Summer is just around the corner. Our pace is slowing down, our clothing is getting thinner and our drinks, colder. Warm weather and nostalgia are a package deal for me; I quickly remember hanging out at friends’s backyards playing games, running around the neighborhood and getting out of school before the sky got dark. The air smells different in the spring. It smells friendlier, more inviting… I don’t know, it gives me hope. 

And hope is just what you need to beat your friends in a fun ( yet intense) game of… Well you name it. Old Maid (Papaz Kaçtı), Pişti, Spoons or Bluff? In honor of TOM’s playing cards launch, I wanted to share with you the card games I played growing up. Sitting around a table placed in the shadiest corner of a garden, we would sit, sipping our lemonades and munching on chips, playing for hours and hours. 

I wanted to share with you some of my favorites, with the hopes that you play them with your friends and family. 

Okay, now let's deal some cards.

Old Maid  

Number of people: More than 2 

Aim: to get rid of all the cards and don’t end up with the queen.

Rules:

1. Use a standard pack if you are less than 6 and two packs if more. 
2. Remove all queens except one. 
3. Shuffle the cards and deal all of them one by one. 
4. Then players discard any pairs that they have in their hand ( so if they have two Two’s, they can discard them). 
5. Once everyone has discarded their pairs, the player offers their cards face-down to the player next to them. 
6. The player selects a card without seeing; if they pick a card that has a pair, they can discard them or they have to add them to their hand. 
7. The game continues until no cards are left. 
8. The person who ends up with the Queen loses. 

Pişti

Number of people: 2 or 4 players

Aim: to collect as many cards as possible. 

Rules:

1. 4 cards are dealt to each player.  
2. Then another four cards are placed face-down in the middle. Finally adding a 5th card facing the players.  
3. The way to collect cards is by putting the same value card in the middle. So let’s say the top card on the stack in the middle is Two, if it's your turn and you have a Two, you can throw that to the middle and grab the whole stack. 
1. After you clear the middle, the next player throws a card in the middle, if the next player has the same card, that is called a Pişti. It ranks higher in the point hierarchy. 
4. The Joker or Jack allow you to collect all the cards in the middle. 

How to count scores: 

1. Number cards are 0 points 
2. Pişti’s are 10 points 
3. Jack is 1 point
4. Ace is 1 point

The person with the highest points wins. 

Spoons 

Number of people: up to 13 players

Aim: to be the last player standing. 

Rules: This fast-paced game is usually played with spoons ( so you put one less spoon than the number of people playing) BUT you don't really need to bother with that, I will give you an easier option. 

1. The aim is to collect four of the same card. 
2. The dealer deals 4 cards to each player.  
3. For each round, the dealer takes a card from the top of the deck and removes, adds it to their collection of cards and then removes one from their hand and passes it face down to the player next to them. The next player does the same, either passing down the same card or keeping the given card and passing down another. 
4. The last person discards a card to the discard pile. 
5. The dealer picks up a new card and starts the next round. 
6. The game continues until someone gets four of a kind. 
7. The person that gets four of a kind reaches to the middle and slaps the table. The last one to slap after gets one letter from S-P-O-O-N. 
8. When you collect all the letters to spell it, you are eliminated from the game. 
9. Last person standing wins the game. 

Bluff / Cheat / Bullsh*t

Number of people: 2-10 players

Aim: to get rid of all your cards by playing them to a discard pile. 

Rules:

This game is all about tricking people into believing the cards you play face down are what you say they are. 

1. All cards are dealt to the players.  
2. The first player discards one or more cards face down calling what they are and how many they are putting down. It needs to be the same value on the card ( Sces, sevens, Jacks,etc..)
3. The next player follows them by following the rank. So if the prior player put down Aces. The next player needs to discard Twos, and the next player Threes, etc. 
4. Because you are putting the cards face down, you can try to trick people into thinking you have cards that you actually don’t. Let's say it's your turn and you need to put down Fours, but you do not have any. You can choose any other two cards and put them down saying they are Fours. Or if you want to get rid of your cards faster, you can mix in some other cards, etc… 
5. If you lie and someone calls you out, you have to take the whole discard pile. If you don’t lie but another player still calls you out, they need to take the whole discard pile. 
6. The first player to get rid of their cards wins. 

Variation: Instead of putting down cards by value ( so first person putting Aces, the next putting Twos, the next Threes etc.) you can also go around putting the same value cards. So after everyone goes around putting their Fives, you can go around putting Sixes. This variation becomes harder with more people.  

You can check out the TOM playing cards here. https://theorganizedmess.com/tr/products/playing-cards