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(64 votes) Published: Oct 21, 2007 1:37 p.m. Viewed 275 times
Fool is a Russian card game so popular, that it is almost the national game. There are parallels with trumps, and other games, to give an easy game to learn that needs tactics and strategy to master.
The Basics >It uses cards 6 to Ace of all suits (36 cards)
>Each player gets 3 cards, so up to 6 can play (6*6=36)
>The last person to get rid of all there cards loses, and is the Fool
So, deal out the cards, 6 to each player. The rest of the deck becomes the pick-up pile, and is placed on the playing surface, with the bottom card turn over and protruding, so that the rank and suit can be seen. This denotes the trump suit.
The person who was dealt the lowest trump starts. In this way, the advantage of going first is balanced by telling the other players one of six cards in your hand.
The first player \\’challenges\\’ the player to their left by placing a card on the table. The \\’challenged\\’ player must beat it with a card of the same suit but a higher rank, or a trump; or take it. The original player, and any third parties, may place additional challenges, provided a card of the same rank has already been laid. The maximum is six, or however many cards the player being challenged has, the lowest of the two. The person being challenged cannot lay challenges against themselves.
After the player has dealt with all challenges, or picked up ALL cards, all players must take cards from the pick-up pile, up to their original six.
Then, if the player who just defended managed to beat off all the challenges, he challenges the player to HIS left. If he picked up, he loses his oppurtunity to challenge, and the player on his left goes instead.
This continues until the pick-up pile is exhausted, and the game enters the end phase. At this point, there is no winner, only a loser, as each player attempts to get rid of their cards and not be the Fool. To put this better, until the end phase you are trying through picking up, both from the deck, and from challenges against you, to improve the hand you were dealt to the point that you own when it matters. Beating individual challenges is unimportant ,as you want to keep high cards, and also pick up good cards that you have been challenged with.
Variations Obviously, as a game played all over a country, variations have cropped up. These are the main three:
>Transfer-On the FIRST challenge that you have to beat, you may lay down a card of the same rank, and pass both challenges on to the next player. The exception is when several people have cards of the same rank, and you can then have a chain of transfering, sometimes right back to the original person who laid a card (lulz). This is the variation that most alters the game, and improves it so much that i suggest you use it.
>Pile On-If a player elects to pick up challenges, then all players may \\’pile on\\’ cards of the same rank as one being picked up, to a total of six, or the number of cards in the hand of the person picking up.
>Swap-If a player was dealt the lowest trump (the six), they may swap it for the trump card shown on the bottom of the deck. In some circles, this can only be done if that card is the ace. You choose.
Tactics I\\’ll now give you a quick outline of some pretty obvious things to bear in mind. First, is memory. If you can see what is played and picked up be the other players it is as good as if you were looking over their shoulder at their hand. Most people aren\\’t good at this tho, so for starters, try to keep track of the trump suit, and go into the endgame knowing who has the J, Q, K, and Ace of trumps.
There\\’ s the noob way and the good way to play this game. The noob way is to try and beat every single challenge that comes your way. This is a good way to pick up loads of cards and lose your trumps. A better way is to be a lot more flexible. Spend the game trying to better your hand. pick some up, but avoid taking whole stacks of cards. use trumps where you have to. Then as, the pick-up pile begins to run out, employ your low to middle strength trumps to ensure you win key challenges, going into the end phase with a hand full of your high trumps (yeah, which you didnt throw away, remember). On picking up cards, pick up early. Each card YOU play in response to a challenge, is another rank people can play against you, so if you dont want to risk that, pick up early, taking only a couple of cards into your hand. You\\’ll find other tips and stuff as you play.
One more thing. Sixes are crap right? The lowest rank you play with. So, if you make someone the Fool by playing your last card(s) and they are six(es), it follows that you are of higher skill, cos you \\’beat\\’ him with bad cards, hanging on to them through the games. In that case, the Fool sinks one level lower, and is a Fool with epaulettes: a fool among fools. You can have up to three epaulettes, which means playing three sixes, because remember that, whilst still a six, the six of trumps is a good card.
Enjoy :)
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