September 7, 2018
"Write about an extreme or silly sport. If none inspire you, make up the rules for your own game."
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Today's prompt neither inspires me nor does it conspire against me. It is a bland prompt considering I am not much into sports or games either. I do play scrabble, a bit of carom and chinese checkers, but that was in my childhood days. Hence this prompt put me in a bit of a quagmire (okay, so this prompt is classified as a quagmire, or quandary as one could commonly say).
I thought about it for a while and decided to write about the only game that I play at times, it is a card game, commonly known as 'three nought four' (because that is the highest score, 304 points, that the playing team can get).
The rules are pretty simple:
♣Cards seven, eight, King, Queen, ten, Ace, Nine and Jack are used (the order is intentional, it is in the order of ascending points)
♣Four players of two teams each and the opposite players are team members
♣In the first round, four cards each are distributed, the first to get the set of four cards, sets one card (which is a gamble) as the 'trump'- not a public declaration, though the player has to physically 'hide' it.
♣Once the trump is set, the player declares a score his team can make, and after all agree with the opposition not raising the stakes, the second round of distribution, again four cards each, is done.
♣The game involves placing a card of higher value of the suit started, with the player placing the highest value, initiating the next round.
♣What do you do if you do not have a card in the suit being played, you either discard a card of the suit you know will be lost, (this is in the event the partner has a chance of winning the round) or you request the trump to be declared. If the trump declared is of a suit you have, you can shift the round in your favour by placing a card in that suit. If you are out of cards from the 'trump' suit too, well, hope your partner has better luck.
It sounds complicated and is difficult to get a hang of it, but once you do, it is fun and does need a bit of calculation and loads of observation; it helps if you pay attention to each card being played, so that you can predict how the others would play.
Not to mention, the fun and the addiction it can be, when played with serious players who have a good grasp over the intricacies of the game.
I had to google it, and I am giving the link to a very detailed description of the game. I would mention that it makes me glad that this is quite a popular game...
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Word count 466
So how many of you have heard of this game?
YOU ARE READING
365 Days- Book I
RandomThis is my collection of writings for the three hundred and sixty five day writing challenge - where one has to write something daily, every day, for one whole year, based on the prompts provided - as part of an exercise to improve creative writing...
