The games

The trick-avoiding game. Pass three cards, then take as few hearts as you can, and never the queen of spades, unless you can take them all.

Bid exactly the tricks you will take, no more and no fewer, as the deals shrink from seven cards to one and grow back again.

The English trick game in two partnerships. No bidding, the last card dealt names the trump, and every trick over six scores a point.

The American partnership game where spades are always trump. Everyone bids the tricks they'll take, and a nil bid is worth a hundred, won or lost.

Italy's trump game on forty cards. Three in hand, draw after every trick, no need to follow suit, and the aces and threes are worth the most.

Italy's no-trump partnership game. Follow suit, the three is the highest card, and every ace is a point where the face cards are worth a third.

Portugal's game on forty cards. The last card dealt names the trump, the seven is the second-highest card, and sixty-one takes the deal.

The partnership game of India and Pakistan, also called Rang. One player names trumps from their first five cards, and a sweep of seven tricks is a court.

Bid for the right to play alone against the table, take the widow, name the trumps, and score the game's worth or lose twice it.

A German partnership game on a doubled deck. The two holding a queen of clubs are partners, and nobody says so until the play gives it away.

A Bavarian game on thirty-two cards. Call an ace and whoever holds it is your partner, though nobody knows who until it falls.

The partnership game of the American Midwest and Ontario. Twenty-four cards, five tricks a hand, and the two jacks of the trump color sit above the ace.

A French partnership game. A turned card offers the trump, the jack and nine of trumps outrank the ace, and the takers must not be outscored.

The partnership game of the Levant, played across the Arab world. Bid for how many tricks your side will take, and the last bidder standing names trumps.

A Wisconsin game grown from Schafkopf. Pick up the widow, call an ace you lack, and play the hand with whoever turns out to hold it.

A bidding game grown out of Euchre. Bid the tricks your side will take, pick up the kitty, and play to five hundred.

A Korean game of the secret friend. Bid for the card points, take the spare cards, name a card, and play beside whoever turns out to hold it.

The Midwest's partnership game, grown from England's All Fours. Bid for the points your side will take, lead a card to set trumps, and play to twenty-one.

Draw a card, throw a card, build sets and runs, and knock the moment your unmatched cards add up to ten or less. Or wait, and go gin.

The rummy of Germany and Austria, on two decks and their jokers. Build sets and runs, open with forty on the table, and empty your hand first.

Put sets and runs on the table, where every card you meld scores for you. Reach deep into the pile for the card you need. Once someone passes five hundred, the highest total wins.

Seven deals, each with a harder contract of groups and runs to lay down before anything else. Cards left in your hand count against you, and the lowest total wins.

The partnership rummy from Uruguay. Build melds of one rank with your partner, grow them into canastas, and take the whole pile when you can use its top card.

Match the top card by rank or suit, play an eight to change the suit, and be the first out. Every family plays it a little differently.

Six cards, two thrown to the crib, then a shared count to thirty-one and a second count of each hand against the start card. Fifteens, pairs and runs score.

Four cards and three swap rounds. The lowest hand with four different ranks and four different suits takes the pool, and aces count low.

Five cards and three swap rounds. The lowest hand takes the pool, a run or five of one suit counts against you, and the ace is always high.

Five cards and three swap rounds. The lowest hand takes the pool; runs and suits don't count against you, and the ace is low.

Five cards and one swap round, and the highest hand takes the pool.

Badugi and A-5 lowball in one. Five cards, three swap rounds, and the pool splits between the two counts.

Badugi and 2-7 lowball in one. Five cards, three swap rounds, the pool splits between the two counts, and aces are high in both.

Five cards, one swap, and no ceiling on an offer. The lowest hand takes the pool, aces are high, and runs count against you.

Five cards, a shared middle and one swap. The pool splits between your five alone and two of yours with three from the middle. Swap one card and it shows.

Five cards, a shared middle and one swap. The pool splits between your five alone and the Omaha reading of two with three.

Seven cards each, four of them face up for the table to see. The lowest five-card hand takes the pool, and aces count low.

Seven cards each, four dealt face up. The highest five-card hand takes the pool, and the open cards tell you plenty as you go.

Seven Card Stud where the pool splits between the highest hand and the lowest qualifying hand. One hand can take both halves.

Two cards of your own and five shared in the middle, turned three, one and one. The best five of the seven takes the pool.

Four cards of your own and five shared. Your hand is exactly two of yours and exactly three from the middle, no more and no fewer.

Omaha with the pool split in two: half to the highest hand and half to the lowest hand of five different cards, all eight or under.

Omaha with a fifth card in hand. Still exactly two of yours and three from the middle, but chosen from ten pairings instead of six.

Omaha with six cards in hand and fifteen pairings to choose from, so made hands run big.

Five-card Omaha with the pool split between the highest hand and a low of five different cards, eight or under. One hand can win both.

Hold'em with three cards in hand and one to throw away. When you throw it (before the offers, after the first three shared cards, or never) decides how it plays.

Hold'em with the twos to fives removed. Big hands come often, a flush beats a full house, and A-6-7-8-9 counts as a run.

Seven cards, three rounds of passing cards to your neighbors, cut to five, then turned over one at a time with offers after each. Also called pass the trash.

Five cards, then turns of drawing one and throwing one, from the unseen stock or the face-up pile. Knock when you like your hand. The knocker pays or is paid.

One hand more than there are players, face down in the middle. Take it whole, sight unseen, or wait: once somebody takes it, or the first time around is over, it lies face up for all.

Two cards and one call, in or out. The best hand in takes the pool, every other player who stayed refills it, and if nobody is in it carries over.

Four cards each and one face up in the middle that belongs to everyone, wild along with every card of its rank. One swap, two rounds of offers.

Seven cards, some dealt face up for all to see, with every queen wild and the rank dealt face up right after a queen wild too, until another queen shows.

Thirteen cards, sorted into three hands of three, five and five, strongest at the back. Every player settles with every other, row by row.

Chinese Poker played one card at a time, face up, and once a card is placed it never moves. Rows out of order score nothing. Big hands earn extra.