Tall Cards by LeopardFlan

VIRTUAL FIREFLY

Tall Cards

POSTED BY: LEOPARDFLAN
UPDATED: Saturday, May 24, 2008 14:58
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Saturday, May 24, 2008 2:03 PM

Stan has found a link with rules for the game; however, they were in a pdf format and that tends to be hard on computers. So, I'm copy+pasting them in this thread, because my comp can handle the file.

Tall Card
Rules of the Game
For 2 or more players (3 or more recommended)
Tall Card is a game from the Firefly universe and was seen being played by Jayne, Book and Simon in the episode “Shindig”. It is played similarly to Draw Poker, but of course with its own unique twists. Players are dealt cards, and after several rounds of betting and drawing new cards, the player with the highest ranked hand wins everything bet into the middle “pot”. This continues until one player has won everything, or until a pre-determined time limit has run out, in
which case, the player with the most wins.

Things you’ll need to play:
1 deck of 72 cards (12 cards of each of 6 suits)
1 “Tall Card” deck of 6 cards (1 card of each suit)
Chips, money, chores or something similar with which to place bets (not included)

Playing a Game
1. Choose a Dealer and that player shuffles the regular cards and the player to the right of the Dealer shuffles the Tall
cards.

2. The Tall card for that Hand is revealed after everyone places an ante into the “pot” (the center of the table). Placing an ante in the middle signals that you are playing the Hand, and the dealer deals everyone who placed an ante, 5 cards. The amount of the ante is up to the players to decide, but usually it is the smallest possible amount a player could bet. If you are using chips to represent money, it is the smallest chip value. Antes ensure the winner of a hand always has something to win.

3. Players look at their hands, and the player to the left of the Dealer begins the first round of betting for the Hand.

4. After all bets have been matched in the first round, starting with the player to the left of the dealer again, players can discard and draw up to 3 new cards OR the face up Tall card can be claimed by a player instead of a discard/draw. If a
player has an Ace, they may choose to discard 4 cards instead of 3, but must reveal their Ace before doing so. Claiming the Tall card allows the cards in one player's hand that are of the same suit as the Tall card, to become wild in rank. Only one player may claim the Tall, and the Tall suit is only wild for that single player. If the option goes around and the Tall is not claimed, the Dealer is forced to claim the Tall rather than discard to draw. If the Dealer has already folded, and everyone passes on the Tall Card, then no one is forced to claim it.

5. Another round of betting takes place, and after the bets have been matched, then the highest ranked hand of any surviving players wins everything in the pot.

6. After the Hand is over, the “Dealer” position shifts one player to the left, and all the cards are shuffled and the next Hand begins the same as before. If a player ever runs out of chips, money or chores with which to bet, they are out of the
game. Other players are free to “donate” chips, money or chores to any other players at any time to allow that player to continue playing.

Betting
Depending on what players have done before you; during a betting round, you have up to five different options when it is your turn: check, bet, raise, call, or fold.

Check: if no bets have been made, you may “check” which is essentially passing the option to place a bet, but allows you to stay in the game without having to fold.

Bet: if no bets have been made yet, you may place a “bet”. You can choose any amount to place into the pot as a bet. After a bet is placed, subsequent players have to either place the same amount in the pot by “calling” to stay in the hand, or “fold”, unless they choose to “raise”.

Raise: if a player before you has placed a bet, you may “raise” this done by first matching the amount they bet, and then placing any amount more than their bet into the pot. This raises the total bet amount that subsequent players must call to
keep playing, including the original player who first bet.

Call: if a player before you has either bet or raised, and you want to stay in the game without “re-raising”, you may call. This simply means you equal the bet or raise that has come before you by placing that amount into the pot. If you called a
lower bet and a player after you raised, you will have to call the remaining raise amount again to stay in.

Fold: You may fold at any point when the betting turn comes to you, even if there is no bet to match. To fold, discard your cards back to the dealer and sit out the rest of the Hand. When you fold you do not have to place any additional
money in the pot, however you also give up your chance at winning the pot.

