I invented a card game based on the 'wheel'

[light_bulb]

this is my game based on my wheel theory, the question is how many non-repetitive combinations of letters that link (eg. ab, bc, cd, and ag, gy, ly ect.) can be found in this game, i don't know it myself and i figure this is the best place to post the question since it's a bit involved. bonus points if you can figure some odds of getting a pair of matching letters in a stalemate hand.

ok here are the rules:

this game is sort of like spades but has three players

rule 1) shuffle a 52 card deck, first card on the top becomes the suite leader, put it to the side.

rule 2) like spades you need to make books, but in this case you only have to make the most books to win the hand, no need to bid on how many you make.
that first card put to the side takes the place of the spade suite meaning any suite can be the last suite to throw out and trump the other cards.

rule 3) each player (in this case 3) throws out a card with the first player leading out with a suite that isn't trump, the highest card takes the book, unlike spades a 2 is just a 2 and not top card.

rule 4) each player records the number of books he has won, the player with the highest number of books at the end wins that hand, THE GOAL IS TO ONLY WIN 4 HANDS, NO MORE NO LESS.

rule 5) you can't throw off suite until you run out of that card, but you CAN lead with any card, if two players have the same card suite the highest number takes it, if all three cards are off suite the leading card takes it. the trump suite always takes it, if more than one in the trump suite are thrown the highest numbered trump card takes it.

rule 6) the first card suite card that was put aside ALWAYS trumps other cards (if more than one of the trump cards are thrown off suite the highest one takes it)

rule 7) a game consists of 11 hands, 17 books per a hand for a total of 187 books.

rule 8) each player is trying to win just 4 hands (that might mean having to lose hands on purpose to achieve that), if no one makes an even three hand the last 3 cards thrown out decide the winner.

rule 9) if two players have an even 4 hands then the game is in a stalemate, if playing for money the odd man out loses.

rule 10) when playing for letters the player who makes an even 4 hand gets a letter a-z = 1-26, eg

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 2223242526

split between black and red suites, spades is 1-13, clubs is 14-26, hearts is 1-13, diamonds is 14-26, the first card that was put aside is the letter your playing for, if two players both make 4 hands then the last card thrown out that takes that book is a match. as an added rule the the first card put aside is considered high with it's match in a 4-4 game considered low even though that has nothing to do with this (planning ahead).

the best name i can think of for this game is "revolver" lol.

 

[davee123]

My apologies, but I'm having a lot of difficulty understanding what the rules are. It sounds like you assume that people know what a "book" is, what a "trump" is, what a "match" is, what a "hand" is, and how to play "spades". Plus, you spell "suit" incorrectly repeatedly-- unless "suite" is some sort of common British or otherwise foreign terminology used in playing cards?

Let me see if I understand the rules, first off.

Requirements:
- Standard deck of 52 cards
- 3 players
- Paper/pen for scorekeeping

Play consists of a total of exactly 11 hands. Players attempt to win exactly 4 four hands-- no more, no less.

Each hand begins by shuffling all the cards, and removing one card at random from the deck. This card signifies the "letter" which will be awarded to the player who wins the current hand, and will not be used for the remainder of the hand. The letter it corresponds to depends on the suit and number of the card:

Letter Number Suit
A      A      S/H
B      2      S/H
C      3      S/H
D      4      S/H
E      5      S/H
F      6      S/H
G      7      S/H
H      8      S/H
I      9      S/H
J      10     S/H
K      J      S/H
L      Q      S/H
M      K      S/H
N      A      C/D
O      2      C/D
P      3      C/D
Q      4      C/D
R      5      C/D
S      6      C/D
T      7      C/D
U      8      C/D
V      9      C/D
W      10     C/D
X      J      C/D
Y      Q      C/D
Z      K      C/D

The remaining 51 cards are distributed randomly to the players, each having 17 (players should hide their cards from each other). Each hand is divided into 17 rounds.

Each round consists of 3 turns, one for each player. The first player in the round plays a single card face up. Going clockwise, other players take turns, playing a card similarly face up. The suit of the first card played in a round is the "trump" suit, and may be anything that the leading player chooses. Subsequent players for that round must play cards of the trump suit if possible. If they cannot play cards of the trump suit, then they may play any card that they have.

Once each player has played their card for the round, the player who played the highest numbered card of the trump suit is awarded a "book" (typically, I've heard these referred to as "tricks" rather than "books"), consisting of the cards that were played during the round. That player takes the book, and places it aside.

At the end of the hand, when all the players no longer have any playable cards, the player who received the most books wins, and is granted the "letter" of the hand determined earlier.

--

I don't think I understand parts of the tiebreaker clauses. And I also don't know how you determine who goes first in a given hand, or on a given round, although I expect that whoever was awarded the last book is the person who leads the following round.

this is my game based on my wheel theory, the question is how many non-repetitive combinations of letters that link (eg. ab, bc, cd, and ag, gy, ly ect.) can be found in this game, i don't know it myself and i figure this is the best place to post the question since it's a bit involved. bonus points if you can figure some odds of getting a pair of matching letters in a stalemate hand.

How does "ag" link? Do you mean "ab", "bc", "cd" is a set of linking letters, and "ag", "gy", "yl" link? Otherwise, how does "gy" link to "ly"? It seems you're implying that letters come in pairs? But it seems in reading the rules that letters only come one at a time? Also, since the first card is pulled at random, and there's an even distribution between cards and letters, why would this be anything different than an even distribution, and totally random but equal probability?

DaveE

 

[thankz]

i thought it was "suite"?, maybe I'm english. you need to play spades first to really see why a draw works here, this is a gambling style game, the letters have significance, depending on what your doing, after the hand is played the letter order is what counts.

 

[davee123]

i thought it was "suite"?, maybe I'm english.

In the US, one would call the type of card as a "suit" as in hearts, clubs, diamonds, or spades. According to Mirriam Webster, that's an explicit definition of "suit" but not of "suite". I find that "suite" typically is a more general term for a group of things (or a specific term for a group of rooms). But the two words' origins appear identical. But I wasn't sure when I posted whether or not "suite" had some sort of specific connotation in cards that I wasn't aware of. For instance, one might assume A, K, Q, J, 10 as a "suite" in poker because they're the highest grouping of cards. Or you might assume the number cards were a suite or something. I assumed he meant "suit" as in the designation on the cards (hearts, spades, etc), and not some other definition, but I figured it could be cause for confusion.

you need to play spades first to really see why a draw works here, this is a gambling style game, the letters have significance, depending on what your doing, after the hand is played the letter order is what counts.

Did you understand the rules as he laid them out? I guess I'd still be curious to know exactly what was meant...

DaveE

 

[Common Sense]

What a game

That's a cool game light_bulb. My mates and I just played it for 3 hours. I also invented one, it's called Good Game :) I'll be happy to share it here soon. And for those of you who don't understand light_bulbs game, keep trying, you'll get there. It's a great game light bulb, hope you come up with more