OBJECTIVE OF TUXEDO: Be the first player to earn 100 points or more
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 – 6 players
NUMBER OF CARDS: 56 Rook cards
RANK OF CARDS: (low) 1 – 14 (high)
TYPE OF GAME: Fishing Game
AUDIENCE: Kids, Adults
INTRODUCTION OF TUXEDO
Tuxedo is a card capturing game created by George Parker in the early 20th century. This game uses a 56 card Rook deck, and challenges players to use the cards in their hand as well as their wits to capture as many cards as possible from the center.
THE CARDS & THE DEAL
Tuxedo uses a 56 card Rook deck which does not include the 20 point Rook card. Shuffle and deal four cards to each player. Deal four cards to the center face up.
THE PLAY
The player left of the dealer goes first. They may use one card from their hand to capture as many cards as possible from the center. There are a few ways to capture cards.
MATCH THE NUMBER
A player can capture a card by matching the number with a card from their hand. For example, if one of the face up cards is a 9, and the player has a 9 in their hand, they show the card and remove the 9 from the center. Both cards are placed aside as a “trick”.
MATCH THE SUM
A player can capture more than one card from the center by using a card that equals the sum of two or more cards in the center. For example, the player could use the 9 card from their hand to capture a 5 and a 4, or a 5, 3, and 1. Simply show the card and remove the cards from the center that add up to the correct sum. Place the trick aside.
PULL OFF A COMBO
Players should capture as many cards as possible on their turn. For example, if a player holds a 9, and in the center of the table sits a 9, 5, and 4, the player could take all three cards.
BIG SWEEP
A Big Sweep occurs when a player clears the table by capturing 4 or more cards.
LITTLE SWEEP
A Little Sweep occurs when a player clears the table by capturing 3 or fewer cards.
ORANGE
If a player captures a red and a yellow card at the same time, they should immediately call out orange. Doing so earns an additional 10 points. If the player forgets, and someone else calls out orange first, the player who did so earns the points.
BUILDING
A player can choose to build on their turn rather than capture. For example, if the player has a 9 and a 5 in their hand, and there is a 4 on the table, that player can place the 5 on top of the 4 with the card corners showing and declare that they have a 9 card in their hand. On their next turn, they play their 9 to capture the cards. Of course, another player at the table might capture the cards first or build the pile up higher to suit their own needs.
If a player cannot capture any cards, they add one card from their hand to the center of the table. This card is played face up and becomes available for other players to capture.
When players run out of cards, they are dealt four more. Cards are never dealt to the center. If on a player’s turn, there are no available cards to capture, they must choose one card from their hand and play it to the center. The next player will have the opportunity to capture that card.
THE FINAL DEAL
On the final deal, there might not be enough cards to give each player four. Deal out as many as possible evenly and add the remainder to the center for capturing. Continue play until all cards are captured or all players run out of cards in their hand.
SCORING
The player who captures the most cards earns 15 points. If tied, each player gets 5 points.
Each orange correctly called by a player earns them 10 points.
Big Sweeps earn 10 points.
Little Sweeps earn 5 points.
5’s earn 5 points each.
WINNING
The first player to earn 100 points wins.
- TRIPLE SNAKES - February 15, 2021