Teen Patti Variations

The game of teen pati has an ever-growing library of variations that make the game more interesting and entertaining. Once any one gets the hang of the game, then they can contribute by coming up with some innovative variations of their own. It becomes more fun if more people come up with thoughtful variations. Anybody reading this document who has a fair grasp of the game and has played at least a few sessions is encouraged to invent variations of their own and let us know about them. Many variations that seem good at first, on trial in an actual game are not as fun as they seemed and fizzle out. We have tried and tested many variations and this is the complete set of games that worked. Many of these variations are quite complex and require a fair amount of explanation. These variations are best understood by practical examples with a deck of cards in hand. So, it is challenging to attempt to explain these games in a text document. Nevertheless, I shall endeavor to do so. Here goes:

• Simple Royal (normally the first round of games of the session)

• Lowest game wins

• Discard One: Give 4 cards, players pick the best 3 and discard the 4th

• Imagine One: Give 2 cards instead of 3, players imagine whatever 3rd card they like that best completes their game

• Add up get joker: give 5 cards to everyone, open one card….any card/cards that add up to that number form a joker

• Highest card /lowest card joker: Give 4 cards to everyone, each person’s lowest card is their own personal joker

• Jokers in the middle: Give 3 cards to everyone, open 2 cards on the table…all numbers in between those 2 are jokers (e.g. if we open 3 and 7 then 4,5,6 are jokers)

• Jokers galore: Give 3 cards to everyone…all reds or all blacks are jokers

• AK47: Give 3 cards to everyone….Ace, King, 4 and 7 are jokers

• Skip-sequence: give 5 cards , a skip i.e. 2 cards with a gap of one ( e.g 3 and 5) or a sequence i.e. 2 consecutive cards ( e.g 3 and 4) form a joker…minimum one joker is required to play, and skip and sequence can each be used only once

• Pairs are Jokers: Give 7 cards to everyone, pairs are jokers….minimum one joker required to play..all pairs must be used as jokers

• Passing cards: give 3 cards to everyone, then 3 extra cards to the first player..each player passes 3 cards to the next till we reach the dealer who puts three back into the pack….then 3 jokers open

• Pack jack: 3 cards to everyone, 3 cards are open as jokers, whenever anyone packs their cards become the new 3 jokers

• Plus Sign: 2 varieties of this game:
o 3 cards to everyone, 5 cards arranged as a plus sign put out on the table…players can select jokers either from the vertical or the horizontal set of cards of the plus sign
o In this modified version, give 6 cards to everyone put out the plus sign as before…now for three rounds people will cover one of the open cards of the plus sign with one of their cards…then at the end of 3 rounds, everyone will have 3 cards and the final set of jokers of the plus sign will be what on the table…then normal game proceeds

• Joker Hunt : give 3 cards to everyone, then open on the table cards which are twice the number of players plus three…e.g. if there are 5 players, then open 5*2 + 3 = 13 cards on the table. Now the game has 2 rounds in which each player
either picks up one open card and discards one of his own into the pack or if he doesn’t want to pick any card, he just closes one card on the table i.e. turns it face down…….so, in each round 5 cards, one per player, will be closed or removed and after 2 such rounds we will be left with three cards open on the table..which will be the three jokers…then the game proceeds as normal…

• Closest to 555: give 3 cards to everyone, the best game is the one closest to 555 arranging the cards as digits (ace being 1 and picture cards being 0) ..closest can be either greater or lower than 555…for 2 rounds player can exchange one card of their game with a new one from the pack in order to improve their game by paying 2 counters for it…they have to first give up a card and then get a new card…after 2 rounds we have normal betting

• Rotating jokers: give each player 3 cards..in front of each player we have one open card and one closed card, the open card is that players private joker…normal game goes one…if any player packs his game, then the closed card in front of that player becomes a universal joker for everyone and the all the open jokers rotate in the direction of the deal…i.e. each player now gets the joker of the player before him

• Closest to 51: the goal of this game is to get closest to 51 without going over… (ala blackjack) initially 3 cards are dealt to each player….then in the beginning we have some rounds of buying cards…where each player pays two counters to buy additional cards to get as close as possible to 51..when all players are satisfied and want no more cards, then normal game proceeds
• Banko: this game proceeds turn-wise…each player plays separately. At the players turn, the dealer opens cards in front of him…and the player has to bet some amount based on how likely he thinks the next card will lie sequentially in between the 2 open cards ( for e.g 3 and 10..player has to bet how likely he thinks the next card will be in between 3 and 10) ….the minimum bet is always 1 counter…initially the maximum allowed bet is 1/4th the amount in the center..then after a player wins 1/4th, the next max is ½ and then full…game goes on till some player wins the full money

• Complete game with 2 open in the center: Give each player one card….then on the table open 4-5 sets of 2 cards side by side…the idea is that the players can match their card with any of the sets of open cards on the table to complete their game….so each player’s game is one card of their plus any one set of 2 cards from those opened on the table. Normal game proceeds with each player knowing in their head what their game is.

