Bastard

Contributed by Daniel Manship

In this game you will need a standard 54 card deck (52 cards + 2 jokers). Aces are high. If there are more than 6 players, two 54-card decks may be used.

Players

3-6

The Deal

Each player is given 7 cards and the rest of the deck is placed in a pile face down in the middle of the table. One card from the deck is flipped over and placed next to the deck. The players are allowed to look at their cards.

The Play

• If it is the first game, left of dealer goes first as usual. However, if previous games have been played left of the previous game's winner will go first.
• From their hand s/he will then either play one card, or many cards of the same rank if the condition below is fulfilled, on the flipped card or pass. If a card is played, it must be higher than the card it was played on (not the same) and it must be of opposite colour, i.e. reds can only go on blacks and blacks can only go on reds. You can not play reds on reds nor blacks on blacks. If you pass you must draw from the deck, if it's not empty.
• The next person does the same but has to beat the previous person's card, and so on and so forth
• If an Ace or Aces is/are played it is called a reversal and subsequent players must play lower than the cards played by the previous player. If a 2 or 2s is/are reached another reversal happens and you start going higher again
• A player may play more than one card of the same rank, however they must alternate in colour. So you will not be able to play 2 red 8s on a black 7, however you could play a red 8 and a black 8 (as long as it's in that order). Or red 8 - black 8 - red 8 - black 8 (or just 3 cards)A Joker can be played at any turn and it resets the pile completely. The next person may play what ever s/he wishes. After the joker is played you must always start going higher irrespective of any reversals played previously. Treat any reversals played after this like normal.
• The person to lose their hand first is deemed the winner. The last person is deemed the bastard.

Passing

A player may choose to pass if they can actually go. In this case they still have to pick up a card. However if the player before you passed, you are not allowed to pass if you can play a card. You also can't choose to pass when able to play if there are only 2 players left. This is to stop players from ganning up on an individual to initiate the bastard rule (see below). Obviously if you can't play a card you have to pass anyway. When you pass it is the next person's turn regardless of whether or not the card you picked can beat the card played.

The Bastard Rule

If a player plays a card, and everyone else passes on it and the player who played it in the first place cannot beat it, the bastard rule is initiated. As punishment for stopping play that player must draw from the deck one card for every other player that was in the game at the start (regardless of who's out). For example if there were 6 players at the start, you will have to pick up 5 cards. If the deck is empty, each player remaining in play will give you one card. If the deck is partially full (ie, you need to pick up 5 but there's only 3 cards in the deck), you pick up the rest of the deck and get the remaining cards you need from the remaining players. Starting with the person right of you, you will receive one card from each player until you get the required number of cards (again one for each player there at the start of play) or until everyone remaining in the game has given you a card. After, this the person to left of you can reset the pile with anything they want and you will be playing cards higher than it regardless of any reversals played previously. Treat any reversals played after this like normal.

Note - it is possible to have two or more winners if the bastard ruleis invoked when some players had just one card in their hands. In this case cut cards or flip a coin to decide who plays first in the next game.

Note on Jokers

The jokers in the basic game are considered identical - either of them can be played on any card and any card can be played on a joker. Some decks have a red and a black joker. If your cards are of this type, you can introduce the rule that a joker can only be played on the opposite colour (red joker on black card; black joker on red card), and the card played by the next player must be the oppoosite colour to the joker.

Created by: Dan, JOD and Craig
Beta tested by: CBRs
Influenced by: Shithead, Trumps, President, Solitaire