WHOT

Hey there! Have you heard of the card game called Whot? It’s pretty famous all over the world, but interestingly, people play it in different ways depending on where they are!

I wanted to tell you about how it’s played in Nigeria, where it’s super popular among young people. In fact, it’s even considered the National Card Game there, and it was actually brought over by the British!

CONTENTS

Now, let’s talk about what you’ll find in a pack of Whot cards. There are 54 cards in total, and they come in five different shapes, each with its own unique symbol and number. The shapes you’ll see are circles, crosses, triangles, squares, and stars.

Getting Started

First, we need to get the game set up. To begin, we shuffle the cards and distribute them randomly among the players.

Next, we need to figure out how many cards each player should receive. This depends on the number of players participating. For example, if there are two or more players, each player should receive two cards.

Special Cards

There are some cards in Nigeria that have special rules when played.

Let’s start with the 1 Card. When a player plays this card, everyone else must hold on and the player gets to play another turn.

However, there’s a slight variation if there are more than four players. In that case, when the 1 Card is played, only the next player needs to hold on, and the game continues.

Now, let’s move on to the 2 Card. If a player plays this card, the next player must pick up two more cards, unless they have a 2 Card themselves. In that case, the turn shifts to the following player.

Let’s talk about some special cards in the game. One of them is the 5 Card. When you play this card, the next player has to pick three extra cards, unless they also have a 5 Card. Then, the card picking goes to the next player, and the game keeps going.

Another special card is the 14 Card, also known as the General Market. When this card is played, every player, except the one who played it, has to pick one card.

How to Play

First, you share the cards randomly among the players. To start the game, one card is placed face-up on the table. Then, players take turns playing their cards.

While playing, you have to match the shape or symbol of the card that was played before you. If you don’t have a matching card, you have to pick one more card and the game continues.

Hey there! Just wanted to let you know that if any special cards are drawn, we’ll have to follow the rules for each of those cards. It adds an extra twist to the game!

How to Win

To win, you need to be the first player to get rid of all your cards. But don’t worry, if you’re the first one to finish, the game doesn’t end immediately. The other players keep playing until they run out of cards too.

Now, here’s an important rule: when you only have one or two cards left, you have to let everyone know. This is called announcing. If you forget to announce, you’ll have to draw two more cards! So make sure you remember to announce, or else someone else might become the new winner.

And that’s it! Have fun playing and may the best player win!