Poker Parry
Players: 2 – 4 | Age 6+ | Game Time: 5 -10 mins | Learning Curve: Low
Poker Parry is a poker-based game with elements of Rummy.
It is best with two players, but works for up to four.
Aim
To complete more, and stronger, poker hands than your opponent, before the deck runs out.
Setup
Each player is dealt five cards. The remaining cards are placed face down as a draw pile, with one card flipped face up to start the discard pile.
Game Play
At the start of your turn, choose whether to draw a card from the deck or pick up the top card from the discard pile. Discard a card at the end of your turn so that you have five cards in your hand.
Keep taking turns like this until you have formed a hand one pair or higher.
Once you have formed a hand, you may choose whether to play it on the table or keep trying for a stronger hand.
If you choose to play your hand, you may place it in front of you to score one point, or you can use it to beat one your opponent has already played, provided that your hand is stronger than your opponent’s.
If you beat your opponent’s hand, move their cards to the card “graveyard”, and then put your winning hand in front of you – you receive one point and they lose the point that they had for that hand. Therefore you are better to beat your opponent’s hand where possible.
The cards in the graveyard should all remain visible so that you can see which cards are no longer in the deck.
If a pair, two pair, three of a kind or four of a kind are played, only the relevant cards are put down, and you keep the remaining cards in your hand. You can only play one hand per turn.
After you have played a hand, pick up the same number of cards that you played from the draw pile, so that you are holding six cards. You can then discard a card to end your turn.
When the draw pile runs out, leave the top card of the discard pile behind, and flip the rest of the discard pile over. If you have been keeping track of the discard pile, you will have an advantage as you will know what cards are coming up.
The game ends when there are no more cards left to pick up.
Winner
The winner is the player with the most points, in other words the person with the most hands in front of them.
In the event of a tie the player with the strongest hand wins.
Notes about Poker Hands
You can play as per the standard poker hand rankings here if you like, but the nature of the game makes it harder to get a Straight than a Flush or Full House, so we prefer to play that a Straight beats these two hands.
- Remember that a pair of high cards like Aces or Kings beats a pair of lower numbers.
Variation
1) When you beat someone’s hand, put their hand into the discard pile instead of having a card graveyard. This makes the game last longer and changes things up. Give the discard pile a good shuffle each time that the draw pile runs out.
2) Instead of playing your hands to beat and remove your opponent’s hands, you place all of your hands in front of you, and each player score points for all of their hands at the end of the game as follows:
One Pair – 1 point
Two Pair – 2 points
3 of a kind – 3 points
Flush – 4 points
Full House – 5 points
Straight – 6 points
Four of a kind 10 points
Straight Flush – 12 points
Royal Flush – 15 points
Note: a straight is worth more than a flush or a full house. Due to the nature of the game it is more difficult to create straights.
Aim
To complete more, and better poker hands than your opponent, before the deck runs out.
Setup
Each player is dealt five cards. The remaining cards are placed face down as a draw pile, with one card flipped face up to start the discard pile.
Game Play
On your turn, choose whether to draw a card from the deck or pick up the top card from the discard pile. Always discard a card at the end of your turn so that you have five cards in your hand.
Keep taking turns like this until you have formed a hand one pair or higher.
Once you have formed a hand, you may choose whether to play your hand on the table or keep trying for a stronger hand.
If you choose to play your hand, you may place it in front of you to score one point, or you can use it to beat a hand your opponent has already played, provided that your hand is stronger than your opponent’s.
If you beat your opponent’s hand, move their cards to the card “graveyard”, and then put your winning hand in front of you – you receive one point and they lose the point that they had for that hand. Therefore you are better to beat your opponent’s hand where possible.
The cards in the graveyard should all remain visible so that you can see which cards are no longer in the deck.
If a pair, two pair, three of a kind or four of a kind are played, only the relevant cards are put down, and you keep the remaining cards in your hand. You can only play one hand per turn.
After you have played a hand, pick up the same number of cards that you played from the draw pile, so that you are holding six cards. You can then discard a card to end your turn.
When the draw pile runs out, leave the top card of the discard pile behind, and flip the rest of the discard pile over. If you have been keeping track of the discard pile, you will have an advantage as you will know what cards are coming up.
The game ends when there are no more cards left to pick up.
Winner
The winner is the player with the most points, in other words the person with the most hands in front of them.
In the event of a tie the player with the strongest hand wins.
Notes about Poker Hands
You can play as per the standard poker hand rankings here if you like, but the nature of the game makes it harder to get a Straight than a Flush or Full House, so we prefer to play that a Straight beats these two hands.
Remember that a pair of high cards like Aces or Kings beats a pair of lower numbers.
Variation
1) When you beat someone’s hand, put their hand into the discard pile instead of having a card graveyard. This makes the game last longer and changes things up. Give the discard pile a good shuffle each time that the draw pile runs out.
2) Instead of playing your hands to beat and remove your opponent’s hands, you place all of your hands in front of you, and each player score points for all of their hands at the end of the game as follows:
One Pair – 1 point
Two Pair – 2 points
3 of a kind – 3 points
Flush – 4 points
Full House – 5 points
Straight – 6 points
Four of a kind 10 points
Straight Flush – 12 points
Royal Flush – 15 points
Note: a straight is worth more than a flush or a full house. Due to the nature of the game it is more difficult to create straights.
Let Mr Cosmo know what you think of this game in the comments below, and make sure to tell us if you come up with any fun new variations!
