Welcome to Atlanta Mattis

Hey there! Welcome to Atlanta Mattis, a super fun card game that you can play with three people. The goal of the game is pretty simple: in the first phase, you want to collect cards, and in the second phase, you want to get rid of all the cards in your hand. The player who is left with cards in their hand at the end is the loser. So, let’s get started and see who comes out on top!

Atlanta Mattis is played in two phases, and there is no winner, only a loser. So, let’s dive into the exciting gameplay and get ready for some card action!

Getting Started: Setup

To get started, we first need to choose a dealer. The dealer will shuffle the deck of cards and deal three cards to each player. The remaining cards will be placed face-down to create a stockpile.

Card Ranking

Now, let’s talk about the ranking of the cards. In Atlanta Mattis, the cards follow the traditional ranking. The Ace is the highest-ranking card, followed by the King, Queen, Jack, and then the numbers from 10 to 2, in descending order.

Let the Game Begin: Gameplay

Okay, here’s how the game works. There are two phases to this game. First, we have the collecting phase, and then there’s the emptying phase. It’s pretty straightforward, so let me break it down for you.

Phase One: Collecting Cards

During the first phase, we focus on playing tricks. It doesn’t really matter which suit you play, and there’s no need to follow suit or try to win tricks. The player to the left of the dealer goes first and plays any card they want. Then, everyone else follows by playing a card from their hand. The player with the highest-ranked card, regardless of the suit, wins the trick. Simple, right?

Now, here’s an interesting twist. If it’s your turn to play a card and you happen to have a card that matches the rank of the highest card played so far, you must play that card. It’s like a rule or something. It keeps things exciting!

When multiple people have the same highest card, we have to find a winner by making them play an additional card to the trick.

After a player takes their turn, but before the trick is won, they can also play slough. Sloughs are cards that have the same rank as the cards that are losing the trick. You can play any number of slough cards from your hand to the trick. You can even play slough cards if you’re not part of the current trick. For example, if the other two players are tied, you can still play slough cards even if you’re not involved in the tie.

After the trick is finished, all players draw cards from the stock so that everyone has a hand of 3 cards. The cards from the trick are collected in a pile next to the winner’s facedown. And it’s the winner who starts the next trick.

PLAYING FROM DISCARD

Instead of playing a card from my hand, I have the option to reveal the top card from the discard pile and use it for the trick. But there’s a catch – I can only do this if there are more than 1 card left in the stock. Once I reveal a card this way, I have to play it and can’t keep it in my hand.

Phase One Ends

Now, imagine I’m the player who would normally draw the last card from the stock. Instead of keeping it a secret, I show it to everyone. It becomes my card to play, but it has to stay revealed until the end of the first phase. And guess what? This card’s suit determines the trump suit for the second phase.

After all the cards have been played in the first phase, the game moves on to phase two. If you still have cards in your hand, you need to reveal them and keep them for this next part of the game. In addition, if the final trick (the last set of cards played) couldn’t be completed, the players who contributed to it must take back all the cards they played.

Phase Two

Now that the full deck has been dealt to all of us, each player will have a different number of cards in hand. This is because some players may have won more cards during phase one than others. If you have fewer than 6 cards in your hand, you will receive some cards from the dreck. The dreck is created when all players with 6 or more cards remove the 2s through 5s from their hand, as well as the 6 of trumps. These cards are shuffled and then dealt to the players who began phase two with fewer than 6 cards. If creating the dreck brings your card count below 6, you won’t receive any cards from the dreck and will instead play with a smaller hand.

Now the objective is to get rid of all the cards in your hand as quickly as possible by playing tricks.

The first trick is led by the player who won the last trick in phase one. To play a card to the trick, the following players must either play a card with a higher rank of the same suit or a trump card. Any trump card can beat a regular card.

When you play a sequence in a card game, you must play 2 (or sometimes 3) cards of the same suit in a row. A higher card or a longer sequence of the same suit can beat a sequence. If someone can’t or doesn’t want to play a card or sequence, they have to take all the cards left in the trick, even if others helped complete it. Then it’s their turn is over, and the next player goes.

A trick finishes when everyone has played the same number of plays as when it started or when all the cards have been drawn.

If the trick is finished with a specific number of cards, then I am the winner! I will put aside all the cards used in this trick and get ready to start the next one. But if all the cards are drawn, then it’s a different story. The player to my left, who drew the last card, will take the lead in the next trick.

Once I’ve played all my cards and I’m left empty-handed, I’m out of the game. I can’t be the loser anymore!

THE END OF THE GAME

We keep playing until only one player is left standing. That player, my friend, is the ultimate loser.