A few weeks ago I sort of randomly made up a new card game. I’ve play-tested it a little bit, and it seems to be pretty easy, quick, and fun. If you want to give it a try, let me know what you think!
Name: The Two Towers
Cards: 1 standard deck
Players: 2
Time: a few minutes
Goal: end up with the biggest stack (“tower”) of cards
Instructions:
- Deal half the deck to each player as a face-down draw pile.
- Each player draws a hand of 5 cards from their draw pile.
- Start a face up stack (the tower) in front of each player with another card from their draw pile.
- On each turn, you may EITHER play a card or draw a card.
- You may play a card on your own tower if it is the same rank or +/- 1 rank (aces wrap around).
- You may trade towers if you play the exact rank on your opponent’s tower.
- If there are no cards left in your draw deck, you may pass.
- Game ends when one player uses all their cards OR both players pass in a row.
- Any cards left in hand get added to opponent’s tower.
- Winner has largest tower in front of them.
- Tie breaker is the player who had the fewest cards left in hand (before adding them to opponent’s tower).
Possible variations:
- Include the jokers as wildcards. (They could take on a specific value when played, or they could match anything to anything else. Can’t use them to steal a tower.)
- Play with more decks and/or more people. (Make sure the cards are evenly divisible to everyone, perhaps adjusting with jokers.) Tower swaps would just be between two people at a time.
