Travel dice and card games for travellers


by Girlstravelclub.co.uk - Date: 2007-05-17 - Word Count: 1405 Share This!



How To Play S***head

This game is currently being played all over the world by students, backpackers and inmates, and requires a pack of card for every two people playing i.e., one pack of cards for two players, two packs for four, etc. The object of the game is to be the first person to get rid of all their cards. The last person to do so is the sh**head (or silly-billy if you're playing with children under 12).



How to Start



Deal three cards face down for each player, then on top of them lay another three cards facing up. Deal each player three cards to hold in their hand, then turn over the top card of the pack to start the discard pile off. Now the player to the left off the dealer starts play, by laying down an equivalent, higher or power card.



Power Cards


Aces are high.
2 can be played at any time, and drops the value of the discard pile back down to 2.
7 can be played at any time and changes the direction of play.

10 can be played at any time; whatever is on the discard pile is set aside for the remainder of play and the player may take another turn.



Rules of Play


1. You must have a minimum of three cards in your hand at all times until the stock pile has gone. If you play one card you must pick up another, if you play two, pick up another two etc. If you have more than three cards in your hand you need not pick up another until you are back down to three again.

2. You must always match or beat the value of the card laid down by the previous player, otherwise you have to pick up and keep the whole of the discard pile. If this happens then the previous player gets another turn.

3. If a 10 is played then the discard pile is set aside for the remainder of the game and the player takes another turn.

4. If you have more than one card of the same value you can lay them down simultaneously; if you can lay four cards of the same value down at once, then the discard pile is permanently thrown out and you get another go (this discarding of the discard pile is quite handy, as then there are less cards for you to pick up if you can't manage to match or beat the previous card).

5. When all the cards in your hand are gone and there are no more to pick up from the stock pile, you can then play your three top cards.

6. When you have exhausted these you can play the bottom three. Obviously you are playing blind here as you don't know what they are but this is the best bit as it can completely turn the game around; if you can't play the card you've turned over you have to pick the discard pile up!

7. If you manage to get rid of all your cards first then you've won! If not, then you get called names all evening.

8. Some people play a variation where upon being dealt three cards into your hand at the start at the game, you can swap any or all of them for the three cards facing upwards. This is the only time in the game you can do this.



Mia, or Mire


This is a very old game which seems complicated to explain, but is incredibly good fun to play, based as it is on bluffing and lying to your friends. Medieval re-enactors particularly enjoy this game round a campfire when they've spent the evening doing the best part of a bottle of mead and reliving their finest bruises.

You will need two dice, an opaque cup or beaker with a lid (even a beer mat will do) and a dice or 6 matchsticks for each player to record how many lives they've lost on.



How to Start

Players start with six lives, so turn their dice with the six up. Player One rolls the two play dice in the cup, has a discreet look, and then makes a decision based on the following three choices...



* Tell the truth and say what he has just rolled,
* Lie and say announce a greater value than the one he actually rolled, or
* Lie and announce a lesser value (useful if there aren't many players and there is a good chance play will come around to him again).



The dice are concealed with the lid and carefully passed to Player Two, who now also has three options.



* Believe Player One, in which he has to roll either the same or higher without looking.
* Call Player One a liar, and look at the dice to see if he was right. If the dice was lower than Player One announced, Player One loses a life. However if it was equal or higher, then Player Two loses a life.
* · Pass the dice without looking to the next player; this relieves Player One of all responsibility and the bluff is now on Player Two's shoulders. Player Three can now either call or believe the pass, or pass it on.



Each player must always match or beat the previous value, or pass it on blind and take his chances.

If the game continues all the way round the circle back to Player One, then he cannot continue without raising the score.

When a player loses a life he must either lose a matchstick or turn his life dice up to show a five. The play then returns to the player who preceded him.



Scoring


Lowest come the numbers made of mixed dice with the highest number always coming first, e.g., 31, 54, 63 etc. Next come the doubles running from a low of 66 up to the highest 11. Highest of all is Mia, or 21; nothing can beat this and if it is rolled or announced the losing player will lose two lives. Thus the complete order of rolls runs like this, from lowest to highest

31,32,41,42,43,51,52,53,54,61,62,63,64,65,11,22,33,44,55,66,21.


Strategy




This is much easier to play than it sounds; just remember that you must either trust, or match and beat the player who came before you, so if you can't, lie, lie, lie!! Often the player who follows you won't want to risk losing a life by challenging you incorrectly and thus will just take your call at face value. Likewise, don't trust anyone else, there is always a good chance they're lying too!





10,000

This is another popular dice game; all you will need is six dice, a cup and a pen and paper for scoring.


How To Play

Each player rolls a die in turn; the one with the highest score goes first by rolling all six dice. Each roll must end up with at least one scoring die or the go ends and the player loses all points accumulated in that turn.

Player One rolls all six dice; after each throw he must score points in the form of sets. If he wishes to collect these points he sets these dice aside, then he can either

* Roll the rest of the dice in order to make more sets,
* Or, if all his six dice are tied up in sets he can throw all six again and keep scoring or
* Pass the game over to the next player in the circle, if he thinks the chances of failure are too high and he might lose his points.


The player's turn ends when he fails to score with a roll (thus scoring nothing), or when he passes play over. Sets cannot be put together; for example, if Sarah rolls and puts aside a 5, and then rolls three 5's in her next roll, she can only count them as one triple and one single, rather than four-of-a-kind.



Scoring and Sets


1 =100 Triple 6 = 600
5 =50 1,2,3,4,5,6, = 3000
Triple 1 = 1000 3 pairs = 1500
Triple 2 = 200 Four of a kind = 1000
Triple 3 = 300 Five of a kind = 2000
Triple 4 = 400 Six of a kind = instant win!
Triple 5 = 500 Two triplets = 2500


The first player to reach the 10,000 threshold wins, unless another player can beat him with their last remaining roll. Some variations include that a player must reach at least 500 per turn in order to be "on the table" and keep that turn's score. Others say that four 2's in a roll cancel that players entire score.

Related Tags: 10, travelling, backpacking, backpackers, 000, travel games, mire mia

Becci is an enthusiastic traveller who runs a company called girlstravelclub.co.uk, an online boutique providing beautiful travel accessories for women, plus travel survival courses, holidays and lots of useful travel tips and info. You can even post on the girlstravelclub blog, and maybe win a prize for your holiday ideas, tips, phots and even travel recipes! Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

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