Kings Court Card Game

25.07.2019

The Kings assigned center Georgios Papagiannis to the their G-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, Thursday. The third-year center has appeared in two games this. A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing.

A hand of playing cards, ace through five.

A playing card is a piece of specially prepared pasteboard, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a finish to make handling easier. They are most commonly used for playing card games, and are also used to perform magic tricks, for cardistry,[1][2] in card throwing,[3] and for building card houses. Some types of cards such as tarot cards are also used for divination. Playing cards are typically palm-sized for convenient handling, and usually are sold together in a set as a deck of cards or pack of cards.

Playing cards are available in a wide variety of styles, as decks may be custom-produced for casinos[4] and magicians[5] (sometimes in the form of trick decks),[6] made as promotional items,[7] or intended as souvenirs,[8][9] artistic works, educational tools,[10][11][12] or branded accessories.[13] Decks of cards or even single cards are also collected as a hobby or for monetary value.[14][15] Different types of card decks can be found in different areas of the world—while the standard 52-card deck is known and used internationally, other types of cards such as Japanese hanafuda and Italian playing cards are well-known in their locales. Cards may also be produced for trading card sets or collectable card games, which can comprise hundreds if not thousands of unique cards.

A face-up deck of cards in dealers grip.

Kings Court Card Game

Playing cards were first invented in China during the Tang dynasty.[16]

  • 1History
  • 2Modern deck formats
  • 4Design and use
  • 8References

History[edit]

China[edit]

A Chinese printed playing card dated c. 1400 AD, Ming Dynasty, found near Turpan, measuring 9.5 by 3.5 cm.

Playing cards may have been invented during the Tang dynasty around the 9th century AD as a result of the usage of woodblock printing technology.[17][18][19][20][21] The first possible reference to card games comes from a 9th-century text known as the Collection of Miscellanea at Duyang, written by Tang dynasty writer Su E. It describes Princess Tongchang, daughter of Emperor Yizong of Tang, playing the 'leaf game' in 868 with members of the Wei clan, the family of the princess' husband.[19][22][23] The first known book on the 'leaf' game was called the Yezi Gexi and allegedly written by a Tang woman. It received commentary by writers of subsequent dynasties.[24][verification needed] The Song dynasty (960–1279) scholar Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) asserts that the 'leaf' game existed at least since the mid-Tang dynasty and associated its invention with the development of printed sheets as a writing medium.[19][24][verification needed] However, Ouyang also claims that the 'leaves' were pages of a book used in a board game played with dice, and that the rules of the game were lost by 1067.[25]

Other games revolving around alcoholic drinking involved using playing cards of a sort from the Tang dynasty onward. However, these cards did not contain suits or numbers. Instead, they were printed with instructions or forfeits for whomever drew them.[25]

The earliest dated instance of a game involving cards with suits and numerals occurred on 17 July 1294 when 'Yan Sengzhu and Zheng Pig-Dog were caught playing cards [zhi pai] and that wood blocks for printing them had been impounded, together with nine of the actual cards.'[25]

William Henry Wilkinson suggests that the first cards may have been actual paper currency which doubled as both the tools of gaming and the stakes being played for,[18] similar to trading card games. Using paper money was inconvenient and risky so they were substituted by play money known as 'money cards'. One of the earliest games in which we know the rules is madiao, a trick-taking game, which dates to the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). 15th-century scholar Lu Rong described it is as being played with 38 'money cards' divided into four suits: 9 in coins, 9 in strings of coins (which may have been misinterpreted as sticks from crude drawings), 9 in myriads (of coins or of strings), and 11 in tens of myriads (a myriad is 10,000). The two latter suits had Water Margin characters instead of pips on them[26] with Chinese characters to mark their rank and suit. The suit of coins is in reverse order with 9 of coins being the lowest going up to 1 of coins as the high card.[27]

Persia and Arabia[edit]

Despite the wide variety of patterns, the suits show a uniformity of structure. Every suit contains twelve cards with the top two usually being the court cards of king and vizier and the bottom ten being pip cards. Half the suits use reverse ranking for their pip cards. There are many motifs for the suit pips but some include coins, clubs, jugs, and swords which resemble later Mamluk and Latin suits. Michael Dummett speculated that Mamluk cards may have descended from an earlier deck which consisted of 48 cards divided into four suits each with ten pip cards and two court cards.[28]

Egypt[edit]

Four Mamluk playing cards.

