How to Play Xeri

Xeri is a semi quick fishing card game for two players.

Xeri Rules

| Players: 2 | Type: Fishing | Supplies: 1 Deck |

Objective

The objective of xeri is to score more points by matching card ranks with the play pile in the middle.

Deal

The non dealer has a slight advantage, so the dealer must be chosen at random and alternate each time cards are dealt.

Deal each player six cards. Deal four cards face up into one pile in between the players, this is the play pile. If the top two cards of the play pile are matching in rank, or the top card of the play pile is a jack, shuffle the play pile into the deck and redeal the play pile.

Game Play

Play starts with the non-dealer and alternates between players. Each turn a player must play one card from their hand to the play pile in one of the following three ways: A player may capture the play pile, add to the existing play pile, or start a new play pile. There may only be one play pile at a time.

To capture a play pile, a player must either play a card of the same rank as the top card of the play pile, or play a jack on top of the play pile that has cards in it. Both of these result in the player taking the entire pile, placing it face down in front of them in their scoring pile for scoring later. The scoring piles remain face down and can not be viewed until the end of the game.

If you play a card onto the play pile and it does not capture it, the newly played card becomes the top card of that play pile. If there is not a current play pile, a player may play any card to start the new one. This creates the possibility of a Xeri.

A Xeri occurs when there is a single card in the play pile, and the second card to go onto the play pile captures the pile. Captured Xeri piles are worth more points and go in a separate scoring pile. All cards captured from Xeris are kept in a face up pile, while all other cards captured are kept in a face down pile. Players have their own score piles.

Play continues until the player's hands are empty, the dealer then deals another 6 card hand to each player. This continues until there are no more cards in the stock or in players hands, then the round is over and you score points.

At the end of each round, the last player who captured the play pile, takes the remaining play pile for points.

Scoring

After the game is over, players score their score piles as follows:

Player with the most cards captured: 3 points
Each Ace/Jack/Queen/King/10: 1 point
2 of clubs: 1 point
10 of diamonds: 2 points
Each Xeri captured: 10 points (if the xeri included a jack, the xeri is worth 20 points)

If there is a tie for most cards captured, neither player gets the 3 points.

Winner

After the predetermined number of rounds is played, the player with the most points wins.