Kamikaze (card game)

Kamikaze (also Nuke ‘em, Duke Nuke ‘em, Hail) is a popular card game similar to Presidents and Assholes. Though often speculated to have originated in Japan, many variations have been played worldwide.=Gameplay=The deck is dealt evenly between players. Any extra cards are put facedown in the middle. They will not be used for the remainder of the game. Players may want to arrange their cards in ascending order.

The player to the dealer’s left begins the hand by placing a single card, a pair, three of a kind, etc, in the center of the table. The next player must play the same hand with a higher card (e.g. if player A lays down two 2’s, player B can lay down a pair of 3’s, 4’s, 5’s, etc). This continues clockwise around the table, with each player playing a hand higher than the previous.

If a player cannot or chooses not to play a hand on their turn, they pass the turn to the next player. Once a player has passed their turn, they are out for the remainder of the hand. The hand continues until only one player is remaining. This player then starts a new hand. The process continues until one player has no more cards left in their hand.

=Hands=There are several different types of hands, as listed below. Though some are less common than others, no one hand is better than any other. There is a great deal of strategy involved in deciding when to play a hand and when to pass. A player may pass their turn at any time regardless of whether or not they can play a hand.

Basic Hands

Single

Pair

Three of a kind

Four of a kind

Runs

When starting a new hand, a player can lay down a Run of three to six card. The next player must lay down a run of the same number of cards with at least the last card higher than that of the previous run played (e.g. 2♦3♣4♥ can be countered with 3♠4♦5♣ or 4♦5♣6♥).

A Running Flush is the same as a run except that all cards must be of the same suit. When countering a running flush, a player may or may not play cards of the same suit (e.g. 4♥5♥6♥ can be countered with 5♠6♠7♠ or 7♥8♥9♥).

Bombs

A Bomb is three consecutive pairs (e.g. 77 88 99). When countering a bomb, the last pair must by higher than that of the previous bomb played.

An Atomic Bomb is the highest bomb—Queens, Kings, and Aces. Because of its rarity, an atomic bomb can be countered by another atomic bomb. This is extremely unlikely, however, as there can be a maximum of only two A-bombs (Little Boy and Fat Man) in a single game.