SVOI KOZYRI

SVOI KOZYRI

OBJECTIVE OF SVOI KOZYRI: The objective of Svoi Kozyri is to not be the last person to empty their hand.


NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 through 4 players


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


TYPE OF GAME: Shedding Trick-Taking Card Game


AUDIENCE: Any

OVERVIEW OF SVOI KOZYRI

Svoi Kozyri is a mash-up between a card shedding game and a trick-taking game. It can be played with 2 to 4 people but is best with 4. The goal of the game is to not be the last player to empty their hand. Players do this by playing cards to tricks to beat the top card of the trick. If they cannot do this, they will have to draw cards from the tricks instead. 

SETUP

To modify a 52-card deck you will need to remove all cards 5 and below. This will leave the Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10s, 9s, 8s, 7s, and 6s. 

Before dealing starts players should choose their individual trump suits. Each player will need to have a different trump suit as well. 

The first dealer should be chosen at random and then each round moving forward the dealer will be the last round’s loser. 

The dealer will shuffle the cards and deal out the whole deck, one card at a time to each player, clockwise. After each player receives their hand, they will look to see if they have any sixes. Any sixes not of their trump suit should be given to the player who’s trump suit matches that of the six. This will mean every player will have at least one card in their trump suit, and also players will most likely start the game with different hand sizes. 

Card Rankings

Svoi Kozyri is played so that each player has a different trump suit, but all rankings for trumps and non-trumps are the same. The ranking for this game is Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6 (low). 

Trumps work differently in this game since each player will have a different trump suit, that suit only holds power during their turn. For example, let’s say Player A’s trump suit is spades, Player B’s suit is diamonds, Player C’s is hearts, and Player D’s is clubs. Player A starts the trick by playing a Queen of hearts. Player B plays a Jack of diamonds. It beats the queen of hearts because it is one of his trumps. Player C can either play a diamond higher than a Jack or play one of their trumps. They play a Queen of diamonds. Player D finishes the trick by playing a 6 of clubs. All players have successfully played a card during the trick and did not have to draw. 

GAMEPLAY

The game begins with the player left of the dealer leading the first trick. They may play any card to lead. The following players have three options. Following suit, playing a trump, or drawing cards.

Players may play a card to the trick by beating the top card of the play pile. They may either play a card of higher rank but the same suit of the top card or one of their trump cards. If the top card is their trump suit, they will need to beat it with one of their trumps. Once a card to beat the last is played then another card will also need to be played on top of the pile. This will be what the next player must beat to play a card. 

If a player does not want to or can’t beat the last played card, then they will draw cards. If the top card is not one of the player’s trumps, they will draw the top three cards of the play pile and put them in their hand. If it is a trump but not the ace, the player will draw five cards from the top. If the card is the ace of their trump suit, they will draw the whole play pile to their hand. 

The new top card (if any) will be the new card the next player must beat. If there is no card, then the next player will play one card for their turn. 

This continues until all, but one player has discarded their whole hand.

If a player has emptied their hand by playing their last card to beat the top of the pile and there are at least 2 other people in the game but does not have a second card to play to the pile, the next player does not need to beat this card. Instead, they will play a single card as though the start of the game.

END OF GAME

The game is not won, it is only not lost. The last player to discard their whole hand is the loser and will deal the next game. the only exception is if the final player is left with one card and they can play it to beat the top card of the play pile. If they can do this, it is a draw game and the previous dealer deals again.

Nakoa Davis
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