Michigan

OBJECTIVE OF MICHIGAN: The objective of Michigan is to empty your hand of cards first.


NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3 – 8 Players


MATERIALS: Two 52-card decks, chips or other betting tokens, and a flat surface.


TYPE OF GAME: Stops Card Game


AUDIENCE: Adult

OVERVIEW OF MICHIGAN

Michigan is a game for 3 to 8 players. These players will make bids and try to empty their hands as quickly as possible. Players will win bids by playing certain cards during the game, and by being the first to have no cards in hand. This is a bidding game where players can play for stakes or just use chips to show the value of points. 

SETUP

To set up a dealer should be selected randomly. The dealer will pass to the left after each deal.  The first dealer will set out the layout. This includes the Ace of hearts, King of clubs, Queen of diamonds, and Jack of spades from one of the decks. These cards are often called pay cards. The remaining cards of this deck will not be used and can be placed away from the game. 

These cards are laid out in the center of the table to place bids on. The dealer will place two chips on each of these cards and all other players will place one chip on each of these cards. 

After this, the dealer can shuffle the full deck of cards and begin to deal. They will start to the player to their left and continue clockwise. Each player will receive a hand and an additional spare hand will be dealt facedown as well. Cards will be dealt out, one at a time, until all the cards are dealt. Some players may have more cards than others. 

Players may now look at their hands, and the spare hand will remain facedown unused for the game. 

Card Rankings 

In Michigan the ranking of cards is traditional. The ranking is Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 (low). 

GAMEPLAY

Players will play cards out in front of them and these will remain in front of them for the game. 

The first player will be the player to the left of the dealer and will continue clockwise from them. The first player may lead any suit they wish but must play the lowest card of that suit they hold. The player then holding the next highest card in rank must play that card, followed by the player holding the next card in rank and so forth until either the Ace of the suit is played or there is not a player holding the next card in ranking order. 

When a player plays a card, no one can follow this is called a stop card. This ends that turn of play and the player to play the stop card starts the next round by playing the lowest card of any suit they wish. 

When a player plays out one of the pay cards, they will take all the chips on that card into their pool. 

Play continues in this manner until a player runs out of cards in hand. Once this happens the game ends, and any remaining chips on pay cards remain for the next round. 

END OF GAME

At the end of the round players who still have cards in their hands must pay one chip for each card remaining to the player who emptied their hand first. The game is played until players wish to stop the game or until players run out of bidding chips. 

Nakoa Davis
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