It Was in the Cards

The other day I was shuffling some stuff between a black trunk that contained photo albums, photo packets, memorabilia, and even three undeveloped disposable cameras, and one of the empty gray bins, with the aim to make the trunk lighter and its contents easier to access. One of the things I ran across was an elderly boxed set of Skip-Bo, which numbers 162 cards (with 144 cards numbered 1 - 12 and 18 Skip-Bo cards, which serve as wild cards and are printed with instructions). We played innumerable games to amuse Mom while she was confined to her wheelchair, but we used the brightly colored deck now familiar to all. This old deck was printed with the familiar suits of a regular deck and the instructional wild cards, and they look so pristine I doubt that anyone ever played with them.

But they did remind me of other family games. While Mom and Pop were demon poker players, regularly gathering with the uncles and aunts and cousins for endless rounds of nickel and quarter bets, we tended to tamer games around our own kitchen table. Go Fish, of course (I remember we had some happy rounds with Omi), and Battle, and Slapjack, when we were very young. But there was a more complicated game popular when we were in our teens which we played with all the intensity of poker. And that was Liverpool Rummy.

Perhaps John will remember exactly who infected our family with the game; I don’t [He says he thinks it was Larry and Irene Ranft]. Here are the rules that I remember, copied from Wikipedia; the actual article mentions some refinements and terminology I don’t recall ever using.

“The game consists of seven deals of the cards. The objective is to be holding the lowest valued cards at the end of each deal. At the end of each deal the score for each player is written down, and the player with the lowest total score at the end of the seven deals wins the game.

“In each deal, the players reduce the value of the cards held in their hands by laying on the table, melds comprising sets and sequences of cards, usually known as Books and Runs.

• A Book consists of three or more cards of the same rank, such as 8♥ 8♣ 8♠.
• A Run consists of four or more cards in sequence, all of the same suit (hearts, clubs, etc), such as 3♥ 4♥ 5♥ 6♥ 7♥.

“The game is played with standard 52-card packs plus the Jokers: 2 packs for three or four players or 3 for more than four players. The ranking from low-to-high is 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-A. Aces can be high or low (see section on card play where aces can be used in a high run or low run but not wrap around). Jokers are wild.

“The dealer deals 10 cards to each player for the first 4 rounds, then 12 cards to each player for the last 3 rounds. After all the players' hands have been dealt, the rest are placed face down as the stock and its top card turned face-up to start the discard pile.

The player to the immediate left of the dealer plays first. Play continues, in alternating turns, until one player goes out, or has no cards left in their hand. Points are tallied and recorded by a score-keeper. All of the cards are shuffled and the next round of play commences.

“The requirements for each round of play are as follows:

• First - 2 books of three (6 cards)
• Second - 1 book of three & 1 run of four (7 cards)
• Third - 2 runs of four (8 cards)
• Fourth - 3 books of three (9 cards)
• Fifth - 2 books of three & 1 run of four (10 cards)
• Sixth - 1 book of three & 2 runs of four (11 cards)
• Seventh - 3 runs of four with no remaining cards in hand, no final discard (12 cards)

“Once a player has laid down, they can then attempt to further reduce the number of cards in their hand by adding to other players' laid cards.

“For example, a 3♥ could be added to an existing set of 3s (3♦ 3♣ 3♠) or a suitable a run of hearts (4♥ 5♥ 6♥ 7♥) from another player.

At the end of each round when a player goes out, the rest of the players total their scores by counting up the value of the cards remaining in their hands. Cards are valued as follows:

• 2 through 9 are 5 points each.
• 10, J, Q and K are 10 points each.
• Aces & Jokers are 15 points each.

“The player with the lowest point total at the end of final round wins, so players usually work to lower their scores by going down, playing off other players who have gone down and, secondarily, replacing high cards (such as face cards and aces) with lower ones.”

We simply called ‘books’ ‘sets’, and another part of our personal terminology was ‘black holing’, drawing an unusual number of cards off the discard pile to reach the one you want. It could be a risky strategy. The one who did so would be called a ‘Zuckuss’ because he sucked all the cards up. We had marathon sessions, and sometimes they would end up with temper tantrums. But we loved playing.

It's been many years since I’ve played a round of Liverpool Rummy, though it is sometimes mentioned rather wistfully at family gatherings. I wonder if anyone (especially the new generation) would have the patience to play it.