A Card Game For Everyone

You’ve finished a family dinner and before everyone disappears in front of the television or computer screens, you’d like to get them wrapped up in a game to encourage more time together.  The problem is you’ve kids who are variety of ages, and while your older kids might like to pick up a game of Hand ‘n Foot, your four year old might have a little trouble following the concept.  There are basic family card games that you can include in the evening that everyone can play, and after the little ones have headed off to bed you can break out the Hand ‘n Foot decks for more challenging game play.

Blitz is a simple game that generally just involves drawing and discarding, so that even the little ones can play too.  Each player has a hand of 3 cards, and the goal of the game is to create a hand of the same suit that totals 31, or as close to that as possible.  Hence, it is also called 31 in certain parts of the world.  You only need a standard 52 card deck to play.  Aces are worth 11 points, King, Jack, and Queen are worth 10, and the numbered cards are worth their face values.  If you happen to have cards of different suits in your hand, you can add up the total of those that are the same, or just take the value of the odd card if it ends up being higher than the total of the other two.  However, for points to count the cards included must be the same suit.

Players are able to draw their card either from the remaining stack, or from the discard pile which is placed face up next to the discards.  You can also knock instead of drawing card, which is the same thing as passing.  The player that reaches 31 declares and wins the game.  It’s a great way to get the little kids interested in card game play so that they can eventually become champion Hand ‘n Foot players.