By the 11th century, playing cards were spreading throughout the Asian continent and later came into Egypt.[29] The oldest surviving cards in the world are four fragments found in the Keir Collection and one in the Benaki Museum. They are dated to the 12th and 13th centuries (late Fatimid, Ayyubid, and early Mamluk periods).[30]

A near complete pack of Mamluk playing cards dating to the 15th century and of similar appearance to the fragments above was discovered by Leo Aryeh Mayer in the Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, in 1939.[31] It is not a complete set and is actually composed of three different packs, probably to replace missing cards.[32] The Topkapı pack originally contained 52 cards comprising four suits: polo-sticks, coins, swords, and cups. Each suit contained ten pip cards and three court cards, called malik (king), nā'ib malik (viceroy or deputy king), and thānī nā'ib (second or under-deputy). The thānī nā'ib is a non-existent title so it may not have been in the earliest versions; without this rank, the Mamluk suits would structurally be the same as a Ganjifa suit. In fact, the word 'Kanjifah' appears in Arabic on the king of swords and is still used in parts of the Middle East to describe modern playing cards. Influence from further east can explain why the Mamluks, most of whom were Central Asian Turkic Kipchaks, called their cups tuman which means myriad in Turkic, Mongolian and Jurchen languages.[33] Wilkinson postulated that the cups may have been derived from inverting the Chinese and Jurchen ideogram for myriad ().

The Mamluk court cards showed abstract designs or calligraphy not depicting persons possibly due to religious proscription in Sunni Islam, though they did bear the ranks on the cards. Nā'ib would be borrowed into French (nahipi), Italian (naibi), and Spanish (naipes), the latter word still in common usage. Panels on the pip cards in two suits show they had a reverse ranking, a feature found in madiao, ganjifa, and old European card games like ombre, tarot, and maw.[34]

A fragment of two uncut sheets of Moorish-styled cards of a similar but plainer style were found in Spain and dated to the early 15th century.[35]

Export of these cards (from Cairo, Alexandria, and Damascus), ceased after the fall of the Mamluks in the 16th century.[36] The rules to play these games are lost but they are believed to be plain trick games without trumps.[37]

Spread across Europe and early design changes[edit]

Knave of Coins from the oldest known European deck (c. 1390–1410).

Four-suited playing cards are first attested in Southern Europe in 1365,[25] and are likely derived from the Mamluk suits of cups, coins, swords, and polo-sticks, which are still used in traditional Latin decks.[38] As polo was an obscure sport to Europeans then, the polo-sticks became batons or cudgels.[39] Their presence is attested in Catalonia in 1371, 1377 in Switzerland, and 1380 in many locations including Florence and Paris.[40][41][42] Wide use of playing cards in Europe can, with some certainty, be traced from 1377 onward.[43]

In the account books of Johanna, Duchess of Brabant and Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg, an entry dated May 14, 1379 reads: 'Given to Monsieur and Madame four peters, two forms, value eight and a half moutons, wherewith to buy a pack of cards'. In his book of accounts for 1392 or 1393, Charles or Charbot Poupart, treasurer of the household of Charles VI of France, records payment for the painting of three sets of cards.[44]

From about 1418 to 1450[45] professional card makers in Ulm, Nuremberg, and Augsburg created printed decks. Playing cards even competed with devotional images as the most common uses for woodcuts in this period. This new popularity caused some 15th century religious leaders to begin denouncing playing cards, along with throwing dice, as an extension of gambling.[46] Most early woodcuts of all types were coloured after printing, either by hand or, from about 1450 onwards, stencils. These 15th-century playing cards were probably painted. The Flemish Hunting Deck, held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the oldest complete set of ordinary playing cards made in Europe from the 15th century.[47]

As cards spread from Italy to Germanic countries, the Latin suits were replaced with the suits of leaves (or shields), hearts (or roses), bells, and acorns, and a combination of Latin and Germanic suit pictures and names resulted in the French suits of trèfles (clovers), carreaux (tiles), cœurs (hearts), and piques (pikes) around 1480. The trèfle (clover) was probably derived from the acorn and the pique (pike) from the leaf of the German suits. The names pique and spade, however, may have derived from the sword (spade) of the Italian suits.[48] In England, the French suits were eventually used, although the earliest packs circulating may have had Latin suits.[49] This may account for why the English called the clovers 'clubs' and the pikes 'spades'.

