Phyllis
Phyliss was first introduced to me by my friends Nate and Jen. It's a bizarre game,
and at first it doesn't seem to have any sort of stragy, just a play by the rules game. Then you get near the end
and things get really intresting. It's a great game, with easy rules to entice a newbie.
Players and Cards
The game is for 2 to 5 players, and uses a standard 52 card deck. The cards are
ordered 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, 2. The 2 card is both
high and low, and the 10 card acts as a destroy card. Cards' suit is
irrelevant.
Object of the game
To get rid of all of one's cards. The game is played until one player remains.
The loser must deal the next game.
Deal
Each player is dealt 9 cards. The first three are placed face down. No one,
including the player, sees these cards until each one is put into play. The
next three are dealt face up. The final three are dealt as the players' hand. The
remaining cards are placed in a draw pile.
Play
The player with the lowest cards showing goes first, the 2 and 10 cards don't
count for this.
For each turn, the player attempts to play a card that is equal to, or beats
the card on the discard pile. The discard pile is initially empty, so any card
may be played. If a player has more than one of the same card, any number of
the cards can be played at the same time. Playing a ten destroys the
discard pile, it is taken out of play, and the player to destroy the pile goes
again. Also, if three of the same cards are on the top of the discard pile,
it is destroyed, and the player to play the destroy card goes again. If the
player is unable, or unwilling to play, they can pick up the discard pile.
The player can also attempt to play the first card on the draw pile, however,
if this card cannot be played, they must pickup all the cards from the discard
pile and the card they drew. This is referred to as the "hand of god." At the
end of each turn, if the player has less than three cards, they draw enough
cards from the draw pile to have three cards in their hand.
When the draw pile is exhausted, and the player has no more cards in their
hand, they must play a card from the pile of face up cards. The normal rules
apply, and if they must pickup cards from the discard pile, those become their
hand, and they only play from their hand until it is exhausted again. Once
all of the face-up cards have been played, they pick one of the facedown
cards and attempt to play it. Again, if the discard pile must be picked
up, they play from their hand only until it is exhausted.
As players run out of cards completely, they drop out of the game. The
last player left with cards is the loser, and must deal the next
game.