The other pages provide various details, and are not required for beginners:
§A1 Introduction. Countless games have been devised for use with playing cards, with many of them being members of the Rummy family. This report introduces yet another Rummy game, named Chattahoochee ("Hooch") for the North American river in whose valley the inventor's home lies.
Chattahoochee, although definitely a member of the Rummy family, exhibits a number of features unusual for Rummy games. Everything is described below.
§A2. Cards. This description of the game assumes French-suited playing cards, a style familiar throughout much of the world.
There are 52 cards in a pack, divided into 4 suits, each with a special symbol:
Simpler typographical equivalents are ♧ ♤ ♡ ♢ and ♣ ♠ ♥ ♦. The exact appearance will vary depending on whatever fonts are installed on the user's computer.
Throughout the text, the heart and diamond pips, along with the ranks of cards in those suits, will generally be rendered in red; this is unsurprising. On the other hand, clubs and spades will generally be displayed not in the expected black but rather in green, an arbitrary color chosen to distinguish the suit and rank symbols from surrounding text. Hence ♥Q ♦9 ♣3 ♠A.
Each suit contains 13 cards, each a different rank:
Ace 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Jack Queen King
The usual abbreviations are A = Ace, T = 10, J = Jack, Q = Queen, K = King.
No Jokers or other wild cards are required.
When more than three people play, multiple packs (totaling 104 or 156 cards) are likely to be employed.
The rank of cards is circular, meaning that there is no highest rank, or lowest:
… J Q K A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T J Q K A 2 3 4 …
There is no hierarchy among the suits; all of them work equivalently but separately.
§A3 Melds. As in all Rummies, a focus in Chattahoochee is in the forming of melds. In this game, the only melds are cards, all of one suit, in sequence by consecutive rank.
In the following aspects of melding, Chattahoochee differs from the bulk of Rummy games:
These are the point values of melds, which are independent of suit:
| number of cards |
point value |
which equals |
number of cards |
point value |
which equals |
number of cards |
point value |
which equals |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | — | 7 | 28 | 21 + 7 | 13 | 91 | 78 + 13 | ||
| 2 | 3 | 1 + 2 | 8 | 36 | 28 + 8 | 14 | 105 | 91 + 14 | ||
| 3 | 6 | 3 + 3 | 9 | 45 | 36 + 9 | 15 | 120 | 105 + 15 | ||
| 4 | 10 | 6 + 4 | 10 | 55 | 45 + 10 | 16 | 136 | 120 + 16 | ||
| 5 | 15 | 10 + 5 | 11 | 66 | 55 + 11 | 17 | 153 | 136 + 17 | ||
| 6 | 21 | 15 + 6 | 12 | 78 | 66 + 12 | n | n × (n + 1) ÷ 2 | |||
Examples of melds:
With a single pack (52 cards total), a meld of 13 cards is possible, but would be rare. With a double pack (104 cards), a meld of 26 cards is possible, but would be miraculous.
The high point values (described equally well as triangular or quadratic) for longer melds means that players will strive to make melds as long as possible. A short meld might turn out to be little more than a repository for leftover cards. This scheme corresponds in a rough way to the substantial bonuses awarded in Canasta for melds containing at least seven cards, but in Chattahoochee the point values grow gradually.
It is customary in Rummies that when the cards of a meld are laid on the table, they are physically arranged in left-to-right ascending order (♦6789), not descending (♦9876), and certainly not random (♦7698). They overlap, leaving at least the index of every card visible.
§A4 Procedure (non-partnership game). To provide a concrete example, a five-player game with two packs (104 cards) is assumed. Listed clockwise, the players are Amber, Betty, Cindy, Diana, and Ellie. Ellie is the dealer, and play proceeds to the left, so that Amber is eldest hand, and plays first. Amber is followed by Betty, Cindy, Diana, and Ellie in that order. Then Amber plays again, and they cycle around many times.
§A4a. Any player may shuffle the cards. When multiple packs are used, it is likely that players will divide it so that several players can be riffling portions of the pack simultaneously. After the portions are combined, any player except the dealer may cut the pack.
