3 Card Games that you must play during this Chinese New Year!

One of the greatest joys during Chinese New Year surely is playing card games with your long-lost relatives. Of course, we know that many of you know card games, like Banluck (Chinese Blackjack), Big Four Poker (Dou Dizhu) and Siam Banluck, but do you know other games that you can play using poker cards? Here is a list of card games that you need to try out this year!

(A) Joker

Number of players: 3 people and above

How to play:

Prepare a standard deck of playing cards and a ‘Joker’ card.

After shuffling all the cards, give out all cards accordingly, one by one.

Players have paired up cards that are the same (same number but different suits also can), place these cards in the middle, take turns to play.

After paired up cards are being placed in the middle, the game begins,

Players are required to draw a card from the player on your left-hand side or right-hand side. If the card you drew matched with one of your cards, you may place the pair in the middle.

The player who has the ‘Joker’ card till the end loses.

Tips: Player who has the ‘Joker’ card must do anything they can to get other players to draw the ‘Joker’ card. The player must remain calm so that other players wouldn’t know that he or she has the ‘Joker’ card.

(B) Madness Heart Attack

Number of players: 4 people and above

How to play:

Prepare 2 standard decks of playing cards, shuffle them and give out all cards, one by one.

Similar to the normal version of Heart Attack, is just that the number that players shout must be increased/decreased with the number of cards revealed.

Example: If the number of cards is set to ‘plus two’, you scream ‘6’, while the card you revealed is ‘8’, all players must place their hands on the card. However, if you shouted ‘6’ and the card you revealed is also ‘6’, the first player to place their hands on the card loses. The loser will have to take up all the cards in the middle.

If you have played all your cards, you will still have to play for three rounds before you end your part in this game,

The player who still has cards till the end loses.

Tips: Speed up the game to increase excitement. This game is definitely a hard one for those who can’t think fast!

(C) The Poker Liar

Number of players: 2 to 6 people (increase the deck of cards according to the number of players)

How to play:

Prepare two decks of playing cards, shuffle them and give out all cards, one by one.

Cover your cards by placing the front side of the card on the table.

You may give out one card, a pair, or at most three cards at a time.

You shout out the number of cards that you have in your hands. For example, if you have one 6 and one 4, you can say that you have a pair of 5/ a pair of 6 or a pair of Q.

If other players question you, they will then ask you to open up your cards; if not, the next player will proceed with the game.

If you were asked to open up and you were caught lying, you will have to take up all the cards that were in the middle.

If you opened up and you didn’t lie, the player who questioned you will have to take up all the cards.

The first player to play all his or her cards wins.

Tips: You must be clear with the number of cards so that you won’t get caught.

Playing card games is definitely one of the fun ways to spend time and to bond with one another, especially during Chinese New Year!