But now I will tell the lineage and the names of the heroes, and of the long sea-paths and the deeds

John, if you ever in the mood, I would love to see similar list, but for 3-4+ players ? My 2 player card gaming is in halt for quite some time now ? (unless with my 6yo)

When I was in graduate school, I was introduced to a fascinating card game by a friend (who I called “Doctor Chocolate,” but that’s another story). I had never seen a game like it before; it rewarded the player in the lead and penalized the player who was falling behind. The game was played for no other purpose than to play. There was no winner or loser at the end; there was only the longest-lasting “Dalmuti” and the “peon,” the player most talented at groveling.

Later my friends and I introduced scoring to the game and started playing it to get a winner. It was fun. I played it with my bridge club. It was fun. I played it with my folks. It was fun. I played it with gamers, nongamers, young people, old people, all kinds of people . . . and it was always fun. Curiously, this game was fun no matter who was playing. And the most curious thing of all was that no matter who I played it with, once we started playing we couldn’t stop.

Intrigued by this game’s wide appeal, I tried to trace its origin. I couldn’t find it mentioned in any Hoyle, but I kept running into groups of players who played their own versions of the game. It went by different names indifferent locations: “Super 2 Peasant” in Japan, “Rich Man–Poor Man” in Alaska, “Scum” in Utah, among others. My hottest lead was a gambling game that was played in Chinatown in New York City. Though I couldn’t track down its name, I learned that it had been around for a long time, and it had qualities that would seem to make it a parent to all these other games.

Years later I found an amazing book that I recommend to anyone interested in games: A History of Card Games, by David Parlett. Parlett suggests that the common ancestor of these Dalmuti-like games is a Chinese game, “Zheng Shàng Yóu,” which literally means “Climbing Up.” Parlett’s book also makes reference to a Japanese game called “Dai Hin Min,” or “A Very Poor Man.” This meaning is ironic since I believe “Dai Hin Min” to be the origin of the word “Dalmuti,” which means something quite different in our game!

If you’ve enjoyed The Great Dalmuti® and don’t usually play regular card games, give them a try. For me there are more hours of amusement in a single deck of cards than in all the world’s movies combined. And I love the movies.

—Richard Garfield
The Great Dalmuti game designer

Hanibal sent me rules to a fun little card game that I think is even better than he possibly realized. It feels like a mash-up of Knizia's Black Sheep or even Schotten Totten (in the sense that you are playing cards to win material for an endgame condition) and a Poker version of Officer's Skat (in the sense that it is a great 2 player game that teaches poker ranking while being fun, involving some skill but also a heaping portion of luck) and something else I'm not quite pegging, maybe even Movable Type, but others as well. I'm thinking of the fact that the "resources" you are fighting over (cards) are used to shape your hand for a final showdown. I only played it 2-player (and think that's how I prefer it, not really wanting to even try 3-4). This rating might even go up. I had a blast playing it with one of my daughters. It's light, quick fun, perfect for playing with kids. (And I've also now played it with an adult friend and taught it to his girlfriend and watched them play a match. It's light and it's quick. I think it holds up as a form of "Officer's Poker"). If Hanibal approves, I'll post the rules.

I've played this more than ten times now. I was right that it's not very good (to my tastes) at 3 or 4, but it is exactly right at 2. I like it better than any of Knizia's Blazing Aces poker games that I've played so far. That's right. I just compared Hanibal to Reiner and Hanibal came out on top. This is just lovely to play when you want a quick 2p game with a deck of cards. Somewhere here on the 'geek, Hanibal said that I could post the rules (and that he'd already forgotten what the rules were that he sent me). I should do that sometime.
Revised rating after 10+ plays: 7 (going on 8)

One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.

When reason returned with the morning—when I had slept off the fumes of the night’s debauch—I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. I again plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed.

I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity. But I am detailing a chain of facts—and wish not to leave even a possible link imperfect. On the day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins. The walls, with one exception, had fallen in. This exception was found in a compartment wall, not very thick, which stood about the middle of the house, and against which had rested the head of my bed. The plastering had here, in great measure, resisted the action of the fire—a fact which I attributed to its having been recently spread. About this wall a dense crowd were collected, and many persons seemed to be examining a particular portion of it with very minute and eager attention. The words “strange!” “singular!” and other similar expressions, excited my curiosity. I approached and saw, as if graven in bas relief upon the white surface, the figure of a gigantic cat. The impression was given with an accuracy truly marvellous. There was a rope about the animal’s neck.

I would like to hear more about Chonkers. And Portland. And Sacramento.

Please?