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HOW TO PLAY THE CARD GAME CALLED MICHIGAN

Number of Players: 3 to 8.

Cards: The ordinary deck of 52 cards plus the 4 special cards (we'll come to them later) from another deck.

The Deal: The dealer gives one card at a time face down to each player, taking care to deal an extra hand as though there were 1 more player at the table. It doesn't matter if some hands have one more card than others.

Pay Cards: The 4 pay cards, taken from another deck, are the ^ Ace, the * King, 0 Queen, and <J> Jack. These are placed face up in the middle of the table and remain there throughout the game. Before each deal, each player places one counter on each of the special cards. (The counters may be poker chips, matchsticks, toothpicks, dried beans, etc. All players should be given the same number of counters to begin a game.) Object: To win counters from the other players. This is done by getting rid of all of your cards or by playing a pay card and thus winning the counters that are on that special card in the middle of the table. The Play: The dealer looks at his own hand and announces whether or not he will auction off the extra hand. If the dealer wants the extra hand himself, he puts his own hand aside, face down, and plays the extra hand in its place. If the dealer likes his own hand, he may auction off the extra hand to the player who bids the most counters for it. If 2 players make the same bid, the first one to speak counts. If both speak at the same time, the one who would play first going around to the left from the dealer wins the tie. If the dealer says he is going to sell the extra hand, he is not allowed to change his mind even if he is not satisfied with the results of the auction. After the question of the extra hand is settled, the play begins. The player to the left of the dealer may begin with any sviit, but must put down the lowest card of the suit he chooses to begin with. The player with the next higher card in the same suit continues, and the play proceeds as in Sequence. When any player puts down a card that is the same as one of the pay cards in the middle of the table, he collects all of the counters on that card. It is therefore an advantage to hold one of these pay cards in your hand. If a player reaches the Ace of a suit, he must start with a new suit, but must play the lowest card he holds in whichever suit he chooses to continue with. There is an important difference between this game and Sequence. You cannot always proceed up to the Ace of a suit, because you are sometimes stopped by the missing cards that are in the discarded hand. When no one is able to continue with a suit, the person who made the last play must begin again with a new suit, beginning (as always) with his lowest card in this new suit. Sooner or later, some person plays the last card in his hand. He then collects from each other player at the rate of 1 counter for each card left in that player's hand.

Skillful Play: There is skill both in the auction and in the play. A good hand contains 1 or more of the pay cards. Even if you have no pay cards, you may still have a good chance to play out quickly if your hand contains very few of the very low cards in any suit. It usually isn't hard to reach Queens, Kings, and Aces, but it is often very hard to get rid of deuces and 3's. As the dealer, you should be satisfied with your hand if you have 1 or more pay cards, or if you have a hand that contains practically none of the deuces or 3's. If you have a bad hand, containing no pay card and including 2 or more of the very low cards of the deck, you should exchange your hand for the extra hand instead of auctioning it off. You follow the same principles if some other player is the dealer and offers to auction off the extra hand. The extrahand isn't worth a single counter to you if you already have a good hand. If you have a bad hand, however, you should be willing to bid up to 3 or 4 counters for the extra hand. If very few players are interested in bidding for the extra hand, you will probably get it for only 1 or 2 counters, but it won't be worth much. If the other players are satisfied with their hands, it is probably because they have pay cards in their hands, which means that there will be none left in the extra hand. However, there will be an advantage in exchanging your original hand for another hand because you will be the only player in the game who knows the cards in the discarded hand (that is, you will be the only player who knows these things if you have a good memory). In the play of the cards it sometimes helps a great deal to know when a suit is going to be stopped. For example, suppose you know that the 9 of spades is in the dead hand. If you have the 8 of spades in your new hand, you can safely begin spades rather than some other suit. When you eventually play your 8 of spades, the suit will be stopped, and you will then be able to switch to some new suit. This gives you two chances to play, so it is always an advantage to be the one who switches to a new suit. When it is up to you to start a new suit, it is usually a sound idea to begin a suit in which you have a pay card. This is your best chance to get the pay card out of your hand and thus collect the counters for playing it.

Related terms include kids card games and card game software.