• Jokers open at 10, 20 30: Give 3 cards to everyone, keep 3 cards on the table face down….these are three jokers but are not shown in the beginning..the first one will open when the money on the table is 10, the 2nd one will open when the money is 20 and 3rd one when the money is 30.

• In-Out: This game is played in a number of different ways..the way we play it turn-wise…Each player puts 2 counters on the table…. The dealer gives each player 3 cards and opens 3 jokers on the table..then turn by turn each player says whether he is ‘in’ or ‘out’ meaning whether or not he thinks his game is good enough to play…If a player says out then his cards now are the new jokers replacing the previously opened jokers…then finally once everyone has their turn, if more than one player in ‘in’ then they compare games based on the final jokers and optionally one universal joker that remains stable i.e. is never replaced. The player with the highest game takes all the money in the kitty and the loser/losers have to pay that same amount in the center…the game continues till there is no money in the table, which can happen only when there is only one player who says ‘in’ and then he has to compete against a new ‘bank’ game removed fresh from the pack…If the only ‘in’ player wins against the bank then he collects all the money on the table and the game is over….if he loses then he puts that much in the center..while the game is going on, the dealer rotates as usual, so that everybody gets a fair chance to deal….When the money in the center gets too high, we usually put a limit on how much one has to pay on saying ‘in’ and losing..say max 30 or so…If player has to put 60 if he loses, then it becomes too much and nobody will be ‘in’
Alternatively, the game can be played not turn-wise, but with with a stable set of three jokers and everybody simultaneously says ‘in’ or ‘out’…this is done by everybody putting their hands out, and then on the count of 3, everyone simultaneously puts their thumbs either up or down indicating ‘in’ or ‘out’ respectively..in this game, optionally one could open an additional surprise joker after all players have made their choice.

• 3-2-1: In this game, each player gets 6 cards, and he has to arrange the cards into three separate games: the first game has three cards and is a normal royal game, the second game is of two cards and is just ‘imagine one’ and last game is one card and is highest card wins…After all players have arranged their cards, the game proceeds by betting first on the 3 card game, then on the 2 card game and finally on the 1 card game…the player who wins the 2 (or more) out of the three games, wins the overall ‘3-2-1’ and takes all the money…if there is a 3-way tie i.e. 3 different players win one game each, then ‘3-2-1 repeats with only these three players…the others are eliminated
Optionally, in this game one could have 2 jokers for the 3 cards game and 1 joker for the 2 card game…the jokers open only after each player has set his game i.e. decided how to split the 6 cards as 3, 2 and 1 card games

• 3-2-1-1: This game is almost identical to the above described 3-2-1, except for the last additional ‘1’ card game which is nothing but lowest card wins game

• 1-2-3 shopping : In this game each player initially gets three cards, and then there are 3 rounds of shopping. In the first round each player can pay 1 counter and for that he has to first discard one card and then gets a new card. In the second round, each player can pay 2 counters and then this time he first gets one car and then discards after seeing all four cards. In the third round of shopping, each player can pay 3 counters and gets 2 cards and then decides his best game based on that by discarding 2 cards and retaining 3 cards finally. The players need not participate in all or any of these rounds of shopping for new cards. After all three round are done, normal game proceeds. Optionally, a joker can be opened at the end of all 3 rounds of shopping to add a little twist at the end.

• Auction : In this game, each player gets 3 cards. On the table, there are two ‘games’ of 3 cards kept each with 2 cards closed and 1 card open…Now, the 2 cards open i.e. one from each game on the table are the jokers for everyone…those two ‘games’ are now open to auction where all players turn-wise bid some amount of money to buy the games from the table…both these game have atleast one joker, so if they are better than the player’s current game then they should consider bidding for the. Turn by turn each player makes some bid for the game currently on auction….the players may simply pass the bid if they do not want to buy the games..when both the games are sold then normal betting proceeds

• One joker, one bust…..pay to see: In the game, each player gets three cards. There are two cards kept on the table face down. One of them is a joker an done of them is a ‘bust’ card (also known as ‘killer’ card in some circles, which basically means that any game that has that number is a losing game). Now, players can pay 5 counters to see both the cards and then both the joker and bust are active for them. Players can pay 10 counters to see only the joker and in that case only the joker is active for them and the bust is not. For players who do not pay anything, neither the joker or bust is active. No side-show is allowed in this game. After players optionally pay for the cards, then normal game proceeds. In this game, we can optionally also have another globally visible joker for everyone.

• 2 rounds of Buying cards from each other: Each player gets 3 cards and initially one card is open in front of each player. There are 2 rounds of players buying these open cards from each other to try and build a game. This proceeds turn-wise…the first players open card is first up for sale and every other player turn-by-turn bids for that card. Note that players are not allowed to bid for their own card. At the end of the bidding, the player who wins the card picks up the card and replaces it with a card from his game. This continues for all the players’ open cards. Now, the entire process repeats for one more round as players who have picked up cards have also opened a new one in its place, so there could be a different set of cards up for sale in the next round. After 2 rounds of acquiring cards are over and the players have built up their game, then an normal game proceeds.

