|
An Awesome Card Game For Two Players Copyright © 1997-1998 American Colluphid Empire The game Colluphid (pronounced ka-LOO-fid) is a member of the Pitch species of card games and is a relative in the All Fours family, based on scoring for High, Low, Jack, and the Game. The neat twist is that Colluphid leverages popular concepts from Euchre such as ordering up the trump, and the Colluphid card which is similar to Euchre's left bauer. Interestingly, the game may be renamed "Zugwut" at some point in the future. We're not really sure about that, so we'll continue to call it "Colluphid" for now. Colluphid is suited for two, three, or four players. In this document, the game is explained for Two Players. The web pages for three- and four-player Colluphid are currently under construction (and the rules are still being tested by the American Colluphid Empire sub-committee on Rules And Procedures). Please see the new FAQ section for reasonable answers to, well, Frequently Asked Questions!
Colluphid Thoughts for the Modern Brain:
The game of Colluphid uses a full deck of 52 cards, with no wild cards or Jokers. A special card is introduced: the Colluphid. The Colluphid card is the non-trump Ace of the same color; for example, if Spades are trump, the Ace of Spades is the highest trump card and the Colluphid is the Ace of Clubs (the second-highest trump card). Or, if Hearts are trump, then the Ace of Diamonds is the Colluphid. (This is similar to the "left bauer" concept in Euchre.) The cards rank as follows:
Colluphid objectives are similar in nature to other games in the All Fours family (including Seven Up and Auction Pitch). The goals of Colluphid are:
The winner is the first player to score 11 or more points. Each hand has a possible four bidable points and one bonus point:
The players may agree on the first dealer, or may draw cards for the deal (the player drawing the higher card wins the deal). The player who wins a hand is the dealer for the next hand, and remains the dealer until the other player wins a hand or the game is over. NOTE: A hand or round contains six tricks, described below. The dealer shuffles the deck, after which the non-dealer may opt to cut the deck. The dealer gives six cards to each player, one card at a time, starting with the non-dealer. The remaining deck is kept intact -- no cards are turned over or revealed after the initial deal. The non-dealer has the option of "bidding" or "passing." To bid, the non-dealer calls out the number of points they believe they can win in the hand. The dealer may then either raise the bid (to a maximum of 4 points) or pass. If the dealer raises the bid to less than 4, the non-dealer may raise the bid to 4 or pass. The player who bids highest wins the initial bid and is called the "bidder." The non-dealer may pass the initial bid, either because they do not believe they could win at least two points, or because they'd rather force the dealer to bid the minimum of two. If the non-dealer passes, the dealer must bid a minimum of 2 and is the "bidder." (A graphical flowchart of this process is available.) After the initial bid, the dealer gives out four additional cards to each player, one card at a time, starting with the non-dealer. After completing the final deal, the dealer turns over, or reveals, the top card from the remaining deck to show the potential suit of "trump" (any card of the trump suit will win over any card of all non-trump suits). This card is the "call-up" card. The bidder (the winner of the initial bid) may either:
The non-bidder must take the card if the bidder calls up the card. Otherwise, if the bidder passes on the call-up card, the non-bidder may either:
The final bid determines the trump suit only if either player calls or takes the call-up card as described above. In these situations, both players know the trump suit. However, if both players pass the call-up card, the bidder (the winner of the final bid) controls -- but does not yet declare -- the trump suit. In this situation, the non-bidder knows that trump is not the suit of the call-up card, since both players passed the call-up card. However, the non-bidder does not know which of the three remaining suits is trump. Both players reduce their hand to exactly six cards after the final bid. Both players add their discards face-down to the deck, which is not used during play. The non-bidder is at a disadvantage while discarding if he or she does not know the trump suit. The bidder must lead a trump card for the first trick of the hand if the non-bidder does not know the trump suit (i.e., when both players pass the final bid). However, if both players know the trump suit, the bidder may opt to lead with a card of a different suit. If a player leads with a trump card, the other player must follow suit if possible. If the suit is not a trump, the other player must still follow suit if possible; otherwise, the other player may "trump in" (play a trump card) to win the trick, or discard an off-suit card. The highest card in the suit wins the trick, unless a player plays a trump card; in these situations, the highest trump card wins. The winner of a trick collects the cards played during the trick. In this manner, a player may lose the "Jack" point if the other player wins the trick. The player who wins the most 10 cards typically wins the "Game" point after the hand is over. The lowest trump card remains with the player who played it until the end of the hand (thus winning the "Low" point) or until a player plays an even lower trump card. The winner of a trick does not take the other player's low card, which is set aside to indicate that the card is currently "Low." The winner of a trick leads the next trick. Play continues in this manner until all six tricks are completed. After all six tricks are completed, each player determines their points (see The Five Points, above). If the bidder does not make their bid (i.e., if the bidder bids 3 but makes 0, 1, or 2 points instead) then the bidder is "set" -- the bidder loses however many points they bid. Sometimes a player's score goes into the negative; for example, if the bidder's score is 1, and the bidder bids 2 but is set and loses 2 points, the bidder's score becomes -1. Both players may gain points on a single trick; the bidder may make the bid and the non-bidder may also gain points. If the bidder bids 2 and makes the bid (by winning High and Game, for example), the non-bidder may win up to 2 points (the Low and Jack, for example). Points accumulate in this manner, and additional hands are played until one player wins 11 or more points. If both players reach 11 or more points at the same time, play continues until one player leads by at least two points.
FAQ 1 - Where Can I Play Colluphid? You can play Colluphid, like most card games, almost anywhere - at home, at work, on a train, in the park, on a bus, at Grandma's house, and it even works well in zero gravity. We have found that on average, Colluphid scores are higher in late-night candlelight games while listening to Miles Davis, but we have found no adverse reaction to direct sunlight. It helps if you have a table to place the cards on, and a piece of paper (or a napkin) with which to keep score. FAQ 2 - Where Is An Online Version? Thanks to the interest and excitement of Colluphid Players Worldwide, we remain hopeful that major online gaming sites will soon add Colluphid to their suite of online card games. At this time we have no firm product release dates or online versions to announce, but keep writing your elected representatives and soon we will all be playing Colluphid online!
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||