Seriously, it’s a fun game, but it is not for the faint of heart.

Did you put this there:”

Not me Gov’.

That is a great example of Wikipedia gone nuts.

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Now the Jacks are the second and third ranking behind the Benny with a black jack overawing a red jack if a black suit is declared as trumps.

On reflection that could do with some clarification. When a red suit is trumps then the black jacks revert to their normal order of precedence within their suit. Similarly with a black suit is called as trumps then the red jacks revert to normal positions.

Wiki not good with the nuances of titles, the Royal British Navy indeed! British Royal Navy it should be. It may seem trivial but it grates just as having your ship called the Royal Ark when in an American port. I even had this follow me to England. I hopped off the squadron (Phantoms) Portsmouth to Yeovilton crew bus at Wiley in Wiltshire from to hitch up to Warminster to meet up with my lady friend. I was in uniform (in Army territory) but my uniform was like a magnet to an American visitor who wandered over with the words, ‘are you off the Royal Ark’. Turned out he had visited whilst we had been in Port Everglades (Lauderdale).

Also another service RN-FAA favourite a whist like card game using the top six cards of each suit of a pack of cards, plus one special. Now Wiki denotes that special was a Joker although in my experience it was the two of spades, known as the Benny, this the top trump no matter what suit is called into play.

This game is known as Euchre.

Now the Jacks are the second and third ranking behind the Benny with a black jack overawing a red jack if a black suit is declared as trumps. In the case of spades declared as trumps the descending order of cards is Two spades, Jack spades (right bower), Jack clubs (left bower), Ace spades then King spades to Nine spades in descending order. If clubs had been called then the black jacks would switch places of
rank, similarly with the red suits.

It is a very long time since I played either of these. Strategies can be surprisingly subtle. With Euchre uninitiated onlookers would watch with bemusement. Played this as a tournament when a group of us became snowed in in a bothy in the Cairngorms, we didn’t tend to hike with an Uckers board in our packs.

Other favourites were Canasta which is played with a special set of two packs, this game can, like Monopoly, take a long time to play out.

Another favourite (sailors travelling the world would buy a set whilst abroad) was Mahjong, a Chinese (not a favourite of Trump then – besides he would probably upend if loosing) tile based strategy game. Versions found for computer are not really like the real game. Like the games above Mahjong is fairly easy to learn but takes practice to master.

I agree about Cribbage, another one that mastery of can be subtle but worthwhile.

I agree it is great. I tended to leave off games like Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit because they are so common and I was thinking more of gifts to give people …. so special versions of traditional games or games someone might be less likely to have.

But Trivial Pursuits is still a good idea because there are so many versions of it.

Don’t forget the software. Chessmaster, in its latest version, might be a worthwhile adjunct to learning the game.

The game, that is.

Also — try Bears versus Babies, by the people behind Exploding Kittens.