SWOOP
Decks: 1+ → remove jokers
Players: 2 - infinity
You need enough decks for players to be dealt 19 cards each - you do the math. Generally 1 deck per 2 people
Two ways to deal:
Either designate a dealer to shuffle the cards and deal clockwise - isn't a big deal if it's 1-2 decks. But if the group can't seem to count higher than 30, then a better option would be to shuffle the cards using the washing technique (acting like a 3 year old and mixing them around on the table) and allowing each player to randomly draw their 19 cards from the pile.
Once each player has 19 cards →
Place 4 cards face down,
4 cards face up on top,
Hold the remaining 11 in your hand.
DO NOT look at the face down cards. Correct practice is to not look at any cards until you have placed the face down and face up cards blindly then looking at your remaining 11 cards.
The Play
Starting to the left of the dealer - or with the youngest person at the table if washing technique is used - the first player can throw any number they want. If they have duplicates of that number, they can throw as many of them as they have.
The following player will then go and needs to play a number equal to or lesser in value. If a player cannot produce an equal or lesser card, then that player must pick up the entire stack of cards.
On your turn, you can play either the face up cards or the cards in your hand. Once a face up card has been played, the face down card is now available to be played. If a played decides to play their face down card, they must play it blind. Meaning you are hoping its equal or less than the previous card.
The winner of the game is the first person to run out of cards.
Everyone else who still has cards in their hand will add up the points of those cards. You can determine a pre-set number of rounds to play and the player with the lowest score at the end wins.
Nuances:
K is high, A is low.
If 4 cards of the same number are played subsequently, the deck isbe SWOOPED. And whoever plays the 4th+ card and swoops, gets to play again.
More than 4 cards can be played of the same number if there is more than 1 deck.
Wild cards are 2’s and 10’s. They can be played atop any number of card.
10’s automatically swoop the deck, and the person playing the 10 gets to play again.
2’s are more of a reset. They can be played on anything and anything can be played on top of them.
Scoring:
Face cards are worth 10 points,
Aces are worth 1 point
2’s are worth 25 points
10’s are worth 50 points,
Every other card is worth its number.
The goal of the game is to have as few points as possible. Whenever someone goes out, the remaining cards in each player's hand are added up to determine the score that round.