Kemps

Kemps is a matching card game for two to six teams of two players each. It is played with a standard 52-card deck. The origin of the game is not known and is generally learned from friend to friend. In England, it is known as Ross Kemps, almost certainly after the television star of the same name, yet the reasons for this are unknown. Kemps is played primarily by youth in North America.

Objective and game play

The object of Kemps is for one member of a team to accumulate all four cards of a single rank in his hand and to have his partner recognize that fact aloud by yelling "Kemps!" before another team realizes that his team has four of a kind.

Prior to the game, partners confer to create a signal to indicate when four cards of a rank have been accumulated. When one partner accumulates four of a kind during game play, he or she makes the signal and his partner says Kemps. Partners sit opposite each other, with the playing surface in the middle.
*Each player is dealt four cards to begin the game.
*Four cards are turned face up on the central playing surface.
*All players may swap one of their cards for one of the central cards at any time.
*If it appears that no further swaps are desired, a player will verify this, clear the central four cards, and then turn up four new central cards.
*Cards that have been cleared may not be retrieved, so their ranks cannot be collected in full to complete the game objective.

The game is ended in one of two ways. If a team calls Kemps, the opposing team checks to see if the partner who did not make the call has four of a kind. If the call was valid and the partner does in fact have four cards of a rank, the calling team wins. If the call was invalid, the calling team loses. In a two-team game, the other team wins in the case of an invalid call. Otherwise, no team is declared a winner. Variations of the game include a winning hand that is a run of four ascending cards of the same suit rather than four of a kind.

Alternately, if a player believes that another player has four cards of a rank but the opponent's partner has not recognized this fact, he may call "cut" (generally used as the counterpart to "kent") "miss" or "contra-Kent" (also "non-Kemps", "counter-Kemps", "anti", "mis-Kemps", "stop Kemps", "stop","con Kemps", "Carson Kemps","Ross Kemps","Jack Kemps","flip-flops", "break", "gotcha", or "jelly", depending on the name of the game and rules established beforehand), indicating which player he believes has four cards of a rank. If the call is valid, the calling team wins. If the call is invalid, the calling team loses. "Cut" can be called at any point during the game; meaning that one does not have to wait for a signal to say it. In this case a winner may or may not be declared, as above. There is no standardized scoring for Kent. Also, signals that are below the table are illegal and if a team is caught making signals below the table, they must forfeit that point.

In some variations of the game, where scoring is used over several rounds, both players on a single team may attempt to get four of a kind each, at which point one of the players calls "double Kemps" or likewise, depending on the name of the game upon realizing that the partner has four of a rank, as does the caller. The reward for a successful call of double Kemps may be more than that of single Kemps, as can be the loss if it is called wrongly, depending on the scoring agreed to by the players beforehand.

Basic setup

Variations

Guess the Sign Kemps Variation

In this variation of Kemps, after a correct call of "Kemps", the opposing team has an opportunity to guess the signal of the calling team. If they guess it correctly, then the point earned for the call is canceled, and neither team scores. This is used to prevent obvious signal from being used just because they work the first round. When this variation is used, it is very common to use the "Silent Kemps" variation as well, because guessing verbal signal is very hard (especially if someone gets wise and makes their signal "an elephant", and not just "elephant" or similar).

ilent Kemps variation

In this variation of the game, players are prohibited from using verbal signals, or making loud noises during play. Teams are encouraged to use subtle signals, putting emphasis on concentration and perceptivity.

uper series Kemps variation

In the Super series Kemps variation of the game four players for each side are required. The game still uses the basic principles of Kemps with two pairs competing, but at the very start both teams flip a coin and the winning side decides who will go first. There are six rounds per game, and each of the four players will play in three of the six rounds. The team who, according to the coin flip, is "going first" will have decide their pairs for the first three rounds first. It will then swap for the second half of the game, and the other team will decide their pairs first.

The supersub is a designated extra player, one for each team, that cannot call "Kemps" or use cards; they can only call "contra-Kemps".