ROCKAWAY

Waipa Post, Volume 42, Issue 3305, 4 June 1931, Page 2

ROCKAWAY

A NEW CARD GAME. A craze is arising for a new card game, rockaway. It bears some resemblance to coon-can. Rockaway is (according to a London correspondent) played by any number of players from two to eight, but if more than four players sit down two packs of cards are required. Seven cards are dealt to each player, and the dealer then places the next card in the middle of the table, face upward. This exposed card is the foundation of a pile on which each player in turn seeks to play a card from his own hand. The rules require that this card shall be either of the same suit as the exposed card, a card of the same denomination irrespective of suit, or an ace. Every ace in rockaway counts as a joker. Each player plays in turn. If he cannot match either the suit or the face value of the upturned card, and he is unwilling to use any ace he may possess, he must draw the top card from the undealt cards of the pack, and continue drawing until a suitable card is turne up or the pack is exhausted, when the next player has his turn.

The ace is all important in rockaway. Being regarded as a joker, it represents any card in the pack, and therefore it can be played on any card. An ace enables its possessor to change the suit of the top card on the pile, a device which may easily have a decisive effect on the game. If an ace is put on the pile the next player must follow suit, or play another ace. An ace of hearts must be followed by any heart, or any one of the unplayed aces. The first player who rids himself ol all his cards is “out,” and the scoies of the other players are then counted in order to decide the relative points. For the purpose of points cards count their face value. Court cards count 10, and aces 20 or the total score doubled, whichever is the greater. A session at rockaway is ten deals, and the player with the lowest score wins.. In the last three games of a session, however, each player’s score is trebled, and if the pack in the centre has been exhausted the score is trebled again, making the tally nine times the number shown by the cards. Thus in the last three games of a session a player left with four court cards and an ace would score 10 for each of the four court cards, and the 40 would be doubled, before it was trebled, and re-trebled, making a total of 720 points. . . The use of the ace is a dominant feature in the tactics of rockaway. A player may either use his joker or jokers at once, or he can go on drawing cards, or he can force his next opponent to play. The ace is the only exception to the rule that a card must be added to the centre pile if the player has a fitting one. But holding up an ace may offer yet another opportunity. If a player sees that one or more of his opponents hold more cards than he does, though he has an ace in hand, he may deliberately draw the remaining cards from the pack with the object of exhausting the pack, so procuring “a double,” by which all scores are automatically doubled. On the other hand, there are obvious dangers in holding an ace too long. Switching from one suit to another by means of an ace is also a device which may assist a far-sight-ed player. The device may not only enable a player to rid himself of some of his own cards, but it may also force his opponents to keep on drawing. In such tactics lies the “ play ” in rockaway. It is frequently better to go on drawing cards with the object of stopping an opponent rather than to run “out” oneself.