Deal seven cards to each player. The remaining cards are placed in a face-down stack in the center of the table to form the stock. At first, the stock in this example will have 69 (104 − 5 × 7) cards.
As the game progresses, a discard pile will be formed, with face-up cards, slightly spread so that every player can see every card. The discard pile will be adjacent to the stock.
§A4b. Each player begins her turn by drawing two cards in her choice of these ways:
Late in the game, if the stock is empty and the discard pile has only one card, or vice versa, she draws that one card. If the stock and discard pile are both empty, she draws nothing. Either way, her turn and the game continue normally.
The player adds the drawn cards to her hand. Until late in the game, the size of a player's hand will increase by one card per turn.
§A4c. Having drawn (if possible), the player now has a choice:
Either way, the next player will take a turn.
When a player goes out, she lays all her cards face up on the table, arranging them into whatever meld(s) she believes will give her the highest score. She does not add a card to the discard pile. The game is paused while she sums the point values of all the individual melds, and then multiplies that total by the number of opponents who have not yet gone out. That product is her score for the game. The melded cards remain face up on the table, for all to see, until the end of the game.
A player who has gone out is said to be retired. Until that time, she is active.
Here is an example of how the multipliers would work in this five-player game:
When only one player remains, as in Diana's case, the game ends immediately.
Scores can be recorded with pencil and paper, or with an electronic device.
§A5 Procedure (partnership game). This is broadly similar to the non-partnership version above, and players should learn that first. The most common arrangement will likely be two partnerships of two players each; but also possible are two partnerships of three players each, or three partnerships of two players — or even larger numbers.
The score for a partnership is the sum of the its members' individual scores.
§A5a. The outstanding difference in the partnership version is the delegated discard. When discarding, the current player has a choice:
Either way, the number of cards in the delegatee's hand does not change.
The purpose of delegation is to provide genuine interaction between partners. It is possible that conventions, similar to those in Bridge, might be developed for passing various kinds of information.
If a player has two partners, she can delegate to the one she prefers. That partner can either discard, or redelegate to the other partner, who will ultimately discard.
A player who has gone out cannot receive a delegated discard, because she is completely inactive.
Delegating a discard does not affect which player is next to take a turn. Detailed example: There are six players in two partnerships of three players each. The players are Amber, Betty, Cindy, Diana, Ellie, and Flora, with partners sitting alternately around the table. After Amber takes her turn, the next player will be Betty. This applies whether Amber discards; or Amber delegates to Cindy, who discards; or Amber delegates to Cindy, who redelegates to Ellie, who discards.
§A5b. A meld belongs to the player who started it, and it is placed on the table immediately in front of her. Melds are not joint property of the partners. Cards may not be moved from one player's meld to another player's.
The question of which partner owns a meld becomes important when a player goes out, because a multiplier is used to calculate her score, and two partners might end up with different multipliers.
§A5c. When a player goes out, her multiplier is the number of opposing players who are still active (detailed examples). Her partner, who of course does not count as an opponent, continues play if she has not already gone out.
Play ends when all remaining players are members of the same partnership. This is because if one of them were to try to go out, there would be no opposing players left, forcing her multiplier to be zero.
When the number of players is not convenient for a conventional partnership, players might want to try an unbalanced arrangement.
§A6a. Although a player cannot know exactly what cards an opponent holds, some indication can be gleaned by remembering what cards the opponent has taken from the discard pile, and what cards the opponent has discarded. This applies to many members of the Rummy family.
As a result, a skillful player, knowing that others are watching, will sometimes draw useless cards, or discard useful ones, in order to baffle opponents.
§A6b. A player can choose to go out whenever it is her turn. But when is it a good idea?
Except in the latter part of the game, the size of her hand will be increasing by one card every time she takes a turn. Growth of the hand increases the chance that she can form the long melds that earn many points, so this encourages her to wait before going out. On the other hand, the longer she waits, the greater the chance that some other player will go out first, thus reducing her multiplier and ultimate score.
Here is a suggested rule of thumb. Divide the number of cards in the pack by the number of players to form a quotient. In this example, 104 ÷ 5 = 20.8. When the number of cards in a player's hand is about three-quarters of the quotient (around 16 or 17 in this example), it is probably about time to go out.
