Wrestling
Contributed by Adam Lambert
Two-player game. Shuffle the cards (52 card pack plus two jokers), and four cards to each player. Stack the remaining cards face down to form a draw pile between the players. Next to it is a face up discard pile, which begins empty.
Play alternately. At a player's turn, he first draws enough cards to bring his hand up to five cards. These can be drawn from the stock, or may include one card drawn from the top of the discard pile, provided that this card was discarded by the player's opponent. Then the player either plays a move - playing a legal combination of two or more cards to the table, as shown in the table below, or discards one card face up on top of the discard pile.
The possible moves are as follows (suits are irrelevant):
| Move type | Cards | Result |
|---|---|---|
| PIN ATTEMPT | 1-2-3 | WINS GAME, UNLESS OPPONENT CAN LAY A KING OR JOKER TO BREAK THE HOLD |
| SUBMISSION ATTEMPT | 4-5-6 | WINS GAME, UNLESS OPPONENT CAN LAY A KING, QUEEN OR JOKER TO BREAK THE HOLD |
| FINISHER | A-A-A | FINISHER MOVE WINS GAME, UNLESS OPPONENT CAN LAY A JOKER |
| POSTING | 4-4 | DRAW 2 CARDS AND GO AGAIN |
| BODY SLAM | 5-5 | DRAW 2 CARDS AND GO AGAIN |
| INTO THE ROPES | 6-6 | DRAW 2 CARDS AND GO AGAIN |
| OUT OF RING | 7-7 | DRAW 2 CARDS AND GO AGAIN |
| DROP KICK | 8-8 | DRAW 2 CARDS AND GO AGAIN |
| WEAKENER | 9-9 | PICK ONE OF OPPONENT'S CARDS AT RANDOM AND REMOVE FROM GAME |
| WEAKENER | 10-10 | PICK ONE OF OPPONENT'S CARDS AT RANDOM AND REMOVE FROM GAME |
| WEAKENER | J-J | PICK ONE OF OPPONENT'S CARDS AT RANDOM AND REMOVE FROM GAME |
| KNOCKOUT (ILLEGAL MOVE) | Q-Q-Q | WINS GAME, UNLESS OPPONENT CAN LAY KING OR JOKER, IN WHICH CASE PLAYER MAKING THE MOVE IS DISQUALIFIED |
A joker can be used as a substitute for any card, but in most cases it may be better to keep it to respond to a future attempt by one's opponent to win the game.
Some moves (4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8) cause the player to draw two replacement cards from the face down pile and then play again, either another move or a discard.
Some moves (A-A-A, A-2-3, 4-5-6, Q-Q-Q) require an immediate response from the opponent, otherwise the game is won.
After the move and response if any, the cards played are removed from the game - they are put aside until the next deal (not added to the discard pile). The same happens to any card taken from the opponent by a weakener move (9-9, 10-10, J-J). It is then the other player's turn to draw until he is holding five cards and play.
The winner is the player who completes a PIN ATTEMPT, FINISHER or SUBMISSION ATTEMPT to which the opponent cannot respond, or the player who delivers a KNOCKOUT, or theis player's opponent if the player is DISQUALIFIED. If the cards run out, then the game will result in a draw, or for a longer game you can shuffle the discard pile and continue playing until you find a winner.