Index
MISMATCH
The anti-combination game
Players 4 (solo)
Cards 52
Type Tricks and melds (avoidance)
Down
- Start
- Whoever cuts the highest card deals first. The turn to deal and play passes always to the left. Deal 13 cards each in batches of 3-3-3-1.
- Object
- To avoid winning tricks, and especially tricks containing matches. A match is two or more cards of the same rank or suit (pairs or flushes), or three or more cards in numerical order (runs). Penalties are scored for winning tricks and matches, so the eventual winner is the player with the lowest score.
- Play
-
Dealer's left-hand neighbour leads to the first trick and the winner of each
trick leads to the next. You can play any card you like to a trick, but will
want to avoid matching the rank or suit of any card already played to it, or
(when playing third or fourth) completing a run of three or four.
If the trick does not contain a match, it is taken by the highest card played, and its penalty score is that of the lowest card played, which will be anything from 2 to 10. If you win such a trick, you place its lowest card face up on the table before you to show your penalty score, and throw the other three face down to a common waste-pile.
If the trick does contain a match, it is won by the last player to duplicate a rank or suit, or to complete a run of three or four. (Ace counts high or low in a run, i.e. A-K-Q or A-2-3.) Its penalty value is a multiple of 10 as follows:10 for two of the same suit
Each and every match contained in a trick you win counts against you, even any to which you didn't personally contribute. For each 10 involved, place any card from the trick face down on the table before you and discard the rest to a common waste-pile. If the penalty is 50 or more, take as many extra cards as you need from the waste-pile.
20 for two of the same rank (pair)
30 for three of the same rank or suit, or a run of three
40 for four of the same rank or suit, or a run of four - Score
- At end of play your penalty score is the total face values of all the numeral cards lying face up in your penalty pile, plus 10 for each penalty card lying face down.
- Game
- The overall winner is the player with the lowest penalty score at the end of eight deals, or when one player has reached 250 in penalties. (Or any other previously agreed number of deals or points.)
- Examples of scoring
10 for the spades, 20 for the Fives, total 30
30 for three Eights, 10 for the two diamonds, total 40
10 each for the hearts and spades, 30 for the run, total 50
20 for the Threes, 30 for diamonds, 60 for two runs of three, total 110
