California Jack

Number of Players: Two

The Deck: Standard 52 card Deck

Card Ranking: Ace (High), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

Shuffle and Cut: Cut for deal, and the person that gets the high card deals. The dealer shuffles the cards while his opponent cuts.

The Deal: The deal is a choice of either one or three cards at a time to each player. It can alternate, starting with the player at the left of the dealer until each one has six cards. All remaining cards are squared and turned face up in the center of the table to serve as a stack. Remember that the top card is the trump suit for that deal. (Trump suit is one selected under the rules of the game that gives special privileges to every card in this suit, ranking them higher than any non-trump card in trick winning.)

The Play: The player at the left side of the dealer leads first. The lead card loses the trick (a round of cards during the play, on card being contributed by each active hand) to a higher card of the same suit or to a trump, but wins the trick otherwise. The winner of each trick leads to the next.

If the second player to the trick is able to follow suit he or she must either: 1. Follow suit or 2. trump. If unable to follow suit, any card may be played. The trick winner is entitled to draw the top card of the stack. The lower player takes the next card. Because the top card of the stack is always exposed, an object of play frequently is to win or lose a trick. This depends on the player's decision to either 1. draw the top card of the stack or 2. take a chance on what the next card will be. When the stack is exhausted, the last six cards of each player's hand continue to be played out until all the cards have been played.

Scoring: One point each is scored for winning in tricks, High (ace of trumps), Low (deuce of trumps), Jack of trumps and Game (the greatest number of points in counting cards, each counting 10, each ace 4, each king3, each queen 2, each jack 1.) The first player to score 10 points is declared the winner. If both players reach 10 in the same hand, the points count in order: High, Low, Jack, Game.

NOTE: If a player (non-dealer) sees any irregularity, a new deal may be requested by the same dealer. For example, a card of the stack may be exposed during the deal, or is found face down after the stack has been turned up.