Copyright
"Parlett's creativity is as ordered and precise as a Swiss watch. His games mesh so well with the structure of playing-cards as to give the impression that the pack was created specifically for his inventions." (See Testimonials.)
Inventing card games is one of my favourite recreations. It's a relaxing hobby: it means I can think up the basic ideas without having to get out of bed - or even, if I'm very lucky, without having to wake up - which is more than you can say for actually playing cards. My idea of a good game is one that uses an ordinary 52-card pack and has very simple rules, but gives you plenty to think about. If you like that idea have a look through the following. Against each entry is a note of how many it can be played by (red means it's ideal for that number and P = four players in fixed partnerships), followed by the type of game it is and a note of what it's all about. For type of game, I use these terms:
- plain tricks = all tricks are of equal value
- point tricks = tricks have point-values based on the cards they contain
- wild tricks = play to a trick simultaneously instead of in turn
- rummy-tricks = the aim is to win card-combinations (melds) in tricks
- trick-avoid = avoid winning tricks and/or penalty cards (Hearts family)
- rummy = draw and discard until you have a scoring combination
- layout = cards are laid out in a grid, making a quasi-board game
- shedding = get rid of all the cards from your hand (a going-out game)
- arithmetical = play cards out to make particular totals
- matching = play cards that match their immediate predecessors
| Abstrac | 2 | nim game | Pick up cards to make combinations (perfect information) |
| Addenda | 2 P | point tricks | Aim to win tricks counting 17 points each |
| Agony Aunt | 4 | trick-avoid | Avoid taking penalty cards (needs counters and a board |
| Anarchy | 3 4 5 | wild tricks | Play as you please and score how you like |
| Bouncers | 3 | trick-avoid | A sort of cross between Gops and Hearts |
| Bravado | 2 3 4 5 6 | shedding | A fast fun game, soon to be published as "Chicken Out!" |
| Brummy | 2 3 4 5 | rummy | Two-dimensional Rummy |
| Bugami | 3 4 P 5 | trick-avoid | Choose which suit not to win cards of in tricks (& see Trigami) |
| Caterpillar | 2 | arithmetical | A fairly simple adding-up game |
| Cato | 2 | point tricks | A card-point adaptation of Ecarté |
| Centurion | 2 | arithmetical | Adding-up game for a couple of centenarians |
| Chwech | 4 5 6 | plain tricks | You needn't play to a trick if you don't want to (designed for six) |
| Collusion | 4 | plain tricks | Hilarious game of (mis)alliances and double-crossings |
| Colour-blind | 2 3 | plain tricks | Choose whether to win red cards or black |
| Concerto | P | poker hands | Coöperatively construct poker hands |
| Counterbluff | 2 | bluffing | Bluff with constantly-evolving Poker hands |
| Counterpique | 2 | tricks & melds | Contract Piquet - a classic game updated |
| Counterpoint | 2 3 | point tricks | Predict how many card-points you'll win in tricks |
| Cowpoke | 2 3 4 5 | collecting | A pokery sort of game with quasi-tricks |
| Cross Purposes | 2 P | plain tricks | One party chooses a trump suit, the other a top rank |
| Crummy | 3 4 5 6 | rummy | Rummy with a trick-type method of play |
| Doubleduck | P | plain tricks | Partnership version of Duck Soup |
| Dumbo | 3 | plain tricks | Three-player version of Collusion |
| Dracula | 2 3 P | arithmetical | An arithmetical game with a bloodthirsty count |
| Duck Soup | 2 | plain tricks | Game for a couple of quacks (& see Doubleduck, Trebleduck) |
| Farrago | 3 4 5 | plain tricks | There's a different trumping rule at every deal |
| Flashpoint | P | trick-rummy | Play tricks to win card combinations |
| Flunk | 3 | plain tricks | Any relation to three-handed Bridge is purely fortuitous |
