Summary

A fun game that requires skill and teamwork to trap your opponent!

Equipment

A deck of cards and a full drink.

Setup

Deal out the entire deck of cards face down, evenly to all  players.  Teammates sit across from each other.  Do not show your hold cards to anyone during game play.

Game Play

The player who has the ace of spades lays it down to start the game. If the player to his/her left does not have an ace , then that player drinks. The person who drank is now trapped between the other team.  Players try and lay down cards they think the opposing trapped player does not have. For each card the trapped player does not have, he/she takes a drink.

Play goes back and forth between the team and the trapped individual until the trapped player finally has a card that matches what was previously laid down.  He/she lays the card down and the person following them needs to play the same card otherwise they now become trapped.  If all 4 players lay down the same card (i.e. a King is played by each player) then it is considered a social and everyone at the table takes a drink.

Once any player has laid down their final card, the opposing team has to take a one sip penalty for every card left in their hand (or finish their drink depending on how severe you want to play).

Strategy

You don’t have to play a card just because it is in your hand.  You can pretend not to have a card in order to play it on the back swing.  For instance, let’s say team A is playing team B and team A-player 1, plays the first ace.  It’s your turn and you have to play an ace.  You take a sip even though you have an ace in your hand, you’re trapped (or at least you appear to be).  Then, team A-player 2, plays another ace because he/she believes you don’t have one, since you took a drink the first time an ace was played.  You take a drink, passing again, and it’s now team A-player 1’s turn again.  There are now only two aces left in the deck.  Team A-player 1 plays the third ace and expects you to take another drink.  However, you bust out the fourth and final ace.  Because you played a card that matches the prior card played, team A-player 2 must also play an ace.  But because there obviously aren’t any left, he/she is now trapped.  Why don’t you just play the ace in the beginning and you would have saved yourself 2 drinks?  Had that happened, your partner would have been stuck holding the bag and would have been trapped.  The key is to know when to hold onto cards, what cards you believe your partner has and what cards you believe the opposing team doesn’t have.  That’s the beauty of the game.

If you have 3 of a kind, odds are you have a great chance of playing a card that your opponent doesnt have.  If you are lucky enough to have 4 of a kind, then you know you have 4 cards to keep someone on the opposing team trapped for at least 4 drinks.