Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 12:52:46 -0700
From: Pete <deleted>
Subject: Re: Hearts variant
While in the National Guard, we played using a 53 card deck. The extra card was blank. You could play it anytime as a slough (sluff). Or you could lead it and the next player made the suit.
It made it more difficult to count cards and a great way to get out of the lead by leading it.
Everything else was the same. Everyday we played with a different amount of players. Always single deck. Sometimes you only got 5 cards. We had lotsa "special" rules, too. Sometimes whoever got the Q of spades would lay it face up, so everyone knew who had. The scorekeeper was generally the same person and if you questioned the score or count you receeved 5 (sometimes 10) bonus points. It was a very loud boistrous game, with strong language.
Winner got to clean the lunch room. And depending on how much you gloated decided how big a mess it was left in. We also played with the ten of diamonds as a minus ten points. And if you ran it you had to take the ten, too.
Actually the only change to the basic game was the addition of the blank card. You could play it at anytime instead of following suit and you could lead it making the next eldest hand's lead the suit of that trick.
Hearts is my favorite card game. Unfortunately my wife doesn't like it so we don't play often when we play with others. I usta have a hearts game on my puter but it disappeared during one of the many self induced crashes.
Pete
