MateBeta

Goal

Lead a card your opponent can’t answer. That’s mate: it ends the game, and you score the card’s value times the number of the move. A match is 2 or 4 games, and the higher total wins.

Cards

Use the Ace, 10, King, Queen, and 7 of each suit: 20 cards.

Ranking

Ranks from low to high: 7, Queen, King, 10, Ace. Suits from low to high: ♣ Clubs, ♦ Diamonds, ♠ Spades, ♥ Hearts.

Card values: 7 7, Queen 3, King 4, 10 10, Ace 11.

Setup

1. Deal 10 cards each. Both hands are played face up, so nothing is hidden.
2. The dealer goes first. The dealer decides first whether to foreplace and leads move 1. One player deals game 1 and the other deals game 2. In a 4-game match, the second dealer also deals game 3 and the first dealer deals game 4. The first dealer is picked at random, and on Play again the other player deals first.
3. Game 2 swaps the hands. Each player takes the 10 cards the other player was dealt in game 1, with no shuffle. In a 4-game match, game 3 is a fresh shuffle and game 4 swaps its hands the same way.

Play

1. Foreplacing. Before move 1, the dealer and then the other player may each set one card aside face up, or keep all 10. A foreplaced card is out of play for the game. If the dealer foreplaced, the other player may not foreplace a card of the same suit or the same rank.
2. A move is a lead and an answer. The leader plays any card. The other player must answer with a card of the led suit if they have one, any of them. With none, they must answer with a card of the led rank.
3. Winning a move. An answer in the led suit is won by the higher rank. An answer of the same rank is won by the higher suit. The winner leads the next move.
4. Mate. If the other player has no card of the led suit and none of the led rank, the lead is mate and the game ends at once.
5. The last move. A game is 10 moves, or 9 if both players foreplaced. If the last move is answered, the game is drawn.
6. One foreplacer. If only one player foreplaced, the game has a move 10 after move 9 is answered. The foreplacer plays the card they played on move 9 again, and the other player plays their last card. The winner of move 9 leads.
7. Forced cards play themselves. When you have only one card that can answer, or one card left to lead, it’s played for you after a short pause.

Scoring

A mate scores the mating card’s value times the number of the move, counting that move. An Ace on move 3 scores 11 × 3 = 33. Only the mating player scores, and a drawn game scores nothing.

Foreplacing bonus. A player who foreplaced multiplies their own mates by one more than the move number, so an Ace on move 3 scores 11 × 4 = 44.

Overmate. When only one player foreplaced and that player’s move-10 lead can’t be answered, it scores the value times 22, which is 10 + 1, doubled. A mate on move 10 by the other player scores the value times 10.

After the last game the higher total wins the match. Equal totals draw it.

Playing with your own deck

Take the Aces, 10s, Kings, Queens, and 7s from any pack. Lay both hands face up, and keep each player’s played cards in a row in front of them, one card a move, so you can count the moves for the score.

How this version differs

• Suits rank Clubs, Diamonds, Spades, Hearts from low to high, the order the hand is sorted in. The source ranks them Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, Clubs from low to high.
• In games 2 and 4 a player who foreplaced passes that card on with the rest: each player takes all 10 cards the other was dealt.
• If the dealer keeps all 10, the other player may foreplace any card.
• On move 10 with one foreplacer, the winner of move 9 leads.
• If the other player leads on move 10 and the foreplacer’s card can’t answer it, that’s a mate worth the value times 10, with no bonus and no doubling.
• Forced cards play themselves. This changes no rule and only saves taps.
• A match can be 2 games instead of 4: one deal, played once from each side.
• Equal totals after the last game draw the match.

Open the rules page