German Whist

Anyone else feel like you spend A LOT of time on the computer? 

Or do you feel like your two-person games are BORING because you've played them so many times?

That's definitely how we'd been feeling, until we learned German Whist last week.  It's a quick yet strategic two-person trick-taking game, and it's fun.  Below are the directions but you'll have to figure out the strategy on your own!

Shuffle a 52-card deck.  Deal 13 cards to each person.  Put the other cards in a draw pile with the top card turned over.  The suit of this card is trump and will remain trump throughout the hand.

The first stage - the first 13 tricks - of the game is spent collecting good cards for the second stage.  The non-dealer plays first and traditional trick-taking game rules are followed (must follow suit; if you can't, you can sluff or play trump). Whoever takes the trick takes the face-up card on the top of the draw pile and the loser takes the next face-down card.  Then the next card in the draw pile is turned over and you do it again, with the trick-taker always playing first.  During the first stage it is unnecessary to keep track of who takes how many tricks so just combine them all in a pile.  The first stage ends when the draw pile is out of cards.

The second stage - the second 13 tricks - is all about taking tricks.  Whoever takes the most tricks in the second stage wins.

If you look closely at the two above photos, you will notice that your hand can really change from the first stage to the second.  That's part of what makes the game so fun!

As the loser of the above hand yet the owner of a new hairstyle, 

this photo seemed appropriate to include!