CLAG – A Fun Card Game for the Whole Gang!

Hey there! Have you heard of Clag? It’s an awesome trick-taking card game that you can play with 4 to 7 of your friends. The goal of the game is simple – earn as many points as possible over 22 exciting rounds. How? By winning tricks and completing contracts. Let me tell you more about it!

Now, out of these 22 rounds, rounds 8 to 15 spice things up with special rules. They may affect scoring, but don’t you worry – we’ll dive into all the details about that later, in the scoring and gameplay sections. For now, let’s focus on getting you set up and ready to play!

SETUP – Get Ready to Have a Blast!

When we play this game, the dealer is chosen randomly at the start, and then it rotates to the left for each new round. The dealer will shuffle the deck and hand out the cards clockwise, starting from their left side. The number of cards given to each player depends on the round that is being played. In the first round, every player gets 1 card. In the second round, they get 2 cards. In the third round, they get 3 cards, and so on. The pattern continues until round 8, where players get a 7-card hand. From round 9 to round 16, players will receive 7-card hands. After that, in round 17, they get 6 cards, in round 18 they get 5 cards, and so on. Finally, in round 22, players receive 1-card hands.

Rankings and Values of the Cards

The order of the cards is the traditional one, with the Ace being the highest card, followed by the King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 being the lowest card.

How to Play the Game

When I play the game, there are different styles to choose from. I have learned that rounds 1 through 7 are played just like rounds 16 through 22. However, rounds 8 through 15 are special rounds that have some slight changes in how the game is played.

When a regular round starts, the dealer will flip over the next card from the deck. This card will determine the trump suit for the round. As the round begins, the other cards from the deck are set aside and not used during this round.

Alright, let’s get this round of cards started! I’ll explain the rules so you can jump right in. The player sitting on the left of the dealer will start the round, and then it will go in a clockwise direction from there.

Here’s where it gets interesting: every player has to make a contract. A contract is basically a prediction of how many tricks you think you can win during the round. In case you’re wondering, a trick is when each player plays one card, and the person with the highest card takes them all. Exciting, right?

The dealer gets to make their contract last. But here’s the catch: they have to commit to winning enough tricks so that when you add up the tricks predicted by all the players, it’s greater than the number of cards dealt in a hand. This means that at least one person will end up not completing their contract.

Let’s say, for example, that each player has 7 cards. If the three players before the dealer predict that they can win one trick each, then the dealer would have to step up and predict that they can win 5 tricks. That makes a total of 8 tricks predicted, which is one more than the number of cards in a hand. Exciting stuff, isn’t it?

Now that we’ve got all the contracts sorted out, it’s time for the action to begin. Let the games begin!

When we play the card game, the person sitting to my left is the one who goes first. They can play any card from their hand. Then, the rest of us have to play a card from the same suit if we can, but if we don’t have a card from that suit, we can play any card. The person who plays the highest trump card, if there is one, wins the trick. If there are no trump cards, then the person who plays the highest card from the suit that was led wins the trick. The winner gets to keep the cards in a pile next to them and starts the next trick.

The Special Rounds

In round 8, there are no trump cards. Everything else is the same as the regular rounds.

In round 9, everybody has to make a contract of zero. That means only the person who doesn’t win any tricks can fulfill their contract. The rest of the gameplay stays the same.

In round 10, we don’t find out what the trump suit is until everybody has already made their contracts. Otherwise, the gameplay is the same.

When it’s time for round 11 in our card game, we first make our contracts before dealing out the cards. Everything else stays the same, so we’re ready to play!

Now onto round 12, where the twos become wild cards. This means that when a two is played, you can choose any card from any suit to act as a copy of it. This copy is even higher than the original card! But there are some rules we have to follow. If multiple twos are played in a single trick, they can’t represent the same card. And if you have a card of the same suit that was led, you have to play your two as a wild card of that suit. For example, if I have a 3 of hearts (which is the suit led), I have to play my 2 as a heart as well. Don’t worry, though – everything else in the game stays the same.

Finally, in round 13, we change up the ranking. The Ace becomes the lowest card, so now the ranking goes King (highest), Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and Ace (lowest). But don’t worry – the rest of the gameplay remains unchanged.

Hey there! Let me tell you about an exciting twist in rounds 14 and 15 of this game.

In round 14, instead of flipping a card to determine trumps, the dealer gets to choose them. Everything else remains the same, so you’ll still have a blast playing!

In round 15, things get even more interesting. There are no contracts to be made. Instead, the player who wins the most tricks is considered to have completed their contract. But here’s the catch, if there’s a tie, it means that all the players have failed to complete their contract. Talk about an intense round!

Now, let’s talk scoring!

Hey there! Let me break it down for you. In each round of the game, you’re gonna earn points based on your performance. You’ll have a total score that keeps adding up as you go. Oh, and don’t forget to keep track of how many contracts you complete, okay?

Now, for most rounds, except for rounds 9 and 15, here’s how the scoring works: you get one point for every trick you win. Cool, right? But wait, there’s more! If you manage to win the exact number of tricks that you contracted for, you’ll get an extra 10 points. Let me give you an example to make it crystal clear. Let’s say Player A made a contract for 3 tricks and they actually won all three of those tricks. The total score for this round would be 13 points. Three points for winning the tricks, and another ten because they nailed their contracted amount. And that’s what we call a completed contract. Pretty neat, huh?

Now let me tell you about round 9. Brace yourself, because it’s a bit different. If you end up winning zero tricks in this round, you still get 10 points. Can you believe it? You get rewarded even for not winning anything! Plus, in all rounds, every trick you win is worth one point. So keep that in mind.

Alright, one last thing. Round 15 is also a little unique. In this round, only the player who wins the most tricks gets 10 points. There are no other points to be earned. But hey, if there’s a tie for the most tricks, then nobody gets those 10 points. It’s a tough competition!

GAME OVER

Hey there! The game is all wrapped up once we’ve finished round 22. The person who has the biggest score becomes the winner. If there happen to be a few folks with the same top score, we’ll look at who completed the most contracts to decide the ultimate champion. And if we still have a tie after that, everyone who tied gets to share the victory. Pretty cool, right?

Hey there! The game is all wrapped up once we’ve finished round 22. The person who has the biggest score becomes the winner. If there happen to be a few folks with the same top score, we’ll look at who completed the most contracts to decide the ultimate champion. And if we still have a tie after that, everyone who tied gets to share the victory. Pretty cool, right?