King & Peasant

King & Peasant (is also known by other games) is a game of castes.

      Required for the game:

    * 5 or more participants (5-7 is about ideal)
    * 1 or 2 decks of cards
    * 1 or 2 dice (optional)
    * Munchies in the middle of the table (important but not necessary)
    *Ranks
          o King
          o Queen 
          o Merchant 
          o Upper Peasant
          o Peasant
          o

            Card Ranks: K, 2, A, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3



    * After knowing how many players there are going to be, take that many suits out of the 2 decks. It does not matter which suits they are. There are 4 suits per deck. 8 players would use two decks. Mix them up and spread them on the table.
    * Pick ONE card
    * Highest card takes the "King" position and so on down to the lowest position
    * Peasant shuffles and deals the cards to each player (you can deal them however you like). If I'm in that position, I like to screw up the karma... Usually, that means that I'll deal 3 to one player then 3 to someone else who is far away from the first person I dealt to and so on. YOu can deal in any denominations.. That's the privilidge of being Peasant (and the only one)
    * After you are done dealing, look at your cards.
    * Depending on the amount of players, "the giveaway goes something like this"
    * Peasant gives his/her two highest cards to the King. The King returns the favor and gives the Peasant his/her TWO lowest cards..

      (What a DEAL!)
      Knave has to give his/her HIGHEST card to the Queen
      If there are 7 players, #3 & #6 also exchange ONE card (The same trade as #7 & #2) #6 highest goes to #3)
          o >Play Begins.... The die or dice is rolled by the King

            (this is not a requirement. The die or dice is an optional... The King can choose to throw them or not. Depends on where he/she has been the entire night and would like to be able to lead for a change... )
          o Play starts with the King or whomevers number was rolled. King can lead with whatever he wants.

            (it's suggested that s/he lead with one of their lower cards but to fake others out and feign strength on a crappy hand, they've been known to lead with stronger cards)
          o An example: King leads with a 7, Queen would have to better that. (8 or better). Merchant would need to beat the 8 or better and so on. You can also pass if you think that you'll be losing too much strength. Because, with the possibility of going up with a strong hand, if you weaken yourself too much at the onset of the game, you could fall in rank too. Make sure that you have enough strength to ward off the castes that are below you. You don't want to lose the royalty position. This is why, early on, it is not good sense for the peasant to blow his whole wad trying to cross swords with the King.
          o Player can lead with lead with a "set" of the same numbered card. (2 to all the way out). This will sometimes make it more difficult for others to play anything on top of them because if one player leads with 3 of one number, the subsequent player would have to top that triplet with one of their own.
          o First player that runs out of cards assumes the King position, next player out becomes the Queen and so on down the line to the last finisher.
          o This game has no scoring system. It's just a game of who ends where and any bragging rights that you might be able to rub others faces in as the night goes on.