• buying jokers…seen and unseen : In this game, each player gets 3 cards initially. Then there are 2 rounds of buying jokers. In the first round, each player gets a chance to pay 5 counters and buy a joker for himself i.e. a card is opened from the deck in front of that player and that number becomes a joker for only that player
(e.g. if the player pays 5 counters and then gets a 7 opened in front of him, then only for that player all 7s are now jokers). In this way, each player gets a chance to buy a joker. In the second round, players can buy each others’ jokers which are opened from the first round. In order to share another players’ joker, the player pays the other player 5 counters an puts 5 counters in the center and then that number becomes a joker for him as well. The cost of getting jokers in the second round is 10 counters because this time the players can see beforehand which jokers they are buying unlike in the first round where they were buying unseen jokers. The jokers that players acquired in the first round are retained though they now maybe shared by different players. After 2 rounds of acquiring jokers, normal game proceeds.

• 1 to 10…playing against dealer: In this game the deal rotates to every player. In each game, the dealer sets a range of allowed bets i.e. say from 1 to 5 or something to that effect. The upper and lower bound of the range is from 1 to 10. Say for example if the dealer says the range is 1 to 5. Then each player can bet any number of counter between1 and 5 counters….this is betting on the fact that his game will be better than the dealer. In this game like in BlackJack in a Casino, everybody plays against the dealer. Now, all players have to decide their bet in advance before the card are dealt. Then the cards are dealt to each player open i.e. it’s a simple royal open flush, which means each player is dealt 3 cards open on the table. Now, each players game is compared with the dealers’s. If the player is better than the dealer by 2 levels, then the dealer has to pay the player 2 times what he bet in the beginning and vice-versa. The levels we are talking of here are the normal levels of a royal game i.e. top card, pairs, color, sequence, pure sequence, trio. If the player is better than the dealer at the same level, then the dealer pays the same amount as the player has bet. If the dealer is better, then the player pays the dealer: the number of levels above his game is that many times the amount the player bet in the beginning. The game continues for one whole round wherein each player on the table has had the chance to be the dealer.

• All open..seing each others’ game : This game is one that requires all the players to be very honest. In this game, each player is dealt 3 cards like a simple royal. Now, each player takes his cards and without looking at them puts them on the head such that everybody else can see them. In this way each player can see everybody else is cards beside their own. The cool part in this game is to judge other people reactions to figure out how your game is, and to see everyone else’s game to see if it is worth playing. The game proceeds as normal royal otherwise.

• Temperature : This game is a variation of in-out where each player is given 3 cards and there are 3 jokers open on the table. The players must all at the same time state whether they are ‘in’ or ‘out’. This is done by everybody simultaneously putting their thumbs up or down and the difference is the ‘temperature’ card that opens in the end. After everybody says whether they are in or out, a card is taken from the deck and kept open on the table..this is the ‘temperature’ card. If the card is between ace and 6, the the lowest game wins and if it is between 7 and king , then the highest game wins as normal. This is the twist to the normal ‘in-out’ game. The rest of the rules remain the same as in the ‘in-out’ game described above.

New Ideas (untested)…inspired by the Gods of SiddhiVinayak mandir

• One card down..personal joker, then one round buying each other’s : In this game, each player is given 4 cards initially. Out of these four, each player has to put one card down before him and that card becomes their own personal joker. Now, in one round if buying each players joker is available to be shared by any of the other players. Any player wanting that card as his joker has to pay 3 counters to the owner player and 3 counters in the center, then that card becomes the player’s joker as well i.e. that number is now a joker for him. After this round gets over, normal game proceeds.
Alternatively, the players put one card down not as jokers as just a card up for sale. And then in one round each players card is put up for auction to be bought as a card not as a joker.

• Two cards in hand, two cards down…trading floor: In this game, each player is dealt 2 cards closed and 2 cards open on the table. All these four cards form the person’s game. Now, after dealing a trading floor begins, wherein turn-by-turn each player’s 2 cards are up for grabs only if the person wants to trade them. Now, other players wanting to buy the cards should offer the player some money plus either or both of the 2 cards open in front of them. Note that players can offer to trade only on the open cards and not on the cards in their hand. The trading continues till all players’ cards have been offered for trading. After the trading round is over, normal game proceeds.

• Each person calls a number as their joker : In the game 3 cards are dealt to each player. Then turn-by-turn each player put 5 counters in the center and either calls a certain number as joker or cancels someone else’s joker. The number each player calls as joker becomes joker for everyone. Now players can play positively or pro-actively by each calling a new number as a joker or can play negatively or reactively and try to destroy other people’s games by paying money to cancel someone else’s joker. The players need not participate in this round of paying for calling or canceling jokers if they do not want to. After one such round of creating or canceling jokers normal game proceeds.


Note: This document is based on the countless card sessions played in the living room of the Vaswani residence a.k.a. ‘The Casino’. The core of the card playing group include Sahil, Suren and Varun. Many of the ideas for new variations were thought up while standing in the exceedingly long line outside SiddhiVinayak Mandir on those glorious Tuesday mornings.

1 comment:

  1. thx 4 givin an idea of variations!!
    ll surely help in this diwali season!
    Happy Playin

    ReplyDelete