The Double Blind Card Game

          For all you card lovers out there, I bring you the latest, greatest, card game of them all: The Double Blind.  It's a card game like no other.  The rules are simple, but the stratagems can be complex and artful.  Each player has five cards they hold in their hand but don't look at, holding them outwards for everyone else to see (the first blind).  Player's then play using cards from the player to the right of them.  However, each player also has three cards they keep hidden which they can choose to play instead (the second blind).  The goal: gain the most points to win the game by playing the highest card.


          First, the simple rules for how to play the game:
          •   First the dealer deals each player three cards (called the "sleeve").  These are your secret cards you can choose to play as a surprise.  Look at them, but don't show them to anyone.
          •   Then the dealer deals each player five cards (called the "pocket").  DON'T LOOK AT THESE CARDS.  Instead, hold them face out to all the other players.  The person on your left will use these cards.  You will use the cards from the person on your right (a.k.a, your "target").
          •   The player to the right of the dealer goes first.  This player (a.k.a the "Madd Hatter") can either: draw a card from the five exposed cards ("pocket") that the player to their right (their "target") is holding outward, or say "a bribe" and play one of their three hidden cards (their "sleeve").
          •   Repeat for each player, moving counter-clockwise, until all have played a card.  The player who put down the highest card wins the round (or "hat"), and gets to add all the cards to their pile of winnings in front of them (their "loot bag").
          •  The Dealer then restocks each player's set of cards, refilling first the five exposed ("pocket") and then the three hidden ("sleeve") cards of the player to the right ("target") of the one who went first that round ("Madd Hatter"), then the player to their right, and so on.
          •   The player to the right of the one who started the last round (the "Madd Hatter") starts the next round ("hat".  This player becomes the new "Madd Hatter".).
          •  When there are no more cards left in the deck and a player runs out of exposed cards (their "pocket" is empty), the hand ("caper") is over.  Exposed ("pocket") cards go in the middle, no one gets to count the points from them.  Hidden ("sleeve") cards get added to that player's pile of winnings ("loot bag"), and all of these cards are counted and added to that player's score.
          •    The game ends when one person  reaches or exceeds 1,000 points.  Highest scorer wins the game (and the title of "One-Eyed King").


          Play a couple hands ("capers") to get the hang of the game.  As you play, you can refer to this complete set of rules for playing the Double Blind game:


          •   The game consists of "hats", individual rounds where each player plays a card, and "capers", the set of hats that uses up all the cards.  The game ends when a player scores 1,000 points or more.  The player with the highest score at that point is then declared the "One-Eyed King", or winner.
          •   At the start of each caper, the Dealer, or Mastermind, deals three cards to each player.  These cards are the player's "sleeve".  Players may look at these cards, but must not show them to anyone else.  The sleeve may be kept anywhere the player wishes (including up their sleeve), so long as they do not touch any other cards and no one else can see the value of the sleeve cards.
          •   The Mastermind then deals five cards to each player.  This is the player's "pocket".  The player must never look at these cards, but rather hold them face out to the rest of the players.
          •   The cards a player holds, their pocket and their sleeve, is the player's "stash".  The cards that a player can play with, their sleeve and their target's pocket, is the player's "credit".  The remaining cards in the deck, or "bank", go just in front of the Mastermind's "loot bag" (the stack of cards a player has won).
          •   The player who starts a hat is the "Madd Hatter". The player to the right of a player is that player's "target".
          •   The Mastermind's target (the player to the Mastermind's right) is the first Madd Hatter and starts the first hat, playing a card from their target's pocket to the middle of the table.  The Madd Hatter's target then plays a card, and so on, until all the players have put down a card.
          •   The player who plays the card worth the most points wins the hat and gets to add the all cards from that hat to their loot bag, located directly in front of them.
          •   Playing a card from one's sleeve rather than one's target's pocket is called "bribing". A player who wishes to bribe may do so by declaring "A bribe" and playing a card from their sleeve.
          •   At the end of each hat the Mastermind must go round to each player, starting with the Madd Hatter's target, and refills their stash from the bank.  This process is called paying "interest". When paying interest, the Mastermind always refills a player's pocket first and then their sleeve. This continues until every player's stash is full, or there are no more cards left.
          •   The Madd Hatter's target then becomes the new Madd Hatter and starts the next hat.
          •   In the case of a tie, called a "trick", the Mastermind adds ten points to the hat (this can be physically represented by a token), and the players who tied go again in the same order.  This process is repeated until a player wins the trick.  The winner then adds all the cards and bonus points to their loot bag.
          •   A caper is almost finished when the Mastermind had given out the last card from the bank.  Hats continue as normal, but without interest, until a player's pocket is emptied.  The caper is now complete.  Any cards still left in the other player's pockets go face up in the middle of the table.  These cards may not be counted toward any player's score. Any cards in a player's sleeve are added to their loot bag and may be counted toward that player's score.
          •   If the caper ends during the middle of a trick, the caper is extended until someone wins the trick.  If a player's credit runs out during the trick, that player automatically looses and drops out of the trick.
          •   Numeric cards are worth points equal to their number, while Jacks are worth 11 points, Queens 12 points, Kings 13 points, Aces 14 points, and Jokers 15 points.
          •   A player's score is only calculated at the end of a caper by adding up the points of all the cards (and bonus points) in the player's loot bag.
          •   At the end of a caper, the player with the lowest score is the "Joker", and gains an extra 15 points.   If two or more players, but not all, tie for the lowest score, they all become Jokers and gain 15 bonus points.
          •   If the same player(s) is the Joker for every caper in the game, they become the "Queen's Fool", and gain an additional 15 bonus points for every caper played.
          •   If any player purposely peeks at or reveals a card they are not supposed to, they lose fifteen points, deducted at the end of the caper (after the "Joker" has been determined), and the Mastermind must switch out the exposed card with one from the bank.
          •   One deck is required for every three players.  There should thus never be more than seven capers in one game, barring ties.
          •   If two or more players tie for the title of One-Eyed King, the game is extended for an additional caper between all the players.
          •   If two or more Queen's Fools tie for the title of One-Eyed King, an extra caper is played as normal, but no player may become the Queen's Fool twice, though they may become the Joker again.
          •   If the caper is not yet finished and the credit of the players in a trick runs out, the Mastermind must then pay "half interest" (refill the pockets only) of the targets of all the players in the trick.


          The Double Blind game is wicked fun, and I advise all of you to try it at least once!


E’ya! - Tate