California Speed

:"This page is for the card game. For the Nintendo 64 game of the same name, see California Speed (video game)."

California Speed, also known as Super-Speed in Wisconsin and Rush in Missouri, is a fast paced shedding card game that has the added bonus of shuffling the deck.

Rules

Shuffle the deck if it hasn't already been shuffled. This does not need to be done between games because playing the game shuffles the deck. The two players sit at opposite sides of a horizontal playing surface (usually a table or the floor). The dealer deals half the cards to each player. The cards are held face down. Every round each player plays four cards face up vertically in between both players and slightly closer to themselves. Once both players have done this, they look for two or more cards (of the 8 played) having the same number. When a player finds one, he or she places another card (from the stack of cards in their hand) on top of the cards with that number until all of the cards with the common number are covered. They then place another four cards face up on top of those previously played and continue the cycle. If a player runs out of cards then that player wins. When there are no more groups of cards remaining, each player scoops up the four piles directly in front of him or her and places them face down on the bottom of his or her deck. That round ends and the next begins.

In some versions of the game, there is a move called "doubles" in which the player is allowed to place a card on a stack of cards with two of the same number on top of each other. It is common that they call "doubles" to inform the other player what they did.

trategy

Many people suggest playing on the cards on your opponent's side as opposed to your own so they pick up the cards. This doesn't do much as all of the possible cards are eventually played. A common strategy is to memorize the cards as they go down so you don't have to see them all to start playing cards. This strategy is especially useful at the very beginning of each round. If you have a better memory then your opponent it might be a good idea to put the cards really close together at the beginning of the round and not accurately playing cards so that your opponent can't tell the piles apart and only knows a fraction of the top cards. If you are better at multi-tasking you can try to distract your opponent by making conversation during the game. Playing your cards quickly also tends to distract your opponent.