§A6c. When calculating your score, separate your cards by suit. Then within each suit, form the longest possible meld; then the longest possible meld using the remaining cards, as so forth.
Example: Suppose you hold ♣456677889T. First form ♣456789T (28 points), and after that form ♣678 (6 points), totaling 34 points. Less desirable is to form ♣45678 and ♣6789T, which, being 15 points each, total only 30 points.
But if you play with some of the variations below, this advice may not apply.
§A6d. The player who goes out first might not end up with the highest score. Example:
§A6e. In many varieties of Rummy, the discard pile can grow large as the game progresses. In some of them is a procedure by which a player, under specific circumstances, can take a large part (or all) of the discard pile. She then adds the cards to her hand, greatly increasing its size and her opportunity to form melds. This is most common in Rummies where the principal object is to earn points rather than to go out quickly.
Although Chattahoochee does not have this feature, players can draw two cards from the discard pile in any turn. Since they discard only one, the discard pile will not often grow large. In any case, when the stock runs out, the discard pile will necessarily shrink.
§A6f. Among Rummies, Chattahoochee is extraordinary in these regards:
The last of these is especially significant. Most Rummy games end when one player goes out, but to do so a player must fulfill a requirement pertaining to melds or deadwood. Sometimes, however, no player ever meets that requirement, and the game eventually reaches a point of stagnation; this is often about the time that the stock is exhausted. For that situation, the game needs a special termination rule, which varies from game to game, but which (in the opinion of the present author) is invariably unsatisfactory.
Chattahoochee differs on this matter, because any player may meld in any turn. If any player feels that continuing the game would be a waste of time, that player can go out. Other players, however, are free to continue if they see fit. No consensus is required.
|
— Intermission one. —
Everything you must know to play the game appears above. But you might enjoy reading what appears below. |
§B1 Alternate version (non-partnership game). A characteristic of Chattahoochee as described in §A1-A6 is that a player melds only once, and that is when going out. The variant in this section allows a player to meld in any turn, but limits how much melding a player can do in one turn.
An unusual feature is that there is no discard pile. Instead, a player discards by placing one card face down at the bottom of the stock. This requires that the player lift the stock slightly to make room for the discard. As a result of this "last-in-last-out" mechanism, the discard is not immediately available for an opponent to draw, although it will be in the queue to surface at a future point in the game. This rule addresses a dissatisfying situation that arises in some Rummies, where a player can discard a card that is promptly drawn by her left-hand opponent and immediately melded.
§B1a. In her turn, a player:
Within one turn, a player who chooses to meld does only one of these:
A player can never add a card to an opponent's meld.
Players will usually meld several times throughout the game, giving opponents some clue as to their plans and progress. This compensates for the loss of information from the absence of the original Chattahoochee's discard pile with its face-up cards.
A player can go out concealed by melding only once, when going out. For this to be possible, all her cards must form one long meld. A player who goes out concealed deserves a bonus, such as an extra multiplier.
§B1b. Here is an example of meld merger. In previous turns a player has melded ♦TJQKA (15 points) and ♦2345 (10 points). In her current turn, she can merge them to form ♦TJQKA2345 (45 points). This kind of situation could arise if, much earlier in the game, she had melded ♦TJQ and ♦345 separately, and afterwards obtained the cards needed to fill the gap.
§B1c. A player might have two overlapping melds in the same suit, such as ♥34567 (15 points) and ♥6789JQ (21 points), totaling 36 points. She cannot rearrange them into ♥3456789JQ (45 points) and ♥67 (3 points), totaling 48 points.
However, ranks are cyclical. If the obtains ♥K, ♥A, and ♥2, she can extend ♥6789JQ into ♥6789JQKA2 which now abuts ♥34567. When merged, they will form ♥6789JQKA234567 (120 points).
§B1d. If a player has only one card in her hand at the beginning of her turn, and the stock is empty, and the discard pile is empty, she must meld that card, going out.
Rationale: If she were to discard that card instead of melding it, she would be left with zero cards in her hand while not yet having gone out. Not apparent is any simple rule that could be devised to handle that situation.
§B2 Alternate version (partnership game). There are few surprises here.