Betting always starts with the player to the left of the dealer and continues in a clockwise direction until all bets match the
highest bet. For example, if player1 bets 20, then players that want to continue in the hand must match that bet and each player must match it until it comes back to player1. If player1 bets 20 and then player2 raises the total to 40, bets go
around the table matching the 40 including player1 who must add the additional 20 to his bet to continue playing and so forth. Players always have the option of folding no matter the circumstances; however they will always lose any and all
money that they have put into the pot for that hand. (Of note, never fold out of turn, it can greatly affect what players do when it is their turn, only announce your intentions of folding, checking, betting, calling or raising when it is your turn).

When revealing hands at the end of the 2nd round of betting after all bets have been matched, the player who retains the highest bet (including raises, re-raises) is the person who must reveal first. That is, if everyone remaining in the hand
“called” player 2’s raise of 40, player 2 would have to reveal his/her hand first, since he retained the highest bet. Any
players with a better hand would then reveal their cards. If you called a bet and did not have a better hand, you do not have to reveal your cards if you so choose. If everyone folds and you are the last player remaining in the Hand, you win
the pot and may reveal your hand only if you so choose.

Bet Limits and Side Pots
The rules here are for “no limit” games in which players are free to bet any amount without restriction, including placing everything they have into the pot (known as “going all in”). In some games players may agree to set a betting limit on the game, which restricts the highest amount a person can bet. In the event that a player puts all of their chips into the pot,
that player has gone “all in” and a side pot may have to be created. The player who is “all in” cannot win any money placed into the side pot. For example, if two players each bet 100 chips and a third player goes all-in with 60 chips - there
would be a main pot of 180 (60 x 3) and a side pot of 80 (40 x 2). Reveal cards and resolve any side pots before the main pot.

Hand Rankings
6 suits (Plum, Peach, Orange, Apple, Apricot, Banana) of 12 cards (72 cards). The hand ranking from best hand to worst hand is as follows:

Royal Flush (best possible straight flush), 5 of a Kind, Straight Flush, Flush, 4 of a Kind, Full House, Straight, 3 of a Kind, Two Pair, High Card (descending order Ace-Dragon-Phoenix-Unicorn-Turtle-8-7-6-5-4-3-2).
If two players have the same hand, the player with the higher ranked hand wins. So if Player 1 has a 3 of a Kind of Dragons and Player 2 has a 3 of a Kind of 8s, player 1 wins because a Dragon is ranked higher than 8s. If players have the
same hand and rank, then the next highest card, called a “Kicker,” determines the winner. For example, Player 1 has a Pair of Aces with a Dragon Kicker and Player 2 has a pair of Aces with a Turtle Kicker, player 1 wins because a Dragon
Kicker is higher than a Turtle Kicker. If players have the exact same hand and rank, it is considered a “tie” and the players must split the pot evenly (any leftovers that can’t be split remains in the pot for the next hand).

And here are the grapics for the cards (designed to be printed and cut out)

#~%~~*~~~&~~~*~~%~#\/#~%~~*~~~&~~~*~~%~#

Stan: LF! Stuffed LF!
Stan: That didn't sound right.. sorry. I'm not some psycho taxidermist serial killer or anything.

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Saturday, May 24, 2008 2:26 PM

STRANGEBIRD

Thanks LF! You're awesome.

Stangebird is Stan, btw. Not my real name though. ;^)

<--------------------<<<<-~~~~(*)~~~~->>>>-------------------->
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read" Gaius Plinius Secundus

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Saturday, May 24, 2008 2:58 PM

LEOPARDFLAN

Stan, I knew that ;)

LF is sneaky like that- she know everything ;)

EDIT- Oh, he meant that for everyone else. *blush*

#~%~~*~~~&~~~*~~%~#\/#~%~~*~~~&~~~*~~%~#

Stan: LF! Stuffed LF!
Stan: That didn't sound right.. sorry. I'm not some psycho taxidermist serial killer or anything.

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