Chimera

This is a rarity. A game designed for 3 players that overcomes one of the main stumbling blocks for 3 player games-one player vs. 2 that leads to 1 being beat up the whole game or running away with the game. The game mechanisms deal with this problem. The game will be played at least 4 hands and usually 6 or 7 or occasionally longer. the play is as follows: Shuffle the deck and 1 of the players who is not the dealer(choose your own method of selection) cuts the deck and then flips the top card from the lower half face up and places it on top of the top 1/2 of the deck and then places bottom half on top 1/2 of deck. Then deal top 3 cards from deck into a pile face down and set them aside. This is the “Chimera’s Nest”. Deal out all remaining cards into 3 piles 1 for each player. After looking at your cards you can bid 20, 30 or 40 or pass. Passing does not eliminate your chance to bid on future rounds. If the bidding passes all players twice the cards are turned in and re-dealt. On this second round of bidding if everyone passes the dealer has to then make a mandatory 20 bid. The bid winner adds the “nest” cards to his hand and plays first. The object of the hand is to be the first person to get rid of all of his cards. If the player who made the bid goes out first he gets double his bid plus points for all 2s and 11s captured as well as certain special bonus points. If he doesn’t go out first he gets negative points for his bid but still gets 2s and 11s. There is a reference card for each player on what are legal plays and you must follow the type of trick played with a higher trick of that type. There are also traps-which are 4 of a kind are playing the 2 special cards in the deck together. The other 2 players win the round if one of them goes out first(doesn’t matter who) and both get 20 points for “setting” the bid winner and points for the 2s and 11s they capture, but none for the traps played.