A player who chooses to meld may do only one of these:
It is not possible to merge the melds of two partners, nor to move any card from one partner's meld to the other partner's. This reflects the policy that neither a meld nor part of a meld can ever change ownership.
|
— Intermission two. —
Variations and other information follow. |
§C1 Wild cards. Chattahoochee can employ wild cards, symbolized "w". The Joker is an obvious choice for this role. Any card that is not wild is termed natural. The introduction of wild cards into a Rummy often gives rise to subtle questions about exactly what the rules will be. The next paragraph gives an example.
In card games, there is a common practice of declaring an entire rank of otherwise-natural cards as wild — but this means that decisions have to be made. For instance, if fives are wild, do fours and sixes become consecutive for building sequences, making ♣234678 a valid six-card meld? Or can a five also serve as a natural five when desired, making ♣2345678 a valid seven-card meld? Particular attention is required if some, but not all, cards of a rank are deemed wild, as this famous combination of one-eyed Jacks:
🂫 🂻
A wild card does not represent any particular natural card until incorporated into a meld. Every meld should contain at least one instance of two consecutive natural cards, in order to prevent ambiguity and reduce confusion. For instance, wwww♥23www has no interpretation other than ♥JQKA23456.
Author's opinion: Some games, many of them proprietary, are overloaded with wild cards in order to "increase excitement", which is a euphemism for "decrease strategy, tactics, and intelligent play in general". Wildness is best in moderation.
§C1a. If a wild card is allowed to be used to represent any natural card in any meld (is unrestricted), it should not be counted when determining the size of a meld. In that case, appending a wild card to either end of a meld, although permitted, is not score-increasing. For example, each of the following is worth 10 points:
In contrast, melding a wild card between natural cards is helpful. For example, ♣56w♣89 (10 points) without the wild card would deteriorate into two short melds, ♣56 and ♣89, totaling 6 points.
§C1b. If wild cards are to be restricted in one way or another, no general advice can be given. Some possibilities are be found throughout the vast Canasta family, where there are, for instance, limitations on use of the discard pile when it contains a wild card. Another place to get ideas is in a non-Rummy family of games, Poker.
Some Chattahoochee players may like this:
§C1c. Whatever scoring schedule the players choose, these policies are recommended:
§C1d. Under certain circumstances, a player may, in her turn, filch a wild card from a meld, by substituting for it the appropriate natural card from her own hand. Example:
Rules:
As always, a player's score is calculated promptly when she goes out. If any cards of her melds are subsequently filched, her score is not affected.
A player can filch multiple times in one turn. If she is also melding, filching can be before or after.
§C2a. Many European packs of playing cards have only 12, 10, 9, or 8 ranks; and their four suits bear symbols other than clubs-spades-hearts-diamonds. Also available are the proprietary game Rook with four suits and 14 ranks; and the proprietary game Five Crowns with five suits and 11 ranks. Beyond that is the "Australian" 500 pack, with 15 ranks in clubs and spades; 16 in hearts and diamonds. With the obvious adaptations, Chattahoochee can be played using any of these packs.
A Pinochle pack, with four suits but only 6 ranks, each card appearing twice, would require considerable reworking of the rules to result in a well-proportioned game. A pack of Flinch (formerly described on Wikipedia) cards offers little hope, because there are 15 ranks but only one suit.
§C2b. Tarot cards can be used for Chattahoochee. Although Tarots are often employed for divination, an earlier (and continuing) use is for trick-taking card games. Scarcely, however, have they appeared in games of the Rummy and Poker families.
Tarot packs come in many sizes, but the best-known contains 78 cards:
Ace 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Jack Cavalier Queen King.
The usual abbreviations are A = Ace, T = 10, J = Jack, C = Cavalier, Q = Queen, K = King. The rank of cards is circular:
… T J C Q K A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T J C Q K A 2 …
This report terms the group of 4 × 14 = 56 cards minors, from the divinatory term Minor Arcana. The 22 trumps are then named majors, from Major Arcana.
An obvious way to use the majors in Chattahoochee is to make sequences in the same manner as with the French pack, allowing a sequence of maximally 22 cards if one pack is used, and 44 with two packs (156 cards).
