Another Fun Family Game: Ninety-nine

Ninety-nine is a great game for anyone and everyone aged eight and older. You will need to have at least two players, but beyond that, you can have as many as you want.

The greatest appeal, I don't care how old you are, is the yelling out of "neener, neener" -- you stay engaged because of the game's very quick pace. The goal of this game is simple: stay in the game by discarding without allowing the total to go beyond 99 and don’t lose your ante.

Game play goes as follows: deal each player 4 chips, pennies, peanuts or whatever you want to use as "bank". The dealer should deal each player 3 cards and you are allowed to look at your cards. The remaining cards are your "stockpile" and they get laid face down in the center of the playing surface.

The card values are as follows:

King: worth 99
Queen and Jack: worth 10
10: plus or minus
9: pass
4: reverse
All other cards are face value

Play goes in clockwise order with the player to the left of the dealer discarding first. Discard your choice of card face up beside the stockpile with this becoming the "discard" pile. After discarding each player picks from the stockpile, which means that each player should always have a hand of three cards. Next player discards and states the total of the discard pile; each player does the same afterwards. Example: first player discards a three, the next player discards a seven, so that player says "10". In order to ensure that the discard total is not more than 99, players will use their 10's to subtract from the total, 4's to reverse the play and/or 9's to pass on a turn.

If someone forgets to pick up a card before the next player goes, the group shouts "neener, neener" and the player loses a chip. Play continues until all but one person has lost their bank.