Kings Court Card Game Instructions

In the late 14th century, Europeans changed the Mamluk court cards to represent European royalty and attendants. In a description from 1377, the earliest courts were originally a seated 'king', an upper marshal that held his suit symbol up, and a lower marshal that held it down.[50][51] The latter two correspond with the ober and unter cards found in German and Swiss playing cards. The Italians and Iberians replaced the Ober/Unter system with the 'Knight' and 'Fante' or 'Sota' before 1390, perhaps to make the cards more visually distinguishable. In England, the lowest court card was called the 'knave' which originally meant male child (compare German Knabe), so in this context the character could represent the 'prince', son to the king and queen; the meaning servant developed later.[52][53]Queens appeared sporadically in packs as early as 1377, especially in Germany. Although the Germans abandoned the queen before the 1500s, the French permanently picked it up and placed it under the king. Packs of 56 cards containing in each suit a king, queen, knight, and knave (as in tarot) were once common in the 15th century.

During the mid 16th century, Portuguese traders introduced playing cards to Japan. The first indigenous Japanese deck was the Tenshō karuta named after the Tenshō period.[54]

Later design changes[edit]

Imperial Bower, the earliest Joker, by Samuel Hart, c. 1863. Originally designed for use in a specific variant of euchre, it contains instructions for unfamiliar players.

Packs with corner and edge indices (i.e. the value of the card printed at the corner(s) of the card) enabled players to hold their cards close together in a fan with one hand (instead of the two hands previously used[citation needed]). The first such pack known with Latin suits was printed by Infirerra and dated 1693,[55] but this feature was commonly used only from the end of the 18th century. The first American-manufactured (French) deck with this innovation was the Saladee's Patent, printed by Samuel Hart in 1864. In 1870, he and his cousins at Lawrence & Cohen followed up with the Squeezers, the first cards with indices that had a large diffusion.[56]

This was followed by the innovation of reversible court cards. This invention is attributed to a French card maker of Agen in 1745. But the French government, which controlled the design of playing cards, prohibited the printing of cards with this innovation. In central Europe (Trappola cards) and Italy (Tarocco Bolognese) the innovation was adopted during the second half of the 18th century. In Great Britain, the pack with reversible court cards was patented in 1799 by Edmund Ludlow and Ann Wilcox. The French pack with this design was printed around 1802 by Thomas Wheeler.[57]

Kings court card game rules

Sharp corners wear out more quickly, and could possibly reveal the card's value, so they were replaced with rounded corners. Before the mid-19th century, British, American, and French players preferred blank backs. The need to hide wear and tear and to discourage writing on the back led cards to have designs, pictures, photos, or advertising on the reverse.[58][59]

The United States introduced the joker into the deck. It was devised for the game of euchre, which spread from Europe to America beginning shortly after the American Revolutionary War. In euchre, the highest trump card is the Jack of the trump suit, called the right bower (from the German Bauer); the second-highest trump, the left bower, is the jack of the suit of the same color as trumps. The joker was invented c. 1860 as a third trump, the imperial or best bower, which ranked higher than the other two bowers.[60] The name of the card is believed to derive from juker, a variant name for euchre.[61][62] The earliest reference to a joker functioning as a wild card dates to 1875 with a variation of poker.[63]

Research[edit]

Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library holds the Albert Field Collection of Playing Cards, an archive of over 6,000 individual decks from over 50 countries and dating back to the 1550s.[11] In 2018 the university digitized over 100 of its decks.[64]

Since 2017, Vanderbilt University has been home to the 1,000-volume George Clulow and United States Playing Card Co. Gaming Collection, which has been called one of the 'most complete and scholarly collections [of books on cards and gaming] that has ever been gathered together'.[65]

Modern deck formats[edit]

