Bagaji

“Normally this game is played with one or two sets of hanafuda. But I’m used to playing with regular playing cards. I just need to take out the kings. That leaves eight cards of each value from one to twelve.”

“The goal is to get the smallest number of points possible. At the end of a round, the winning hand is worth zero points regardless of the actual value of the cards and everyone else has their points tallied up according to the values on the cards, the ace being one point and the queens being twelve points. After two hours, whoever has the least point total wins.

“Everyone is dealt three cards and then two cards, making a five card hand. The first player to go is the winner of the last hand. You draw a card, see if you win, and if you can’t win with that card, you discard a card. Then the next person does the same thing until someone wins.

“If someone has a pair of cards and someone discards a card of that same value, they can call on that discard and make a three-of-a-kind. Then you put the triplet in front of you facing up and discard and continue playing with a two card hand. In this game, if you have three of the same card, the triplet is worth zero points.

“The round is over when someone completes a winning six card hand by drawing or calling on someone’s discard. You win if you have two triplets or three pairs. And if you have five cards and no triplets whose total value is ten or less, you can decide to end the game before you draw, making you the winner of the round. If you have a triplet, the remaining two cards must equal five or less.

“In any of those circumstances, your winning hand is worth zero points. There are two other hands that you can win with that will subtract from your score. If you have a straight of six cards, the total value of your hand is subtracted from your running score. If your six cards total 64 points or more before zeroing triplets, that’s called ‘shooting the moon’ and you get the total value of your hand subtracted from your running score.

“There are a couple penalties too. If you have a pair and a triplet, you must announce that you can win of someone’s discard otherwise you can’t call on that discard. If you discard someone’s winning card and they complete a second three-of-a-kind, you get an extra thirty point penalty on top of your score. If you attempt to stop the game to win before you draw because you have less than ten or five points total, and someone reveals that the value of their hand is equal or less than yours, you get an extra sixty point penalty and there is no winner that round.”