This card game has basically nothing to do with any other form of poker. Even its relationship with the Ukraine is doubtful. It can be played with two or more players. One standard 52-card deck is required, and can support up to six or seven players. Additional players can be accomidated with additional decks. You should also have something to keep track of score with (pencil, paper).
The cards: The object of the game is get get as few points as possible. 2 through 10 are worth their face value. Aces are worth 1. Jacks and Queens are worth 10. Kings are worth zero. Any combination of two or more of the same card is worth zero.
The deal: Shuffle the deck and choose a dealer. The dealer deals four cards to each player, face down. The cards should then be arranged in front of each player in a grid, like this:
X X
X X
The players may look at the two cards closest to them and only the two cards closest to them. They must look at them, memorize their values, and put them back, face down on the table. They may not look at them again. Forgetting their values is a Bad Thing. The dealer should then place the deck in the middle of the table and turn over the top card to form a discard pile.
The play: Play begins with the player to the left of the dealer and proceeds left from there. A player may do one of four things on their turn:
- Draw a card from the deck, choose to keep it, and replace one of their face-down cards with it, putting the new card face up. The replaced card is placed face up on the discard pile.
- Draw a card from the deck, choose not to keep it, and place it face up on the discard pile. The player must then turn over one of their face-down cards.
- Much like #1, except you draw from the discard pile instead of the deck.
- Don't draw a card; just turn over a face-down card.
Note that a player turns over one of their cards every turn. A hand can only last four rounds. Once every player has all of their cards face up, the score is tallied. I'll go over the card values again.
2 through 10 are worth their face value, Aces are 1, Jacks and Queens are 10, and Kings are zero. Combinations of the same card are worth zero. Here are some examples (Remember you're going for as few points as possible):
- 6, 6, K, A is worth 1. The two sixes are worth zero, as is the King. The Ace is the only scoring card.
- J, J, J, 6 is worth 6.
- 3, 5, J, Q is worth 28.
- K, K, K, K is worth 0, you lucky bastard.
Once a hand is finished, tally the scores. Once someone breaks 50 (their score is greater than or equal to 50) the game is over. The person with the lowest score wins. If no one has broken 50 yet, then play another hand until someone does. The deal should pass to the next player on the left.
Played a game, but not ready to call it quits? Feel free to raise the score you play to. 100 makes for a nice, lengthy game.