Tired of that old pass-to-the-left, pass-to-the-right, two-to-the-left, two-to-the-right, ... cross, keep, lather, rinse repeat? Even in your double-deck cancellation hearts games? Or your 12-player triple-deck cancellation-reactivation games? Not to mention your 14-player quad-deck cancellation-reactivation-recancellation games (yup, been there, done that!)
Then play dealer's choice. Anything goes as long as it's fully symmetric, that is, if I get to pass 7 cards to the idiot, I mean player, on my left and 2 cards to the target, I mean player, across from me, you get the same privilege. I've catalogued here some of the things we've come up with. Feel free to play them or create your own.
As the name suggests, these passes allow you to hit multiple opponents at once.
Friendly Neighbor Pass: Two cards to both people adjacent to you.
Shotgun Pass: One card to each opponent.
These are passes in which players do not have full choice (or sometimes any
choice!) in which cards they pass.
Pigeonhole Passes: Passes that rely on Pigeonhole Principle-based
mathematical certainties. For instance in a game in which each player
is dealt 13 cards:
The Universally Despised Low Spade Pass: Three cards to the right,
including all of your spades below the Queen, unless you have more
than three such cards, in which case you can decide which three of them
to part with.
As the name suggests, these passes consist of multiple rounds of passing done
in sequence.
1-2-3: Pass one card, then two, then three, all to the same opponent,
picking up and looking at the cards you have received before each subsequent
pass.
3-2-1: The 1-2-3 executed in opposite order.
Countdown: Pass your whole hand to the left. Then all but one card.
Then all but two, and so on until you pass one card to the left.
Sometimes we alter some aspects of the play of the hand. When doing so, we
often, but not always, play the hand as a keeper.
Inversion: The ranking of the cards is inverted, ie, low (uncancelled)
card of the suit led wins. Care to lead spades now?
Someone Else Reaps the Fruits of Your Labor: The trick (but not the
lead) goes to the person on the right of the person who played the "winning"
card. Or you get the trick and your neighbor gets the lead.
The Hat Pass: The person who led the first trick also leads the second.
After that, the lead progresses on a one-trick delay -- the winner of the
first trick leads the third, the winner of the second leads the fourth, and
so on. This variation received its name because the first times we tried
it, a hat was used and passed around to keep track of whose lead was upcoming.
Half-Open: Each player selects half of his/her cards and puts them
face up on the table, where they remain until they are played. Cards
can be played from either the visible or hidden part of the hand, as restricted
by normal suit-following rules.
Jeopardy!: Until the last trick, obviously, a trick goes twice around the
table, so that each player has played two cards to the trick. Then (and at
this point, some of us have a compulsion to hum the Final Jeopardy theme)
each player in sequence returns one of their played cards back into their
hand (with no restriction on which to choose). The remaining cards constitute
the trick in its final form, and the highest (uncancelled) card of the suit
originally led (even if the lead card is long gone) takes the trick.
Plan 9 From Outer Space: For those who have not seen this notorious
movie, it features three zombies inexplicably walking the earth. One, however,
is played by multiple actors due to the untimely death of Bela Lugosi. To
pay tribute to this cinematic monsterpiece, we came up with this "Three shall
walk" variation: After each trick, the person who took the trick
shuffles up all the tricks they have taken and randomly pulls out three cards
and turns them face up in the middle of the table. These cards will be part
of the hand's next trick. Notes: If you win something like the Queen
of Spades, this means you might want to swallow up other tricks so that she
may get activated. It's your risk. Also note that three cards will walk at
the end of the hand, not belonging to anyone. If there are any point
cards among them, well, nobody shot the moon.
In these, the players are given great leeway in creating the hand of their
choice.
Pit Pass: Players may trade cards as if they were playing the game Pit.
A person holds out one or more cards of the same suit and calls out that
number. If someone else calls out that number, they can then trade cards.
It's usually required that each player make at least one trade. Termination
of the trading session may be when the trading peters out, or there may be
a time limit (such as 1 minute).
Draft: The deck is passed to the first player, who selects one card
from it. The next player picks one card from the remaining cards, and so on.
For the sake of equity, when you reach the last player, that player chooses
two cards and then passes the deck in reverse direction. The draft continues
back and forth until all the cards have been taken.
Play modifications that mirror modern environmental issues.
Environmentalist Pass: See how far recycling can get you. After each
trick, each player puts a card face-down in the center of the table. When
their hands are empty, the pile of discarded cards is recycled -- it's
reshuffled and dealt. Play and recycling continues until the last cards
are finally exhausted.
Toxic Waste Pass: Play proceeds as in the Environmentalist Pass,
except the pile of discarded cards is not recycled. Rather, it becomes
a "jackpot" for whomever took the last trick.
New York Sanitation Department: The NYSD don't have that problem
with big piles of garbage -- they just dump it over the border in Jersey.
So play this like the Toxic Waste Pass, except for the modification that the
person who takes the last trick gets to give that pile of garbage to their
leftward neighbor.
Passes that take place during the course of the hand.
One Card Per Trick: As the name suggests, pass one card in the same
direction after every trick.
All But One Card Per Trick: After each trick, keep one card and
pass the rest of your hand.
Politburo Pass: The ultimate in simplicity and chaos. Everyone either
loves or hates this one, and they seldom know which until they try it. It
works as follows: After each trick, pass your entire hand to the person
on the left. The left part is vital, after all, the organization after
which the pass was named would never dream of going in any other direction.
Of course, who says we have to stop at one of the above? Combine
any or all of them; we'll just list a few here that come with a catchy names:
Double-Barreled Shotgun Pass: Do the Shotgun. Do it again.
Semiconductor Pass: (a.k.a. PNP). A Pit Pass Politburo hand.
P&P&P: A Pit-Politburo-Plan 9 hand.
* Three cards to the left, such that your hand contains a void before you pick
up the cards passed to you.
* Six cards straight across, such that your hand contains two voids.
* Four cards two people to the right, all from the same suit.
* Four cards to the right, all of different ranks.
Note: We once did this in a 4-player game. One player actually
managed to wind up with all 13 clubs. Rather than just laying down his hand,
he led the deuce, followed in order by a heart, the Queen of Spades, and
a look of disbelief.