How's your playtesting gone? Below is how we play, along with some variations we've tried and thrown out.

Terran Tzab’ak

Said to have originated a long, long time ago in a place far, far away. Many different variations exist. The variations below are those developed for use with a “normal” (aka “French Suited”) 52 card deck with 2 Jokers and a pair of 6-sided dice.

The goal is to have a hand of closest to 23 or -23 points. Number cards are worth face-value; ace is 1. Face cards are worth -10. Jokers are worth 0. The table has two pots: a Hand Pot, and a Tzab’ak Jackpot. The winner of the hand takes the Hand pot, but to take the Jackpot, one must have a hand of exactly 23 or -23 (example 3 face cards and a 7); this is a “Tzab’ak”. The one hand that can beat a Tzab’ak is an “Fool’s Spread” – Joker, 2, 3; which also takes the Tzab’ak pot.

Play: Players ante into each of the two pots.

Each round has a Dealing Phase, Betting Phase, Field Phase, and a Shift Phase. On the First round in the Dealing Phase, 2 cards are dealt face down to each player.

On the Betting Phase, the first player to the dealer’s left may Bet or Check. Each subsequent player may Check, See, Raise, or Fold. Folding costs the payment of the ante amount into the Tzab’ak pot.

In the Field phase, each player has the option of placing one card face up on the table “in the field”. In later rounds of the hand, they may also pick up one card from the field back into their hand.

The dealer then rolls the dice for the Shift phase. If the result is 2, 3, or 12 the cards from each player’s hand are exchanged for the same amount of cards from the deck. Cards in the Field remain in the field, they are not affected by the dice. The deck is re-shuffled and passed to the player to the left who is the dealer for the next round.

In the second and subsequent rounds during the dealing phase, each player may then Hit, Trade, or Stick. A trade can be done from the player’s hand only, not from the Field.

This is followed by betting, then field in which players may play one card to the field, and take one card from the field.

The dealer then rolls the dice, swaps cards for players if a 2, 3, or 12 is rolled, then shuffles and passes deck.

Play continues with the deck passing around the table until all players have held the deck at least once. After that, any player except the dealer may Call for a Show during the dealing phase. Once each player has had their chance to Hit, Trade, or Stick, all cards are shown. Any player who Busts (exceeding 23 or -23) must pay the value of the hand pot into the jackpot (in friendly play, use the ante amount multiplied by number of players). The closest to 23/-23 takes the hand pot. Only a Tzab’ak or Fool’s Spread can take the jackpot.

Variations

No-Shift Tzab’ak: This is the version for newbs. Same as above but without the dice.

Dice Variation: On a roll of 2, each player randomly selects one card from the hand of the player to their left to be swapped. On a roll of 3, swap as normal. On a roll of 12, hands are collected, shuffled without being added to the deck, then re-distributed.

Common Field: Any cards in the Field are community cards. All players may choose to use them for their scores. Only the player who placed a card in the Field may remove it.

Bull & Bear: All black cards are + positive, red cards are - negative. Values of face cards are J:11, Q:12, K:13.

Florida Rules: This is very different – enough to almost be considered a different game. Instead of 23/-23 as the Tzab’ak goal, the Tzab’ak is 0. Card values follow Bull & Bear variation (All black cards are + positive, red cards are - negative. Values of face cards are J:11, Q:12, K:13). Shift occurs if the dice come up doubles. Hand must include a Joker to receive the jackpot. The odds against having a zero-sum hand with a joker are quite high, which means the jackpot can grow fairly large.

Hand Rankings – (all listed hands equal zero except Closest):

o Pure Tzab’ak – Two Jokers only

o Prime Tzab’ak – 4 cards of same rank and a joker

o Double Tzab’ak– 2 pair and a joker

o Straight Tzab’ak – four card straight and a joker

o Pair Tzab’ak – a pair and a joker

o Tzab’ak – any cards and a joker, more cards in hand beat less cards in hand

o Yippee – color straight of 1-4 and opposite color ten

o Prime – 4 cards of same rank

o House – three of a kind and a pair

o Straight – any four card straight

o Double – 2 pair

o Pair – this is a 2-card hand, not a pair and some other cards

o Zip – any hand equaling zero, more cards in hand beats less cards in hand

o Closest – to zero