ELEVATOR
Hey there! Let’s talk about Elevator, a cool card game that’s also known as Bastard. In this game, we’re trying to be the first to get rid of all our cards. Sounds fun, right? Let me explain how it works.
THE CARDS & THE DEAL
Elevator is played with a deck of 52 cards and 2 Jokers. Before we start, let’s shuffle the cards really well. Once that’s done, I’ll deal 7 cards to each player, one card at a time. The remaining cards go in the middle as the draw pile. Oh, and don’t forget, we also need to flip one card to start the discard pile. Ready to go?
THE PLAY
Now, here’s where the action begins. The first player looks at their hand and decides which card or cards with the same rank they want to get rid of. Remember, the cards you play need to have a higher rank than the top card of the discard pile. And oh, there’s one more rule – the cards you play must have a different color from the top card. Make sure to keep that in mind!
Let’s say the discard pile has a red 5 on top. To play, I need a black 6. If I have multiple 6s, I play them in order: black, red, and so on. But if I have two black 6s, I can only play one.
Once an Ace is played, the discard pile starts going down in order. It goes all the way down to 2 and then goes back up again, like an elevator.
If I can’t play a card or don’t want to, I can pass. But if I pass, I have to draw one card from the draw pile. If the previous player passed, the next player can only pass if they can’t play. If they have a card, they have to play it.
STUCK ELEVATOR
If I play a card and everyone else at the table passes, I just got the elevator stuck. I have to draw cards equal to the number of players in the game. If there are no more cards in the draw pile, you all have to give me one card from your hand, starting with the player on my left. I can also partially draw from the draw pile, and the remaining required cards will be drawn from my opponents. It’s possible for me to win while penalizing the player who got the elevator stuck. The next player gets to continue the pile with any card they want.
JOKERS
Jokers are wild cards and can be played during my turn. If I play a Joker, the pile resets, and the next player gets to play any card they want.
WINNING
The first player to empty their hand wins the game.