20040406   

JU

Michael considered fate at 15:10   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment

JU is a card game that was created by my friend Chris and I on some lonely evening some time ago. Despite the relative difficulty in creating a playable and enjoyable card game, JU just fell into our laps without much thought at all, really. And, it just works. Don't ask why.

Unfortunately, due to it's somewhat unpolitically correct nature, the terminology has been changed to protect the not-so-innocent, but feel free to enjoy the game regardless:

JU is a card game of wit, humour, back stabbing, and cunning strategy. JU is, of course, also a game of luck. JU is excellent.



JU is best played with 3 or 4 players although it will work with more.

To start the game thoroughly shuffle a standard 52-card deck and include the two jokers into the mix. Deal each player 5 cards in their hand and one face-up in front of them. Place the remaining deck in the middle of the table. The player to the left of the dealer plays first. Deal rotates to the left after each round of play.

When it is a player's turn they should first draw a card from the deck. After this, the player may play any or all of their cards onto the cards that are face up on the table in a sequential manner. This means that if there was a J face up in front of someone and the player had a Q and 10 in their hand then the player could place the Q to the right of the J and the 10 to the left of it. If the player, instead, had Q K A in their hand, they could place the Q K A all to the right of the J. The player can play cards on various opponents (and him/herself!) until they either do not want to play anymore or cannot play anymore.

When the player can no longer play (or does not want to play) any of the cards in his/her hand they must pass to the next player on their left. That new player now draws and proceeds to play his/her turn.

In the event that a player is able to play all the cards in his/her hand then the entire round ends. Players score their round based on the cards face up in front of them and the cards still in their hand. A is worth fifteen, 10 J Q K are all worth ten, and all others are worth five. The goal is to score less. Therefore, as a player considers what cards to play he/she should try not to play on him/herself if at all possible.

In the event that a player receives three or more cards in sequence in front of him all of the same suit then those cards will no longer count towards his/her score at the end of that round. Therefore, a player who empties his/her hand with 8(H) 9(S) 10(D) J(D) Q(D) K(C) A(C) face-up will score five each for the 8 and 9, ten for the K, and fifteen for the A but the 10 J Q will count as zero since they are in a run. In this way it is sometimes useful for a player to play cards on themselves in order to reduce their score.

If a player is dealt or draws a joker they can then place the joker on either end of their face-up sequence. This acts as a block and stops all further play on that end of the sequence. For example, a face-up sequence of 8 9 10 J JOKER can only be played on with a 7, since trying to play a Q is blocked by the JOKER. In the event that a player receives two jokers, they can block both ends of their sequence for that round. In the event that a joker is dealt to a player as his/her face-up card at the beginning of a round then all other players score their hands immediately as if the player with the joker just emptied his/her hand and that player receives a score of zero for the round.

In the event that a player is able to play four consecutive cards on one end of another player's face-up sequence then they effectively perform a "JU". In addition to the increased score that the unfortunate player receives, the player who plays the four cards also draws one card out of the middle of his/her face-up sequence and gives it, face-down in front of their face-up sequence, to any player at the table as additional points to be scored at the end of the round. This means that if a player managed to place four cards on someone's face-up sequence and their own face-up sequence was K A 2 3 4 then the smartest scenario would be to draw out the A (the highest score card) to give to someone else. In the event that a player performing the "JU" has only one or two cards face-up, then they must draw a card from their current hand to give to someone else. It is possible for this player to empty their hand and end the round this way in the event that only one card is left in their hand.

In the event that a player is able to play five or more consecutive cards on one end of another player's face-up sequence then they effectively perform an "Advanced JU". For every card over four that the player plays, they remove one more card from the middle of his/her face-up sequence in the same manner as outlined above. Therefore a player who lays down six cards on the end of another player's face-up sequence then gets to draw three cards out of the middle of their own face-up sequence (or hand, as the case may be).

If play continues till there are no more cards in the deck to draw from then play continues until one full rotation around the table in which each player can not play any cards. If there are no more cards in the deck to draw from then a player must play at least one card each turn if it is possible - even if that means playing on his/herself.

In general, rounds of the game will be played until at least one player has a cumulative score of 500 or more at which point the player with the lowest score wins. This makes for some interesting game play among the players as it will behoove higher score players to play against the player with the lowest score.

Questions? Ambiguity? Let me know.