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A Warm Welcome

Welcome, fellow gamester! This is another of my compendiums on public domain games. The entire purpose of this document is to collect as many games that seem interesting to me and I can record in a single place. As such, it is an ever evolving document.

Most of these games do have optional betting or drinking rules. The exact mechanisms for betting is mostly outside the scope of this document, but any sort of mechanism agreed upon by players may be used. A few words of caution! Some people have addiction conditions and may feel inclined to drink or bet too much, including their houses. As such, I do not encourage using these rules with these individuals. If drinking rules are used, provide something non-alcoholic. If betting rules are used, provide something like candy or potato chips.

The layout of this document is split up into several sections that are based on the type of game. The document is alphabetized both by section and by each game in the corresponding section.

Note on Cribbage Boards

It’s possible that some games may require keeping scores. Either inside games or between the games or both. There are wonderful ways of going about this. However, I recommend cribbage boards. It’s their purpose when used with the old English game of Cribbage! Plus, doing so gives the play a more English Renaissance feel.

Converting Between Tarot Decks

Before going into the rules, it is worth mentioning there might be some issues with different tarot decks and their suits. This section discusses how to convert understanding between each suit and their associated decks with the French suits.

German-Suited

Acorns are equivalent to Clubs
Bells are equivalent to Diamonds
Hearts are equivalent to Hearts
Leaves are equivalent to Spades

Italian-Suited

Baton/Staves are equivalent to Clubs
Cups are equivalent to Hearts
Coins are equivalent to Diamonds
Swords are equivalent to Spades

Universal Waite

Cups are equivalent to Hearts
Pentacles are equivalent to Diamonds
Swords are equivalent to Spades
Wands are equivalent to Clubs
The Major Arcana makes up the atouts and the Minor Arcana is everything else.

Credits

Games are meant to be played. As such, most of these games were played by myself and either my wife, Nina, or our kids, Henry and Olivia.