Copyright
He had softly and silently vanished away
For the snark was a boojum, you see.
(Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark)
- Cards
- Thoroughly shuffle a 52-card pack and deal seven each. From high to low, cards rank AKQJ1098765432.
- Play
- At each trick you each choose a card from your hand and hold it face down on the table. When all are ready,
turn them face up.
If two or more play a card of the same suit, then whoever played the highest of that suit
(the 'Snark') captures all the others of that suit and adds them to their hand, including their own winning card.
If any cards remain, they will be of different suits. Whoever played the lowest of them
(the 'Boojum') captures all the others and adds them to their hand, including their own winning card.
If there is a tie for lowest, the second-lowest card wins, and so on. If the tie is unbreakable, each
of the tied players wins one of the other tied cards (not their own). Example:
If the cards played are
J
8
5
5
5,
the Jack takes the Eight and each other player wins one of the other two Fives.
- End and score
- Keep playing till one person has "softly and silently vanished away" by running out of cards. That player scores 10 points, and everyone else scores 1 point per card won.
- Game
- Play up to 31 points - or, indeed any other target score that may be agreed.
- P.S.
- You may recognised Snark as a gentler variant of Anarchy