About Jacks

"Jacks" is a card game I invented while in high school, which is similar to Hearts. Since there are fewer cards to keep track of, the game is simpler, but the mechanics are also somewhat different. The game was very popular with a small friends group from one of my high school classes.

Rules

Setup: Free for all
Players: 4
Complexity: Low
Strategies: Several
Classification: Trick-taking
Cards Per Player: 13
Dealing Pattern: 1 card at a time in the clockwise direction
Playing Pattern: Clockwise
Card Hierarchy (from strongest to weakest): A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2


Objective:
• Get as few points as possible


Rules:
• On the 1st, 5th, 9th, 13th, etc. rounds; 3 cards are passed to each players' left.
• On the 2nd, 6th, 10th, 14th, etc. rounds; 3 cards are passed to each players' right.
• On the 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, etc. rounds; 3 cards are passed across.
• On the 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, etc. rounds; no cards are exchanged.
• After cards are passed (if any), the 3 of hearts plays first.
• The lead suit must be followed, if possible. Otherwise, a player may play any card.
• No jacks can be played on the first trick. If, on the first trick, a player has the jack of hearts and no other hearts, that player must play a different suit.
• The highest card of the lead suit takes the trick.
• Whoever takes a trick begins the next trick.
• A round ends when all 4 jacks have been played.


Mechanics:
• There is a delicate balancing act between playing high cards and avoiding jacks.
• There is also a delicate balancing act between risk and reward. Creating a void early by passing cards can provide a huge advantage, but also carries the risk of only having large cards in a suit. For example, the jack of diamonds is the least punishing, so it's often tempting to get rid of all diamonds early, but other players may have the same idea.
• There are three cards (queen, king, and ace) in each suit that can take a jack (willing or unwillingly) of the same suit.

Scoring:
• Whoever takes the jack of spades gets 7 penalty points.
• Whoever takes the jack of hearts gets 7 penalty points.
• Whoever takes the jack of clubs gets 4 penalty points.
• Whoever takes the jack of diamonds gets 3 penalty points.
• If a player takes all 4 jacks, that player gets 0 penalty points and all other players get 21 penalty points.
• If every player takes 1 jack, every player gets 7 penalty points.
• By default, the game ends when one player accumulates 75 penalty points. Whoever has the fewest penalty points at the end wins.