players when the pile is at 99 and someone play's a Minus Ten, bringing the pile down to 89 - your Queen or Jack will bring it right back to 99 all over, leaving them short on options.
Low-Value Cards - best saved for when the pile is closer to 99, for the reasons given above.
Special Cards - I like to use my Back To You's and Pass Me By's first, especially the Back To You's as they can mix things up a bit with their order reversals. Ninety-Nines are better reserved for when those other cards are gone - if the pile is near 99 and you don't have low cards, a Ninety-Nine can save you from going out. Minus Ten's I tend to try saving as a last resort - they give your opponents as much of a break as they give to you if not more, giving them a chance to keep playing without using up their Special Cards.
The Early Shut-Out - if you start the game with a lot of Special Cards and at least one of them is a Ninety-Nine, you might want to bring the discard pile immediately to 99. But you better have the cards you need to back up such a play or you might end up shutting yourself out instead! This can also work if you start with some Special Cards and acquire more early in the game, triggering a Ninety-Nine a few turns after the start while the discard pile's value is still somewhat low - but remember that your opponents will have also had a chance to acquire Special Cards as well, so you will want to try this only if you think you've got enough to outlast them.
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