Floop

Floop is the most popular card game in Solus Mari. It's played with a normal deck of cards between two people and is a popular gambling sport. It is a fairly recent invention which has become popular more in the east, especially the city of Vialux. There are even large Floop tournaments which have also become very popular attractions.

History

Floop began as a game played by travelers on trains as a way to pass the time and gamble on long rides. It also became popular with gypsy caravans who, early on, helped spread the game around the island. Eventually normal business people and workers traveling the rails took notice and brought the rules of the game back with them. Now there are professional Floop players and Floop tournaments all over, but, especially in Vialux, where the largest yearly Floop tournament lasts a week, drawing in large crowds of spectators.

Execution

The rules of the game are thus: A deck of 52 playing cards are shuffled and each of the two players is dealt five cards. The players both have two lives. when one player has lost both their lives they lose. The first round, players play their cards in four columns which corresponds with the four suits. Each player plays in their own column that mirrors their opponents. The goal is to get a higher number than the other person in as many columns as you can, comparing how much you have in any of your columns vs theirs. If you have a higher total in the majority of columns after either, all cards are played, or your opponent has surrendered, you win that round and they lose a life. You can surrender before you've played all the cards in your hand. The gimmick is that, once per round you can "Floop" a single card by turning it sideways. Flooping a normal number card doubles its value. Flooping a jack makes all the cards in the column opposite the jack on your opponents side worth one. Flooping a queen lets you "burn" any card your opponent has played, taking it off the table. Flooping a king lets you draw one card. And finally aces automatically let you draw one card upon being played and cannot be flooped. If you each own two columns at the end of a round then it is a draw and you both lose a life. If this happens in round three the game itself is a draw. each new round, both players are dealt five more cards. If you surrendered before you played all your cards last round you can keep those cards for the next round. If a player has lost both their lives by the second round and the other has not, they win. The game can, though, go to a third and final round if they each have a life after the second round.

Components and tools

The game can be played with a simple deck of playing cards and four items to signify how many lives each player has, you can use bottle caps, coins, walnut shells, whatever you have.

Participants

During tournaments each game will have a dealer to fairly deal cards and oversee that individual game since during the first few days there will be many games being played at once. In Vialux the Pellian Amphitheater seats around 10,000 people every year.

Primary Related Location

Vialux