Soureh

Soureh is a card game that originated in the Middle East.

Overview

Participants

The game is designated for 2-4 participants.

Objective

Each participant aims to remain with the lowest score. In every match, the winner of the match gains no score, while the other participants gain score according to the cards they possess.

Gameplay

Dealing the cards

The game is played with two decks of cards, leaving the Joker and the royalty card out. The dealer hands each participant 4 cards faced down aligned in a row, and 4 cards faced up aligned in a parallel row to the first row. The closed cards row is set close to the participant while the opened cards row is set beyond the first row.

The rest of the cards are piled in the center, faced down.

Cards value

The value of each card is its numeric value. The 'Ace' is valued 1 or 11 (subject to the participant's choice).

Play

Each participant, at his turn, draws a card from the pile. The participant then can replace one of his 4 closed cards (which only he can see, any time), or replace one of the opponents open card, or throw the card to a second pile (faced down).

If the participant chose to replace either his or his opponent's card, the replaced card is thrown to the second pile.

A participant can declare 'Soureh' when each of his closed card is corresponded with its parallel open card.

The rules for corresponding cards:
* Against an open red card, there must be a closed card with a higher value.
* Against an open black card, there must be a closed card with a smaller value.
* Against an open 'Ace' there cannot be a closed 'Ace' (although 'Ace' value is either 1 or 11).

The rules for replacing cards:
* A participant can replace each of his closed cards as he wishes.
* A participant can replace each of one of the opponents' cards except for an 'Ace'. An 'Ace' can be replaced only by a card valued 10 (regardless for its color).

The round advances among the participants clockwise. A Match is ended when one of the participant declares 'Soureh' in his turn, when all of his card pairs are corresponding to each other.

After a participant declares 'Soureh', each opponent has one more turn, in which he cannot declare 'Soureh' but he can replace a card for the participant who declared 'Soureh' in order to ruin his winning, or replace one of his own cards in order to reduce score, or replace one of the other opponents' cards (in order to increase his score or in case the match will continue because someone else ruined the 'Soureh' for the potential winner).

If one of the participants replaced a card belonged to the participant who declared 'Soureh', the other participants cannot replace another one of his cards during that round.

When the round reaches again the player who declared 'Soureh', he can either reveal his closed card (if his 'Soureh' is left unharmed) or he can continue playing. If someone ruined his 'Soureh' but he replaced a card and reached a 'Soureh' once again, he must declare 'Soureh' and wait for another round to be over.

If the participant chose to reveal his cards, the other players also reveal their cards and count their negative score.

Scoring

Each of the participants who lost the match chooses from each pair of cards (closed vs. opened) one if the cards and adds its value to his accumulated score.

If a participant reaches a score that can be divided by 100, 50 points are reduced from his score.

Winning the entire game

There are two variations for winning:
* A certain threshold is agreed upon. When one of the participants reaches that threshold, the participant with the lowest score wins the game.
* A certain threshold is agreed upon. Each participant that scores beyond that threshold leaves the game. The winner is the last one standing.

Other variations

In a game with 3 or 4 participants, if a participant gains 'Soureh' and no other participant ruins it, the winning participant leaves the round. Each other participant receives 10 points to his score, but the match is continued until only one participant is left int the match and he receives additional score according to his cards (as stated before).

Still, if a participant declares 'Soureh', until he gets his next turn no other participant can declare 'Soureh' even if during the last round he has reached a state of 'Soureh'.