§C2c. Here is one of many possible ways to use the majors as wild cards. Majors I through XXI are restricted wild cards, but XXII is unrestricted. This system is based on modular numbers with a modulus of seven. It helps to regard J = 11, C = 12 Q = 13, K = 14.
Within each row of the table below, any of the first 21 majors can replace a minor of either rank:
| majors | minors | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | VIII | XV | A | 8 |
| II | VIIII | XVI | 2 | 9 |
| III | X | XVII | 3 | T |
| IIII | XI | XVIII | 4 | J |
| V | XII | XVIIII | 5 | C |
| VI | XIII | XX | 6 | Q |
| VII | XIIII | XXI | 7 | K |
| (XXII is unrestricted.) | ||||
For example, XIII can replace a six or queen of any suit.
§C3 Leap sequences. Allow the leap sequences of a related game. If the number of ranks is a mathematical prime such as 13, the leaps are straightforward to figure; if not prime, it becomes a little more complicated. It helps to regard J = 11, Q = 12 K = 13.
With thirteen ranks, these are the sequences:
| thirteen ranks | |
|---|---|
| leap-1 | … J Q K A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T J Q K A 2 3 4 … |
| leap-2 | … 8 T Q A 3 5 7 9 J K 2 4 6 8 T Q A 3 5 7 … |
| leap-3 | … 5 8 J A 4 7 T K 3 6 9 Q 2 5 8 J A 4 7 T … |
| leap-4 | … 5 9 K A 5 9 K 4 8 Q 3 7 J 2 6 T A 5 9 K … |
| leap-5 | … Q 4 9 A 6 J 3 8 K 5 T 2 7 Q 4 9 A 6 J 3 … |
| leap-6 | … 9 2 8 A 7 K 6 Q 5 J 4 T 3 9 2 8 A 7 K 6 … |
Because 6 + 7 = 13, a leap-7 sequence would be the same as a leap-6 in reverse, so the two are not distinguished; similarly for leap-8 and leap-5, et cetera. Also, there is no leap-0 or leap-13 sequence, which would contain cards all of the same rank.
If the number of ranks is not prime, there can be multiple sequences of the same leap, but out of phase with one another. Example:
| twelve ranks, omit king | |
| leap-1 | … T J Q A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T J Q A 2 3 4 … |
|---|---|
| leap-2 | … A 3 5 7 9 J A 3 5 7 9 J … |
| … 2 4 6 8 T Q 2 4 6 8 T Q … | |
| leap-3 | … A 4 7 T A 4 7 T … |
| … 2 5 8 J 2 5 8 J … | |
| … 3 6 9 Q 3 6 9 Q … | |
| leap-4 | … A 5 9 A 5 9 … |
| … 2 6 T 2 6 T … | |
| … 3 7 J 3 7 J … | |
| … 4 8 Q 4 8 Q … | |
| leap-5 | … T 3 8 A 6 J 4 9 2 7 Q 5 T 3 8 A 6 J 4 … |
| leap-6 | … A 7 A 7 … |
| … 2 8 2 8 … | |
| … 3 9 3 9 … | |
| … 4 T 4 T … | |
| … 5 J 5 J … | |
| … 6 Q 6 Q … | |
If wild cards are used, it is essential that every meld contain at least one instance of two natural cards in adjacent positions, although their ranks might not be consecutive. Examples with twelve ranks:
§C4 Miscellaneous variations. Players can and will change Chattahoochee's rules to their liking. Here are possibilities:
§C4a. Deal more than seven cards. For a more deliberate game, deal fewer cards — even zero.
§C4b. Allow sequences in alternating suits:
Going further, prohibit the single-suit meld, so that all melds must alternate between two suits. Experienced players might want to try scoring for interlocking melds.
The following applies to the version of §B1-B2, where a player can meld in any turn. Observe that ♥5♦6♥7 and ♥8♦9♥T are legal alternating melds when considered separately; but they cannot be merged because the seven and eight are of the same suit. On the other hand, ♥5♦6♥7 can be merged with ♦8♥9♦T.
