Cups (Card Game)

by Bojarski

50K188

Intro: Cups (Card Game)

Cups is a game that was invented by one of the Friends characters (Chandler) to give another friend (Joey) money to pay his rent. The rules of this game are made up but not all of them are known, therefore this Instructable will make up the unknown rules and explain the game.
"Beginner's luck, very important in Cups" - Joey Tribbiani

STEP 1: Intro

This game depends only on luck and the player who has a combination of cards with the highest rate wins. However, the card rate in this game is reversed i.e. the lower the card the higher the rate.

STEP 2: Begin...

1. Shuffle the cards
2. Give each player 2 cards and put the rest of the deck down
3. Players show cards at the same time
4. Person with highest rate wins
5. Put away used cards
6. Repeat step 2 - 5 until all cards are used and the player with most wins/round wins

STEP 3: The Combinations

Below follow the ratings of the cards from the highest to the lowest:
- 2 of clubs a.k.a. the Cup card
- 3 & 6 a.k.a. the D-cup
- 4 & 9 a.k.a. Full Cup
- Ace a.k.a. the Saucer Card
- 4
- 9
- 2 (not clubs)
- 3
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 10
- Jack
- Queen
- King

STEP 4: The Sitting-down Bonus

The sitting-down bonus is when a player wins 3 times in a row he/she is given 3 cards (instead of the usual two) and is allowed to make the best combination possible. Then the 3rd card not used, could be used in the next round only and in this round the player must give the extra card away.

STEP 5: The Saucer Card

The Saucer Card is an Ace and only when combined with 2 of clubs,3,4,6 or 9 is it a high rate combination. When an Ace is combined with other cards then the rate of the combination is lower than the lowest combination possible (King & King).
The rate from highest - lowest:
- 2 of clubs a.k.a. the Cup card
- 3 & 6 a.k.a. the D-cup
- 4 & 9 a.k.a. Full Cup
- Ace & 2 ♣
- Ace & 3
- Ace & 4
- Ace & 6
- Ace & 9
- 4
- 9
- 2 (not clubs)
- 3
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 10
- Jack
- Queen
- King
- Ace & 5
- Ace & 7
- Ace & 8
- Ace & 10
- Ace & Jack
- Ace & Queen
- Ace & King
- Ace & Ace

STEP 6: Rules

- Any combination with the 2 of clubs beats all the other combinations
- If players have equally high combinations, then they are to battle with one card only (instead of the usual 2 cards)
- Have fun!

6 Comments

GoldenMoonKelp 8 months ago

I believe that there was mention of a half cup in the show. Any ideas on what could be changed to make this possible?

bhard14 7 years ago

I like how you turned a joke into an actual, playable game, and you eliminated the dumb stuff (like a sitting down bonus) and tuned it into an actual thing.

Ginko Balboa 9 years ago

This is like enhanced game of simplicity, like rock paper scissors lizzard Spock :-) Nice, I’ll try playing it, and try it with some money put in :-)

tomatoskins 9 years ago

This looks like a super fun game! Thanks for sharing it with the community!