Cooncan, by Robert Frederick Foster
DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME
For Three Players
When there are not more than three players in the game, the double pack is too cumbersome, and the full pack of fifty-two cards, with or without the joker, is used. The game differs in several ways from that described for four or five players, especially in the chances for and against getting certain cards. Some consider the joker adds to the attractions of the game, while others do not. There is also a difference of opinion as to the method of handling the stock, both systems being here described.
The three players cut for deal and seats as usual, the highest cut dealing the first hand, the cards ranking from the king down to the ace, or to the joker below the ace if the joker is added to the pack
The cards are dealt one at a time until each player has seven and then a card is turned face up for the stock, the remainder of the pack remaining face down and slightly spread, to facilitate drawing from it.
The player to the left of the dealer has the first draw and may take the card on the stock or may draw the top card front the pack. The object of the game being to get rid of all his cards by laying them out in sequence and suit, or in triplets or fours, no combination of less than three cards being allowed. No one is obliged to lay out any combination or to add cards to combinations already laid out, unless he wishes to do so. The joker may be called anything the holder chooses.
Having drawn a card from the stock or the pack and decided whether or not to lay out any combinations or add to the combinations shown by others, the player must discard one card face up on the stock pile to replace the one he drew, unless he can get rid of all his cards in combinations of his own, or by adding to those laid out by others. The discard must always be placed on the stock pile, whether the draw was from that or from the pack.
There are two chief variations in this game and opinions differ as to which is the better. In the one the discard always covers the last card shown on the stock, as it does in the game for five players; in the other, each card placed in the stock is kept separate from the others, so that all the discards remain exposed, and each player in his turn has a choice of them, no card being permanently buried.
Many persons consider the exposed stock and the single pack make a livelier game, because of the number of cards to choose from and the necessity of taking up cards that you know or suspect a following player wants, instead of simply burying them. In this form of the game, if you want a certain card, such as the 4 of clubs, it must come out, unless some other player holds it, and if he cannot use it you are bound to get it, or he will not get all his cards down.
The joker may he shifted once from one end of a sequence to the other, as in the game for four or five players, but not again, and it can never be shifted from the interior of a sequence.
The player who first gets rid of all his cards wins the pip value of all the cards remaining in the bands of the others at the table, still unplayed.
This is a portion of a full-text reproduction of Robert Frederick Foster's book "Cooncan (Conquián): A Game of Cards Also Called Rum", which was published in 1913, by Frederick A. Stokes Company, and is now in the public domain. The text of the book was OCR'd from a vintage copy of the book, and is provided as an educational resource for Rummy players, researchers, and students of the game. Any grammatical or typographical errors are an artifact of this process, and should not be attributed to the author.
Cooncan, by Robert Frederick Foster - Table of Contents
