Players: 1

Cards: 52 (1 deck, no jokers)

Object: To convert all the cards in the spiral to your color.

Spiral: Deal out 16 cards as shown by the line above, starting with #1 and ending with #16. Whichever color the spiral has fewer cards of is your color; the other color is known as the opposing color. If there are eight cards of each color, your color is that of card #1.

Hand: Deal yourself a hand of five cards. Your hand always contains five cards; whenever you play a card, draw a replacement from the deck. Your hand must also contain cards of both colors; if at any point it doesn't, discard the entire hand and draw five new cards. If the deck is exhausted, flip and shuffle the discard pile; this becomes the new deck.

Sequence of Play: Play occurs in cycles, each composed of the following steps:

1. Play x card(s) of the opposing color on x card(s) of your color. At the start of the game, x is 1.

2. Spiral in. (see below)

3. Play the top card from the deck on top of card #1.

4. Switch the positions of any two cards in the spiral.

5. Spiral out. (see below)

6. Return to Step 1, each time increasing x by 1.

Spiraling In: Starting with card #16 and spiraling counterclockwise to card #1, activate each card in order. If the activated card is adjacent (not diagonal) to a card of the opposing color that is equal to it or one rank below it, it converts the adjacent card: play a card of the activated card's color directly on top of it. Cards that have been converted are out of the game. If the activated card converts multiple cards, you may choose the order to convert them, and must draw after each card is played.

(Example: In the diagram above, the 5 would convert the 5 , causing either the K or J to be played on top of it. If the J is played, then it will later convert the 10 -- after the K converts the Q , but before the 8 converts the 7 .)

Spiraling Out: Starting with #1 and spiraling clockwise to #16, follow the same procedure as above.

Ending and Score: The game ends in one of three ways:

1. If all the cards in the spiral are your color, you immediately win. You receive 11 points for winning a game, and 1 point for every card of your color left in your hand, discard pile, and/or deck. The highest possible score is 20. Points have cash value equal to 1/100th of a cent.

2. If there are no more cards of your color in your hand, deck, or discard pile, you lose, and receive 0 points.

3. If all the cards in the spiral are now of the opposing color, you lose catastrophically, and receive a pat on the head.

 

By Jesse Fuchs
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License