Pope Joan
You and two to seven computers, eight pots on the board, and the Pope to keep or play.
Modern stops rules · ace low · You against computers
Hand 1 · Dealer: Computer 3 · Spare hand: 10 cards · Turn-up: 10♣ · Reward suit: ♣ clubs
lead
You lead the lowest card in any suit.
Choose a card marked Play below.Your hand
11 cardsHow to play this version
Lead your lowest card in any suit; follow in order from ace to king. A missing successor ends the run, and its last player leads again. The 8♦ is removed, so 7♦ always stops.
The turn-up sets the reward suit. Play its ace or court cards to collect their pots; 9♦ claims Pope. Play the reward-suit J then Q yourself for Intrigue, or Q then K yourself for Matrimony.
First out wins the Game pot plus one counter per card left with opponents. An opponent still holding 9♦ pays nothing. The dealer adds 15 counters to the board each hand; remaining pots carry on.
The turn-up remains in the hand it was dealt to. Its matching pot is awarded to the dealer immediately. Optional instant-win and split-combination variants are off.
Counters are a running score, with no cash value. Scores can fall below zero. Suits and playable cards have text and symbols as well as colour.
Table history · 0 cards played
How to play
The eight of diamonds is out of the pack, the cards go round to every seat and one spare hand, and the last card dealt is turned face up. Its suit is the reward suit for the hand, and it stays in the hand it was dealt to. Ace is low, king is high.
The player after the dealer leads the lowest card they hold in a suit, and the holder of the card one rank up plays it, wherever they sit. A run stops at a king or where the next card is missing, and the seven of diamonds always stops. Whoever played last leads again.
The dealer alone dresses the board, fifteen counters a hand: six on Pope, two each on Matrimony and Intrigue, one on each of the four reward-suit court pots and one on First out. Play the ace, king, queen or jack of the reward suit and its pot is yours; the nine of diamonds is the Pope. Play the reward suit's jack then its queen yourself for Intrigue, the queen then the king for Matrimony.
First out takes the First out pot and a counter for every card left in the other hands, except from anyone still holding the Pope. At this table you take one seat and the computers take the rest, three to eight in all, and a deal seed reproduces any hand. For the same game with other people, the room is at /play/pope-joan/.