| Fosco | 2 P | arithmetical | A game of perfect information with another villainous count |
| Galapagos | 2 | hybrid | 3 games in 1: win tricks, make melds, get rid of your cards |
| Ganderpoke | 2 3 4 | layout | A five-by-five square game with Poker hands |
| Garbo | 2 | layout | A 4x4 square game where each card "vants to be alone" |
| Get Stuck | 2 P | layout | A quasi board game on a grid of seven by seven cards |
| Give or Take | 2 | arithmetical | aka More or Less - another way of playing with numbers |
| Good Cop, Bad Cop | 4 | plain tricks | Two Jokers, a trump suit, a penalty suit, and who's your partner? |
| Gooseberry Fool | 3 | plain tricks | Divide and rule by winning the middling number of tricks |
| Hamlet | 3 | plain tricks | With supporting roles for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern |
| Hindsight | 2 | tricks+melds | In which you might have done better with a bit of foresight |
| Hoodwink | 3 | plain tricks | With at least two ways of hoodwinking your opponents |
| Key of the door | 2 3 4 P 5 | arithmetical | In which you construct "keys" counting exactly 21 |
| Limbo | 2 | arithmetical | Get lowest under the bar by deducting and dividing |
| Memoranda | 4 5 6 | memory | Can you remember which cards were you originally dealt? |
| Minimisère | 3 4 5 | trick-avoid | If you can't lose every trick, win as many as possible |
| Mismatch | 4 | trick-avoid | The antidote to Rummy: avoid winning card-combinations |
| Naughty Nun | 3 | plain tricks | Like Ninety-Nine, but with silly additions and variations |
| Nimbly | 3 4 5 | layout | Pick up nine cards that make scoring combinations |
| Ninety-Nine | 2 3 4 P 5 | plain tricks | Bid to win an exact number of tricks |
| One Up | 2 3 4 5 | arithmetical | Game for a number of totalitarians |
| Parity | 2 | plain tricks | Odd or even? A skilled game of perfect information |
| Plonk | P | point tricks | Win tricks containing cards of different suits. Not so easy... |
| Prime Time | 2 3 | arithmetical | Make primes from three-card combinations |
| Romeo & Juliet | 2 | layout | A romantic card-board game on a grid of 7x7 cards |
| Rummage | 3 4 5 6 | trick-rummy | Rummy with a trick-type method of play (designed for 5) |
| Seconds | 4 | plain tricks | In which only the second-best card wins the trick |
| Secret Agent | 4 | plain tricks | In which you also score for tricks won by your secret agent |
| Slapstick | 2 3 4 5 6 | shedding | Like Bravado but without all that adding up |
| Snail Space | 2 | layout | Spiral Cribbage, or Cribbage for Snails |
| Snark | 3 4 5 | wild tricks | A wilder version of Anarchy (designed for 5 Boojums) |
| Sneak | 2 3 4 5 | bluffing | If you've got it, flaunt it; if not, bluff it |
| Spec | 2 3 4 | layout | A silly guessing game - or is it? |
| Squint | 5 | plain tricks | Twist a card to find your partner (& see Twyst for four) |
| Stucco | 2 | matching | A match-and-go-out game of perfect information |
| Tantony | 3 4 P | point tricks | Win tricks, then give them away! |
| Throps | 3 | wild tricks | A three-player variant of Gops ("Game Of Perfect Strategy") |
| Tracktrick | 3 P | plain tricks | A quasi-board game requiring accurate trick-play |
| Trebleduck | 3 | plain tricks | Three-player version of Duck Soup |
| Triathlon | 3 | plain tricks | In which you aim to perform three trick-taking feats |
| Trigami | 3 | trick-avoid | Choose which suit not to win cards of in tricks (& see Bugami) |
| Twyst | 4 | plain tricks | Twist a card to find your partner (& see Squint for five) |
| Umbridge | 2 | plain tricks | A perversion of Bridge for two |
| Welsh Whist | 3 4 5 | point tricks | A fun game with Jokers and bluffing. No cheating allowed! |
| Who's Who | 3 | plain tricks | Which of the other two players is your secret partner? |
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