FrenchHearts
Tiles
Clovers
Pikes
ItalianCups
Coins
Clubs
Swords
SpanishCups
Coins
Clubs
Swords
Swiss-GermanRoses
Bells
Acorns
Shields
GermanHearts
Bells
Acorns
Leaves

Contemporary playing cards are grouped into three broad categories based on the suits they use: French, Latin, and Germanic. Latin suits are used in the closely related Spanish and Italian formats. The Swiss-German suits are distinct enough to merit their subcategory. Excluding jokers and tarot trumps, the French 52-card deck preserves the number of cards in the original Mamluk deck, while Latin and Germanic decks average fewer. Latin decks usually drop the higher-valued pip cards, while Germanic decks drop the lower-valued ones.

Within suits, there are regional or national variations called 'standard patterns.' Because these patterns are in the public domain, this allows multiple card manufacturers to recreate them.[66] Pattern differences are most easily found in the face cards but the number of cards per deck, the use of numeric indices, or even minor shape and arrangement differences of the pips can be used to distinguish them. Some patterns have been around for hundreds of years. Jokers are not part of any pattern as they are a relatively recent invention and lack any standardized appearance so each publisher usually puts their own trademarked illustration into their decks. The wide variation of jokers has turned them into collectible items. Any card that bore the stamp duty like the ace of spades in England, the ace of clubs in France or the ace of coins in Italy are also collectible as that is where the manufacturer's logo is usually placed.

Usually the cards have their pips printed only in the upper left corner assuming holding them with right hand. Such design may be uncomfortable for left-handed people who may prefer all four corners of the card to be used.[67][68]

French-suited decks[edit]

52 French playing cards with jokers

French decks come in a variety of patterns and deck sizes. The 52-card deck is the most popular deck and includes 13 ranks of each suit with reversible 'court' or face cards. Each suit includes an ace, depicting a single symbol of its suit, a king, queen, and jack, each depicted with a symbol of their suit; and ranks two through ten, with each card depicting that number of pips of its suit. As well as these 52 cards, commercial packs often include between one and six jokers, most often two.

Decks with fewer than 52 cards are known as stripped decks. The piquet pack has all values from 2 through 6 in each suit removed for a total of 32 cards. It is popular in France, the Low Countries, Central Europe and Russia and is used to play piquet, belote, bezique and skat. It is also used in the Sri Lankan, whist-based game known as omi. Forty-card French suited packs are common in northwest Italy; these remove the 8s through 10s like Latin suited decks. 24 card decks, removing 2s through 8s are also sold in Austria and Bavaria to play schnapsen.

A pinochle deck consists of two copies of a 24 card schnapsen deck, thus 48 cards.

The 78 card tarot nouveau adds the knight card between queens and jacks along with 21 numbered trumps and the unnumbered Fool.

Manufacturing[edit]

Today the process of making playing cards is highly automated. Large sheets of paper are glued together to create a sheet of pasteboard; the glue may be dyed to increase the card stock's opacity. Some card manufacturers may purchase pasteboard from various suppliers; large companies such as USPCC create their own proprietary pasteboard. After the desired imagery is etched into printing plates, the art is printed onto each side of the pasteboard sheet, which is coated with a textured or smooth finish, sometimes called a varnish or print coating.[69] These coatings can be water- or solvent-based, and different textures and visual effects can be achieved by adding certain dyes or foils, or using multiple varnish processes.[70]

The pasteboard is then split into individual uncut sheets, which are cut into single cards and sorted into decks.[71] The corners are then rounded, after which the decks are packaged, commonly in tuck boxes wrapped in cellophane. The tuck box may have a seal applied.[72][73]

Card manufacturers must pay special attention to the registration of the cards, as non-symmetrical cards can be used to cheat.[74][4]

Design and use[edit]

Casinos[edit]

Gambling corporations commonly have playing cards made specifically for their casinos. As casinos go through large numbers of decks each day, they may sometimes resell used cards that were 'on the floor' — however, the cards sold to the public are altered, either by cutting the deck's corners or by punching a hole in the deck.[4]

Collecting[edit]

A deck of custom-designed playing cards.

