Matt N
CF Legend
Hi guys. For the last week or so, I’ve been on holiday, and one thing my family and I have been doing on our evenings is playing cards. Now I’ll admit I’m not exactly a card aficionado, but I have to say that I’ve been thoroughly enjoying our games! With this in mind, I’d be interested to know; what is your favourite card game?
For me, I have to admit it’s currently Contract Wist. I’ll admit I’ve currently mainly stuck to the Wist genre, and have not delved into any of the games with fancier moves or anything that involves playing for money, but I definitely find Contract Wist more interesting than Knockout Wist, personally!
For anyone not familiar with the rules of Contract Wist; instead of trying to win everything like in Knockout Wist, you declare beforehand how many tricks you think you will win and try to win that exact number of tricks (no more, no less). If you win that exact number of tricks, you “come up” and gain an additional 10 points that can be added on top of the number of tricks you won.
The thing I like about it is that unlike Knockout, you can work with any hand you’re dealt and can still do really well. Regardless of whether you have a hand full of trumps and picture cards or a hand full of 2s and 3s in a non-trump suit, you can still come up and win provided you make the right call! I love the strategy involved in it; you have to properly think about whether your cards are likely to win, and it’s almost as fun to try and intentionally lose as it is to win! I would caveat, though, by saying that I don’t like blind calling nearly as much; calling blind does introduce a unique element of carnage to the game, but it does lack the strategy involved in non-blind calling.
But I’d be really interested to know; what is your favourite card game?
For me, I have to admit it’s currently Contract Wist. I’ll admit I’ve currently mainly stuck to the Wist genre, and have not delved into any of the games with fancier moves or anything that involves playing for money, but I definitely find Contract Wist more interesting than Knockout Wist, personally!
For anyone not familiar with the rules of Contract Wist; instead of trying to win everything like in Knockout Wist, you declare beforehand how many tricks you think you will win and try to win that exact number of tricks (no more, no less). If you win that exact number of tricks, you “come up” and gain an additional 10 points that can be added on top of the number of tricks you won.
The thing I like about it is that unlike Knockout, you can work with any hand you’re dealt and can still do really well. Regardless of whether you have a hand full of trumps and picture cards or a hand full of 2s and 3s in a non-trump suit, you can still come up and win provided you make the right call! I love the strategy involved in it; you have to properly think about whether your cards are likely to win, and it’s almost as fun to try and intentionally lose as it is to win! I would caveat, though, by saying that I don’t like blind calling nearly as much; calling blind does introduce a unique element of carnage to the game, but it does lack the strategy involved in non-blind calling.
But I’d be really interested to know; what is your favourite card game?
