The Game of 65
This game can be played with 3 or more people.
It's a money game but it's cheap entertainment
at 65 cents for a couple of hours of fun.
It's like Gin with a different number of cards
and different wild cards each hand.
Everyone puts 65 cents in the pot. You'll need
two decks with jokers. You can add another deck
or more if you have more than about five people.
The Play
You will play 12 hands. Take turns dealing.
The first hand you will
deal three cards to each person and the 3's will
be wild for that hand. The second hand you will
deal four cards and the 4's will be wild. Each
hand is dealt with one more card and the card
that is considered wild progresses up through the
king and the last hand uses the aces. Jokers
are always wild.
After dealing the cards you turn up one card to
start a discard pile and put the remaining cards
in a draw pile. Each person plays in turn by taking
the top card from either the discard pile or the
draw pile and discarding one card to the discard
pile. Each player tries to collect sets of like
numbered cards or runs of same suited cards. Each
set or run is made up of three or more cards. An
ace can be used beside a king or a two but not
between both of them in the same run.
If, at the end of his turn,
a player can use all of his cards, then he lays them down.
He must also discard. When a player has laid
down, the other players get one more turn to collect
and lay down their sets and runs. The cards that
are not included in their sets or runs are counted
and added to their score.
The Wild Cards
The wild cards may be used as any card in a set or run
but there cannot be more wild cards than natural cards
in any set or run. A wild card can be used as a natural
if it's suit and number are correct for the position it
is used in. This also means that you may build a set of
fours, for example, even during the round that uses fours
as wild.
Counting
Cards that can not be laid down are counted. Wild cards
are always counted as 50 points. Aces are 20. Face
cards are 10. The two through nine are counted as their
face value. The person that laid down first and anybody
else that manages to use all of their cards scores zero.
The Money
Each time someone lays down they take 10 cents from the
money. The player with the lowest score at the end of
the 12 hands takes the remaining money.
Paul Chamberlain
tif@tifster.com