In addition to being used for games, playing cards may also be collected.[75][76][77][78][79] According to Guinness World Records, the largest playing card collection comprises 11,087 decks and is owned by Liu Fuchang of China.[80]

Custom designs and artwork[edit]

Custom decks may be produced for myriad purposes. Across the world, both individuals and large companies such as United States Playing Card Company (USPCC) design and release many different styles of decks,[81] including commemorative decks[82] and souvenir decks.[9][83] Bold and colorful designs tend to be used for cardistry decks,[1][84][85] while more generally, playing cards (as well as tarot cards) may focus on artistic value.[82][86][87][88] Custom deck production is commonly funded on platforms such as Kickstarter,[89][90][91] with companies as large as USPCC[81] and Cartamundi[92] offering card printing services to the public.

In 1976, the JPL Gallery in London commissioned a card deck from a variety of contemporary British artists including Maggie Hambling, Patrick Heron, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, John Hoyland, and Allen Jones called 'The Deck of Cards'.[93] Forty years later in 2016, the British Council commissioned a similar deck called 'Taash ke Patte' featuring Indian artists such as Bhuri Bai, Shilpa Gupta, Krishen Khanna, Ram Rahman, Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, Arpita Singh, and Thukral & Tagra.[93][94][95]

Cold case cards[edit]

Kings court card game for sale
A single card from an Australian deck of cold case playing cards – the two of spades with information about missing person Tony Jones.

Police departments,[96] local governments, state prison systems,[97] and even private organizations[98] across the United States have created decks of cards that feature photos, names, and details of cold case victims or missing persons on each card.[11][99] These decks are sold in prison commissaries, or even to the public,[96] in the hopes that an inmate (or anyone else) might provide a new lead.[100] Cold case card programs have been introduced in over a dozen states, including by Oklahoma's State Bureau of Investigation,[101]Connecticut's Division of Criminal Justice, Delaware's Department of Correction,[102] the Florida Department of Law Enforcement,[103] and Rhode Island's Department of Corrections,[104] among others. Among inmates, they may be called 'snitch cards'.[105]

Symbols in Unicode[edit]

The Unicode standard for text encoding on computers defines 8 characters for card suits in the Miscellaneous Symbols block, at U+2660–2667. Unicode 7.0 added a unified pack for French-suited tarot nouveau's trump cards and the 52 cards of the modern French pack, with 4 knights, together with a character for 'Playing Card Back' and black, red, and white jokers in the block U+1F0A0–1F0FF.[106]

See also[edit]

Types of decks
  • Stripped deck
Uses
Geographic origin
Terminology
Specific decks
  • Zener cards (parapsychology)
Sources for further information

Further reading[edit]

  • Maltese playing cards. Bonello, Giovanni (January 2005). Michael Cooper (ed.). 'The Playing-card'(PDF). Journal of the International Playing-Card Society. 32 (3): 191–197. ISSN0305-2133. Archived from the original(PDF) on 29 April 2005.
  • Griffiths, Antony. Prints and PrintmakingBritish Museum Press (in UK),2nd edn, 1996 ISBN0-7141-2608-X
  • Hind, Arthur M. An Introduction to a History of Woodcut. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1935 (in USA), reprinted Dover Publications, 1963 ISBN0-486-20952-0
  • Roman du Roy Meliadus de Leonnoys (British Library MS Add. 12228, fol. 313v), c. 1352
  • Singer, Samuel Weller (1816), Researches into the History of Playing Cards, R. Triphook

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

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  • Needham, Joseph (1954), Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 1, Introductory Orientations, Cambridge University Press
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  • Needham, Joseph; Tsien, Tsuen-hsuin (1985), Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 1, Paper and Printing, Cambridge University Press, ISBN0-521-08690-6

External links[edit]

Look up playing card in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Playing cards
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Cards, Playing.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Playing card.

Playing card societies (collectors and researchers)

History of playing cards

Playing card iconography

Museums, Institutes and Organisations

Playing card collections online

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Playing_card&oldid=909567648'
Kings
Alternative namesKing's Cup
Heroes
Ring of Fire
Kings
TypeDrinking
Players2+
Age rangeVaries by legal jurisdiction
Cards52
Deck1 deck of standard playing cards
PlayClockwise or counterclockwise
Card rank (highest first)Ace (A) – two (2)
Playing time20 to 40 minutes

Kings (king's cup, donut, jug oval, circle of death, or ring of fire) is a drinking game that uses playing cards. The player must drink and dispense drinks based on cards drawn. Each card has a rule that is predetermined before the game starts. Often groups establish house rules with their own variation of rules.

