GETAWAY

OBJECTIVE OF GETAWAY: The objective of Getaway is to not be the last person to empty their hand.


NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3 to 8 players


MATERIALS: A 52 card pack, and a flat surface.


TYPE OF GAME: Shedding Trick-Taking Card Game


AUDIENCE: Any

OVERVIEW OF GETAWAY

Getaway is a mash-up between a card shedding game and a trick-taking game. It can be played with 3 to 8 people. The goal of the game is to play out your hand through tricks and not be the last person to go out. 

Getaway is a nontraditional game, where players will have different hand sizes, can take other players’ hands, and sometimes will not play in tricks. it sports a very different take on the standard shedding or trick-taking card game.

SETUP

Set up is easy. A random player should shuffle the deck and deal, and the dealer should pass to the left every new deal. Dealing is done clockwise and the whole deck will be dealt out one card at a time to players. This means some players might have an additional card. Once players have received their hands, the game will begin.

Card Rankings

The ranking for Getaway is traditional. It is Ace (high), king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 (low).

GAMEPLAY

In Getaway the first trick is played differently than the rest of the game. the game always starts with the player holding the Ace of spades. The first trick begins with the ace of spades, then clockwise each player will play a card. Then following players must follow suit if able. If not able, they may play any card. Players will all play one card. Then the trick is placed facedown in a discard pile in the center of the table. The player with the highest-ranking spade, which is the ace of spades, will lead the next trick. Now from the second trick through the end of the game, tricks are played differently. 

The player who played the highest-ranking card of the suit led leads the next trick. Tricks can be led by any card of any suit the player holds. The following players must follow suit if able but may play any card of that suit they hold. 

The trick can end one of two ways. Either all players follow suit, play one card and the trick ends, or a player will play a card out of the suit. If all players follow suit, then the trick is ended like the first one. All cards are collected and discarded facedown to the discard pile and the player who played the highest-ranking card leads the next trick. 

The differences from the first trick start when a player cannot follow suit. When a player plays a card of a different suit it is called tochoo, and this ends the play of that trick. Any player following the tochoo will not play a card to this trick. The player with the highest-ranking card of the suit led in the trick must now take all the played cards into their hand and lead again. For example, Player A leads the trick with a Queen of hearts, Player B follows suit with a 2 of hearts, Player C has no hearts and plays a 3 of diamonds. Now the trick ends and Player D does not get to play a card to it. Player A, since they have the highest-ranking heart, will take all three cards and add them to their hand. They will lead the next trick as well.

To summarize, in the first trick, all players will play one card, even if a tochoo is played. The trick is then placed in the discard pile and the player who played the Ace of spades leads the next trick. For the second trick and forward, two things will happen with a trick. Either a trick is played with all players following suit and is completed and discarded, or a player will not follow suit, playing a tochoo. This ends the trick, and the played cards are collected and placed in the player’s hand who played the highest-ranking card of the led suit for that trick. 

GETAWAY

Players will eventually start to empty their hands. This will happen at different speeds because of the differing a changing hand sizes. Players who empty their hands have gotten away and are safe from losing the round. A player cannot, however, get away if they previously played the highest-ranking card.

If a player would lead the next trick, they must. If they have no cards in hand, they will shuffle the discard pile and draw the top card of it to play. If someone plays a higher-ranking card of that suit, they have gotten away. If not either they will collect the cards if a tochoo is played or will take the top card of the discard pile again.

Card Taking

At any point during the game, a player can take all the cards from the remaining player to their left. This player will have no cards in hand will have gotten away. The other player will have an increased and hopefully diverse hand to play with. 

END OF GAME

The game ends when one player has cards left in their hand. If both players play their last card, then the loser will be the player with the highest card of the led suit as they would technically need to draw a card to lead again. 

The game has no scoring system but loses can be kept score of for multiple consecutive games.

Nakoa Davis
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