Number of Players:
6-12 (number of players must be even)
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Materials:
-Deck of playing cards
-Paper for scoring
-Pencil
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Objective:
Reach a set number of points. Gain points by successfully signaling to your partner that you have collected a 4-of-a-kind. Also, gain points by 'cutting' someone in the process of signaling to their partner and making them lose points.
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Setup:
-Collect a 4-of-a-kind for each player in the game. (If you have 8 players, you'll need 8 4-of-a-kinds [32 cards].)
-Pair off each player. (There are many ways to do this. A suggested method is to take out pairs from the deck of cards so there are enough cards for each player. Shuffle the cards, place the deck in the middle of the table, face down and allow each player to draw a card. Players will be paired with whomever holds their matching pair.)
-Separate about the room/house to discuss your secret signal with your partner. A signal includes anything detectable by all players but may not necessarily be understood as a signal by each player. This is the fun of the game, guessing what the signal of other's is. A signal can be as simple as: holding the cards a certain way; holding a fist; having a certain body posture; saying something; looking at something; touching someone/somewhere. Some players like having signals with higher security. This could mean having 2 signals, such as holding a fist with the left hand and touching their jewelry with their right hand. These signals are harder for others to catch on to, however they could sometimes be misinterpreted by your partner as they might think you're signaling from seeing 1 of the signals and forgetting the other. They might also take longer thought process times. Invalid signals would be something like playing footsies under the table.
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Rules:
A player must not hold more than 4 cards.
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Dealing:
The classic method of dealing out 1 card at a time to each player could be used, however, I find it more effective to just spread the cards out in the middle and let each player grab 4 cards.
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Playing:
This game is played in real time. There are no turns so everyone just plays as fast as they can. As soon as everyone is ready from collecting their 4 cards initial cards, the game begins. Players can discard any number of cards they are holding (usually 1 or 2) and throws the face up in the center. This allows any player to discard (if they are already holding 4 cards) and pick up any of the cards in the center. This fast actioned play continues until someone yells 'pause', 'signal' or 'cut'.
Pause: If a card drops off the table, a player may yell pause to stop the game to retrieve the card.
Signal: If your partner has collected a 4-of-a-kind, they may be signaling to you. If you spot the signal, yell 'signal' before anyone else yells any of the key words. After you've yelled 'signal' your partner reveals his/her hand. If he/she is indeed holding a 4-of-a-kind, your team has made a successful signal. If your partner is not holding a 4-of-a-kind, your team has made an unsuccessful signal.
Cut: If you spot an opponent's signal or know they are holding a 4-of-a-kind, yell 'cut'. After 'cut' has been yelled, the caller picks the opponent who will reveal their cards. If the opponent is indeed holding a 4-of-a-kind, the calling team has made a successful cut. If the opponent is not holding a 4-of-a-kind, the calling team has made an unsuccessful cut.
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Scoring:
Signal: If a team has made a successful signal, they score a point.
If a team has made an unsuccessful signal, they lose a point.
Cut: If a team has made a successful cut, they score a point and the opposing team loses a point.
If a team has made an unsuccessful cut, they lose a point.
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Ending the Game:
Subsequent rounds are played until a goal score has been reached. The goal score is often 10, 15 or 20. A goal score of 10 could take from 45 minutes - 1.5 hours.
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House Rules:
-Sometimes the game can get really wild and new rules have to be set in place. One rule we used was no calling out names.
-Instead of scoring each round, this can be turned into a drinking game.
successful signal: calling team selects or randomly chooses an opposing team to drink.
unsuccessful signal: calling team drinks.
successful cut: losing team drinks. (an optional rule would be to have tokens. Tokens are scored by a team who makes a successful cut. The team may spend a token to be exempt from drinking when their turn comes.)
unsuccessful cut: calling team drinks.
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Tips and Tricks:
Sometimes you could watch what a player is selectively picking up. This will give you a chance to call 'cut' on them.
If you know what a player wants, whether it'd be your partner or not, you could feed him/her the correct cards by throwing out what they want and hope they pick it up.
Sometimes players throw spurious signals to throw other teams off. This could make others call 'cut', and winding up with an unsuccessful cut or it just throws off other teams from guessing your real signal.
