You've played bridge, poker, gin, blackjack, hearts, canasta... They're all easy compared to DIAMOND POINTS.   This game can be played by two to probably six players. It's simple but very complex.

   Each player gets one suit of 13 cards.   Ace=1 point. King=13 points.  The Diamonds are shuffled and placed face down in the center of the table. The first Diamond is turned face up. 

   Each player then selects one of his suit cards to play.  All players turn their suit cards over simultaneously. Whoever turns over the highest suit card wins the Diamond, which he turns face down in front of him. Say the first Diamond is the 9. You play your 10. Your crafty opponent plays his Ace. You win the 9. But your opponent still has his 10.

   Suit cards can be played only once each game.  Each must also be turned face down after being played.

   The objective is to win the most Diamond Points.

   Ties: In a two-handed game, if two suit cards tie, another Diamond is turned and the players play for both Diamonds.  With three or more players, top ties cancel, and the next single highest card wins. So when that Diamond 9 turns up if you and Bill both play your 10's,  Mary could win it with her deuce!

   Last Card Ties:  If, on the last Diamond or stack of Diamonds, all the suit cards tie, no one wins the up-cards.  The game goes to whoever has actually won the most Diamond Points.

   Sounds simple?  It ain't.

There are 91 points in the Diamond suit. (1+2+3+...+13 = 91.)  Barring last card ties, you must win at least 46 Diamond Points to win a two-man game. 31 points can win a three-man game (31-30-30). 24 points might even win a four-man game (24-23-22-22).

There are 91 suit card points, too. How you play your suit card points depends on how you want to get to 46, 31, 24...i.e. exactly what Diamonds you want to win; and what the other guys have already won and have left in their hands; and how many cards you lost in a tie; and what's left in the Diamond stack; and how much you're playing for.

    For example, the Diamond Q, 9, 8, 7, 5, 3, 2 add up to 46 Diamond Points.  So do the K, J, 10, 6, 4, 2.  There are thousands of possible 46-point sets.  Hmmm, which set do you play for?  If you don't need the Diamond King, you might toss your Ace on it, figuring the other guy will waste his King. Of course, he might read you and play his 2.  To guard against that, you might play your 3...

    Try it two-handed,  just for practice.   You'll be amazed how difficult it is to keep track of the 39 cards and 273 points in three suits.

   Then, after a long poker game some night, try five-man Diamond Points for real money.  Everyone tosses $91 into the pot and takes back $5 for every Diamond Point they win.

   The brutality starts early.  Say the Diamond 9 comes up first and five players play 10-10-9-9-9.  No one wins.  Next is the Diamond King, worth 13 more points.  Three players go all in; the other two punt.  The suit cards played are K-K-K-3-A.  The 3 wins 22 points.  If the King and 9 and the last two cards in the stack, you have to know each of your opponents' remaining two suit cards; how many Diamond Points they've won; how many points they need to win...

   All you have to do is triple psyche all your opponents and keep track of as many suits as there are players, plus all the Diamonds.

   Next time you sit down to play an easy card game, try a hand of Diamond Points.  Let me know how you liked it. And if it successfully warped your brain, too!  

   For another mind-bender, try Killer Pip Squeeze for Backgammon.




   I invented Diamond Points in 1968 and   
     published the rules in 1996. 
     (The Last Card Ties rule came up recently.)