§C4c. Award a bonus if a player's melds include four cards of the same rank, in four different suits, such as ♣Q♠Q♥Q♦Q. This is not categorized as a meld; it is merely extra points. A quartet should not be recognized if it contains any wild cards; otherwise it would be too easy to form. With multiple packs the double quartet becomes possible, such as ♣44♠44♥44♦44. This bonus should, of course, be increased by the multiplier.
Award points for a meld consisting of nothing but wild cards. Because each wild card would not represent any particular natural card, this meld cannot be filched from.
§C4d. This applies to any version of the game where the discard pile is face up. Instead of having one discard pile, have:
The first two can help players form long melds. The last provides an avenue for strategy or tactics, but opponents will of course be watching.
§C4e. Here are some alternative schedules for assigning point values to melds:
| number of cards | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | n | growth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| point value |
no zeroes (original) | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 21 | 28 | 36 | 45 | 55 | 66 | 78 | n × (n + 1) ÷ 2 | quadratic |
| one zero | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 21 | 28 | 36 | 45 | 55 | 66 | (n − 1) × n ÷ 2 | ||
| two zeroes | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 21 | 28 | 36 | 45 | 55 | (n − 2) × (n − 1) ÷ 2 | ||
| square | 1 | 4 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 36 | 49 | 64 | 81 | 100 | 121 | 144 | n × n | ||
| fibonacci | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 34 | 55 | 89 | 144 | 233 | (see below) | exponential |
In the fibonacci sequence, each term is the sum of the two previous. However, there is a direct formula. Define these:
Nearly all Rummies require a minimum of three cards to a meld. The "two zeroes" plan is a compromise to players who value that tradition: even though a one- or two-card meld is recognized, it scores zero. These small melds continue to be permitted as an aid in going out.
§C4f. This applies to the version of §B1-B2, where a player can meld in any turn. A player's first meld must contain at least five natural cards, with at most two wild cards. The requirement can be increased if the player has a large accumulated score from previous games. (Canasta has a similar rule.)
§C5a. Among European playing cards, there is a widely recognized one-to-one correspondence between the standard Spanish suits and the standard French suits. Spanish cards have a special feature, la pinta, which establishes a sequence of the suits. In the top and bottom of the border printed on each card, there are 3, 2, 1, or 0 gaps indicating the suit. Of course, Spanish cards still use conspicuous pips representing the suit.
There is also a one-to-one correspondence with the standard Italian, German, and Swiss suits, and the typical Tarot suits, so they too are shown in the chart below.
| Spanish | French suits |
Italian suits |
German suits |
Swiss suits |
typical Tarot suits |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| suits | la pinta gaps | |||||
| clubs-a | 3 | clubs-b | batons | acorns | acorns | wands |
| swords-a | 2 | spades | swords-a | leaves | roses | swords-b |
| cups-a | 1 | hearts | cups-a | hearts | shields | cups-b |
| coins-a | 0 | diamonds | coins-a | bells | bells | coins-b |
This Spanish tradition is one reason why this report lists suits in the sequence clubs-spades-hearts-diamonds, even though the sequence is not significant in the Chattahoochee rules.
Another precedent is that in Skat the top four permanent trumps are in the same order, being (high to low) ♣J♠J♥J♦J. Meanwhile, Sheepshead doubles it, with the top eight trumps being ♣Q♠Q♥Q♦Q♣J♠J♥J♦J. These permanent trumps are termed wenzels. Although the use of trumps is extensive in trick-taking games such as Skat and Bridge, trumps are rare in Rummies.
In the bidding of early forms of Auction Bridge, the ranking of the four suits was different from this, being (high to low) hearts-diamonds-clubs-spades. (This sequence survives in Five Hundred, which was invented about the time that this stage of Auction Bridge was in vogue.) In time, Auction Bridge developed into Royal Auction Bridge, allowing players to bid spades as either high (royal) or low. This extended the sequence of suits to royal spades-hearts-diamonds-clubs-(ordinary) spades. Spades indeed appeared on both ends, with royal spades also known as lilies. After further time, the low bidding value for spades was dropped, leaving royal spades as the only spades. The result was the sequence spades-hearts-diamonds-clubs of Contract Bridge today.
There are of course other possibilities of suit ranking.