Equipment[edit]

  • 1 Deck of Cards
  • 2 or more players
  • Alcoholic beverages – typically wine, beer, or mixed drinks - or non alcoholic beverages
  • A large cup which will be used as the King's Cup

Setup and common rules[edit]

In this game, players perform actions associated with each card. Sometimes, rules on the cards 'reveal interesting things about the participants'.

Usually, cards are shuffled and dealt into a circle around either an empty cup or a full can of beer (or a shot/cup of spirits or wine). Each player takes a turn drawing cards, and the players must participate in the instructions corresponding to the drawn card.

This game is highly open ended and all of the cards can signify any mini-game, the rules and the card assignments are normally confirmed at the start of the game. Depending on house rules, the game either ends when the last rule card has been pulled, or when the king's cup has been consumed; or when the cards are placed on top of the king's cup the game is over when the cards fall off, the one that knocked them off must consume the king's cup.

It is also common for the players to make up and agree on a set of rules every time the game is played.

Common Kings Card Assignments[edit]

Card drawnTitleInstruction
AceWaterfallTo perform a waterfall, each player starts drinking their beverage at the same time as the person to their left. No player can stop drinking until the player before them stops.
22 for youYou point at two persons and tell them to drink. You can also tell one person to take two drinks.
33 for me'Three for me.' You take a drink.[1]
4Hit the floorLast person to touch the floor with their hands must take a drink.
5Fives GuysAll guys drink
6Six's chicksAll girls drink
7'7th heavenLast person to raise their hand will drink.
8MateChoose a person to be your mate and they drink when you drink for the rest of the game.
9Rhyme Time'Nine is Rhyme'. You say a word, and the person to your right has to say a word that rhymes. This continues around the table until someone cannot think of a word. This person must drink. The same word may not be used twice.
10CategoriesYou come up with a category of things, and the person to your right must come up with something that falls within that category. This goes on around the table until someone can't come up with anything. This person must drink.
JackSocialEveryone must take a drink.
QueenQuestionsThe player who picks the card starts by asking anyone a question. This player then asks anyone else a question. This process continues until someone fails to ask a question.
KingKing's Cup + RulesWhen each of the first 3 Kings are drawn, the person who drew the card puts some of their drink into the King's Cup at the center of the table. When the 4th King is drawn, the person who drew the 4th King must drink the contents of the King's Cup. The first three people to pick a King card can also make a rule, that must be followed until the next King is picked. Some common rules are Buffalo, (must always use left hand) Thumbs, (player puts their thumb on the table silently, last person to do so drinks), In bed, (everyone has to say 'in bed' after every sentence) and Teeth (players can't show their teeth when they laugh).

Common Circle of Death Card Assignments[edit]

Card drawnTitleInstruction
AceWaterfallTo perform a waterfall, each player starts drinking their beverage at the same time as the person to their left. No player can stop drinking until the player before them stops.
2You'Two is you' Player points at a person and tell them to drink
3Me'Three is me.' Player who draws card drinks.
4Whores'Four is whores' Women drink
5Drive'Five is drive' Everyone puts up their hands as if driving a car. The player who drew the card begins. They say 'vroom' while tilting their hands to the right or left. The 'driver' is passed to the player next to them in that direction. Players now have three options as the 'driver' position is passed to them. They can choose to turn to same direction as the person before them and say 'vroom', passing it one more person. They can turn their hands in the opposite direction and say 'skert' (as in the screeching of car wheels) and pass the 'driver' position back to the person who just sent it to them. Now that is the new direction and all 'drivers' who turn that way must say 'Vroom' until a 'driver' decides to 'skert' it back again. The last option is to say 'beep' while mimicking hitting the car horn. This passes the game's position to the player opposite the current driver. The first 'driver' who speaks or turns the wrong way has to drink.

e.g. Person A: *turns to left 'Vroom'Person B: *turns to left 'Vroom'Person C: *turns to right 'Skert'Person B: *turns to right 'Vroom'Person A: *hits horn 'Beep!'Person D: *turns to right 'Vroom'

