PILES

MY GOAL IN PILES: Create point-winning piles for my team!

THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 players (fixed partnerships)

THE NUMBER OF CARDS: a standard deck of 52 cards

CARD RANKINGS: K (highest), Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A

THE TYPE OF GAME: Strategy-based

FOR WHOM: Suitable for all ages

PILES – THE DEAL & THE CARDS

Piles is a game played by four players, split into two pairs. Each pair should sit across from one another at the table.

Hey there! So, here’s how the game works. First, we randomly choose a dealer. This dealer is the one who will deal each player 10 cards. Each card should be dealt one by one and face-down. We start dealing from the left of the dealer. After that, we take the remaining 12 cards from the deck and place them in the middle of the table, face-up. These cards are arranged in a 4×3 rectangle. This arrangement is called the castle.

Now, let’s talk about the cards themselves. Each card has a value, and that’s what it’s worth in the game.

Time to Play!

Alright, here’s the fun part. The player sitting to the left of the dealer gets to make the first move. They place one card on the castle. Then, each player takes turns doing the same thing, going around in a circle to the left. The cool thing is that when you place a card on the castle, it forms a pile. And each pile is controlled by the card on top of it.

When we start playing cards, the color of the cards we play gives us our team color. Let’s say I play a 5 of Spades first – that means my teammate and I are on the black team. Our opponents, on the other hand, are on the red team.

When I’m inside the castle, there are some rules to follow regarding the piles. Each pile can have anywhere from 2 to 4 neighbors, meaning they’re either horizontally or vertically next to each other. The piles in the corners only have two neighbors. The remaining 6 piles have either 2 or 3 neighbors, while the two piles in the middle have 4 neighbors. Now, let’s talk about how the value of a card is determined in the castle.

So, here’s the deal with card values. A card’s value in the castle is based on its neighbors. The card on top is worth its original value plus 1 for every neighbor that has the same color, and minus 1 for every neighbor that has a different color. Let me give you a couple of examples to make it clearer:

• If there’s a red 6 on top of a pile and it has two red neighbors, its worth is 8.
• Now, imagine a pile with a black 10 on top. If it has 1 red neighbor and 3 black neighbors, its value is 12, just like a Queen card.

Now, Let Me Explain the Specific Rules of Play

• You can always place a card on top of another one if they have the same color.

When I play the game, I can put cards of different colors on top of each other. This changes which color controls the value of the pile. But, the card that I place on top of its opposing color must have a higher total value than the previous card on top. It’s not just about the card that I play, but also how the neighboring cards affect the pile’s value.

Sometimes, I can decide to skip my turn. When this happens, the player to my left will randomly choose a card from my hand. I don’t get to keep that card, but it will be added to the piles I pick up with my team later on.

GAME OVER

So here’s how the game goes: each player takes 10 turns, or until they run out of cards. After that, each team collects piles of cards, but only the ones with their team’s color. The black team gets the piles with black cards, and the red team gets the piles with red cards. But here’s the twist: when it comes to scoring, the teams actually count the cards of the opposite color that they collected. So, the red team scores the black cards they collected, and the black team scores the red cards.

Now, let’s talk about the values of the cards when it comes to scoring.

• Aces are worth 9 points
• Kings are worth 4 points
• Queens are worth 3 points
• Jacks are worth 2 points
• All other cards are worth 1 point

So, at the end of the game, the team with the highest score wins. It’s all about who can rack up the most points!

If you want more information about the game Piles, you can contact Fabio Pozzi at fabpozzi@libero.it