Two suits of the Spanish and Italian packs are described as long, and they correspond to the black suits of the French pack. The other two Spanish and Italian suits, round, correspond to the red suits of the French pack. This table gives details:
| long suits | ↔ | black suits | round suits | ↔ | red suits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| batons, clubs | ↔ | clubs | cups | ↔ | hearts | |
| swords | ↔ | spades | coins | ↔ | diamonds |
The German and Swiss suits do not have any clear analogue to this pairing.
Many Japanese playing cards are derived from (so-called) Portugese playing cards, which themselves are firmly within the European tradition. Yet the Japanese cards' path of development, over several centuries, has been so circuitous that it is difficult to find much similarity between their modern form and their European roots.
§C5b. Throughout this report, the pips of clubs and spades are rendered in green. Many other colors would have been of equal practical effect, but green is pertinent because:
§C5c. Unicode has several ways to render the French suit symbols, and here is how to invoke them in HTML:
| pips are shown in their unaltered Unicode colors | |||||
| ♧ | ♧ | ♣ or ♣ | ♣ | ♣️ or ♣️ | ♣️ |
| ♤ | ♤ | ♠ or ♠ | ♠ | ♠️ or ♠️ | ♠️ |
| ♡ | ♡ | ♥ or ♥ | ♥ | ♥️ or ♥️ | ♥️ |
| ♢ | ♢ | ♦ or ♦ | ♦ | ♦️ or ♦️ | ♦️ |
| More information. | |||||
️ is a Unicode variation selector. Some characters display an alternate form when a variation selector is suffixed to their code.
Here is another rendering option, where FF0000 (red) can be changed to the color of your choice:
| source code: | <span style="color:#FF0000";> ♡ ♥ ♢ ♦ </span> | |
|---|---|---|
| result: | ♡ ♥ ♢ ♦ | |
| source code: | <span style="color:#FF0000";> 🂱 🃁 </span> | |
| result: | 🂱 🃁 | ← these playing card images, ♥A and ♦A, will need to be enlarged for most purposes |
Unicode does not yet offer systematic support for non-French suits such as acorns, swords, and cups.
§C5d. Unicode has hearts, but not other suits, in many colors:
| 💙 💙 | 🖤 🖤 | 🩵 🩵 |
| 💚 💚 | 🤍 🤍 | 🩶 🩶 |
| 💛 💛 | 🤎 🤎 | 🩷 🩷 |
| 💜 💜 | 🧡 🧡 | ❤️ ❤️ |
Unicode provides many shapes called diamonds, but most of them have equal width and height. By contrast, playing-card diamonds ordinarily have less width than height. This proportion is typically satisfied by the characters that Unicode calls lozenges, but fonts can vary:
| ◊ or ◊ | ◊ | ⬨ | ⬨ | ⬫ | ⬫ |
| ⧫ or ⧫ | ⧫ | ⬧ | ⬧ | ⬪ | ⬪ |
A hollow lozenge is sometimes called a mascle.
§C5e. Although Unicode provides special characters for Roman numerals, they are not used here for the ranks of Tarot majors, because according to The Unicode Standard:
"For most purposes, it is preferable to compose the Roman numerals from sequences of the appropriate Latin letters. However, the uppercase and lowercase variants of the Roman numerals through 12, plus L, C, D, and M, have been encoded for compatibility with East Asian standards."
This report therefore employs the plain text characters from the ASCII subset of Unicode:
| value | 1 | 5 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| plain text |
I I |
V V |
X X |
| special characters |
Ⅰ Ⅰ |
Ⅴ Ⅴ |
Ⅹ Ⅹ |
§C5f. Chattahoochee was motivated by a game that appears in one of David Parlett's books, namely the 2008 edition of "The Penguin Book of Card Games". Parlett titles the game "Continental Rummy", and it is a member of the Contract Rummy family.
Other sources use "Continental" for a somewhat different game, but such variation is to be expected. Most card games are folk games, and it is typical that their names and rules vary will from source to source. When there does happen to be an organization that claims to be promulgating "official" rules, players are never shy about brushing aside its dictates.
Parlett's Continental has two particular features that were the springboard for Chattahoochee: the only melds are sequences in suit (a rare feature); and a player melds only once, when going out (a common feature).