6Dicks'Six is dicks' Men drink
7Heaven'Seven is heaven.' Last person to get both hands in the air has to drink.
8Mate'Eight is mate' Choose a person to be your mate and they drink when you drink, and vice versa, for the rest of the game. If one of the mates draws another 8 card they chose another player and now all three have to drink. You can also merge two mated pairs this way. If all players of the game become mated, then all ties are cancelled.
9Rhyme'Nine is Rhyme'. You say a word, and the person to your right has to say a word that rhymes. This continues around the table until someone cannot think of a word. This person must drink. The same word may not be used twice.
10CategoriesYou come up with a category of things, and the person to your right must come up with something that falls within that category. This goes on around the table until someone can't come up with anything. This person must drink.
JackSocialEverybody drinks.
QueenQuestion MasterThe player who drew the card becomes question master. Whenever this player asks a question other players must answer with another question until the next queen card is drawn and a new question master is selected. Players who answer a question from the question master without a question must drink. Simply making the ending intonation of your sentence in a questioning manner does not count and you must drink. Ex. Questionmaster: 'What time is it?' Player: 'Is it around midnight?'
KingKing's CupWhen each of the first 3 Kings are drawn, the person who drew the card pours some of their drink into the King's Cup at the center of the table. When the 4th King is drawn, the person who drew the 4th King must drink the contents of the King's Cup.

Variations and other rules[edit]

Like almost all other drinking games, Kings has endless variations of rules, and individual drinking groups usually have their own set of card effects. There will be similar rules, but there will most likely always be some that some players have never encountered before. Some games specify that playing a certain card allows that player to make up a new rule which lasts for the remainder of the game.

A major variation in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or Canada is that the contents of the King's Cup are drunk by the player who breaks the circle of cards (known as the Ring of Fire in the UK).

A popular variation in Australia is the Smoko or Toilet Card replacing Give Two Take Two. In this version, a player needs to possess a Smoko Card to leave the table to smoke or use the toilet. A player can have multiple copies of the card and they can be traded, typically under conditions such as; the recipient must refill drinks on demand, crawl for the rest of the game, talk in a funny voice, etc.

Another popular variation in Australia is where the game is played with the addition of the Joker card. Upon drawing a Joker, the player must take a bong hit of tobacco.


In Belgium recently a new variation has come to the surface known as 'Circle of Destruction' or 'Hardcore Kings'. In the beginning a pint is placed in the middle of the circle and everyone has to pour some of their drink in it, from now on this drink is referred to as 'Witch's Brew'.

Card drawnTitleInstruction
AceSafeEveryone drinks but you.
2WhoA round of spin the bottle is played.
3Wanna fight me?A match of arm wrestling is played with the player sitting on the opposite side of the circle, the loser drinks. A slap contest can also be played.
4We're whoresEveryone has to take off one piece of clothing as fast as they can, last on to do so has to drink.
5My lifeYou have to take a sip from every player's drink.
6...tynineThe player who had sex the most recently drinks, the second time this card is drawn the player who had sex the second most recently drinks and so on...
7Close to heavenDo a body shot out of the belly button of your left-hand neighbour.
8MateChoose a person to be your mate and they drink when you drink, and vice versa, for the rest of the game. If one of the mates draws another 8 card they chose another player and now all three have to drink. You can also merge two mated pairs this way. If all players of the game become mated, then all ties are cancelled.
9Time to shineYou have to do 20 push ups, if you can't do it you have to drink the amount of sips you were short of 20.
10WitchYou have to down the witch's brew. Afterwards the pint is refilled.
JackThe Jack entertainsYou have to do a credible and serious belly dance, for every minute you can pull this off you may choose another player who had to down their drink.
QueenMixerEvery player has to hand in his drink and you may reassign them to different players.
KingRewind TimeYou can use your rewind power one time to let someone do their assignment again.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^LaBrie, JW; Ehret, PJ; Hummer, JF (2013). 'Are they all the same? An exploratory, categorical analysis of drinking game types'. Addict Behav. 38: 2133–9. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2012.12.002. PMC3654653. PMID23435275.

Kings Court Card Game Ebay

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