From the cast of Hanna Montana, to James Bond, from Hello Kitty to the DC Superheroes and from Only 
Fools and Horses to Olympic Legends.  There is sure to plenty of packs that spark the interest of 
your children.  The game has never changed which means that it's very easy to teach them and once 
they've played once they'll be hooked for years.  Wet summer days, long car journeys or just when 
you want to spend some quality time together as a family, our Top Trumps will allow you all to have 
a great time and keep them entertained.  On a slightly less fun, but no less important, note - Top 
Trumps will help your children with their reading, numerical and calculating skills and the best 
bit is they won't even know they are learning because they'll be having so much fun.

Collectors, connoisseurs, parents or just someone who wants a new deck of playing cards, come closer, we have a great range of beautiful cards for you.  Illustrated by hand and then printed on the continent our Heritage Playing Cards are simply beautiful to behold and interesting to collect.

Each deck focuses on a different aspect of the natural world, from garden plants, to butterflies, from fossils to gems & minerals, from fish to whales & dolphins and many many more.

One each card there is a different image, produced by hand, relating to the theme of the deck.  Below the beautiful watercolour image is some information about the animal, vegetable or mineral featured.   This means that these cards are perfect for children learning about their environment or the natural world.

Aside from the learning potential from the cards we think they are some of our most beautifully designed cards and therefore make the perfect present for anyone you know who loves cards and loves beautiful watercolours of nature.  With 36 different designs, and counting, we think you’ll be sure to find the right deck for you.

Bezique

Players: 2

Requirements:  Bezique markers, 2 packs of cards

Checkout our Bezique gift set if you want a hard copy of the rules, markers and cards.

Setup:

Remove jokers and all cards with a value of six or below, so that you’re left with the aces, face cards, and the cards numbered 10, 9, 8, and 7. Shuffle both packs together. You should be playing with 64 cards.

Both players cut the deck, and the player who’s cut to the highest value card deals. In bezique, 10 is the second-highest scoring card. This means the descending order of card values is:

Ace

10

King

Queen

Jack

9

8

7

Remember, tens are higher than face cards!

The Deal:

16 cards are dealt in the pattern 3-2-3. The dealer deals:

• 3 cards to his (or her, clearly!) opponent
• 3 cards to himself
• 2 cards to opponent
• 2 cards to himself
• 3 cards to his opponent
• 3 cards to himself

After these cards are dealt the dealer places the next card face-up between the players; this card’s suit will be the trump suit. (If this trump card happens to be a 7, the dealer scores an automatic 10 points.) The remaining cards, or stock, are placed next to the trump, and then you’re ready to play!

The Objective:

To be the first reach 1000 points by winning tricks and making melds.

Huh?

(Don’t worry. Keep reading.)

Play:

A trick is just another name for a round and in order to win a trick, you need to play a card higher than your opponent’s. So, here goes!

The non-dealer leads by playing any card from his hand.  The dealer can then play any card – in Bezique, he does not have to follow suit.  If chooses to play a higher card of the same suit or any card from the trump suit, he wins that trick.

For example:

Let’s say that diamonds are trumps.

Player 1 (non-dealer) leads by playing a 9 of hearts.

Player 2 (dealer)      plays a Jack of hearts and wins the trick.

OR                  plays an 8 of diamonds and wins the trick.

OR                              plays a Queen of spades and loses the trick.

In the case of two cards of the same rank being played (e.g. a King followed by a King), the first player wins the trick. At the end of each trick both players draw a card from the stock, and the winner of the trick leads.

So that’s how to win a trick. But what is a meld?

After winning a trick (but before picking up a new card from the stock) the winner can meld, or declare, that he holds in his hand one of Bezique’s special point-scoring card combinations.  He places the cards face-up on the table and records his score on his marker.  Don’t feel compelled to memorise these before your first game – our Bezique set comes with a rules book which will be an invaluable reference until you’re addicted. But in the meantime, here are the melds:

MELD                                                                                                 SCORES

Marriage (K and Q of same suit; not trumps)                           20

Royal Marriage (K and Q of trumps)                                           40

Bezique (Q of spades and J of diamonds)                                40

Any four jacks                                                                                   40

Any four queens                                                                               60

Any four kings                                                                                   80

Any four aces                                                                                    100

Sequence  (A – J of trumps)                                                         250

Double Bezique                                                                               500

The melds are placed face-up because these cards might be able to be re-used in future melds. In other words, if you meld a royal marriage, the king from that meld can be used a trick or two down the line as, say, one of a collection of four kings. He CANNOT be used to “remarry” the duplicate Queen of Trumps – as in life, in Bezique polygamy is disallowed!

Once the cards in the stock are used up, the game changes a bit. (Don’t panic, because it actually becomes simpler.)

The winner of the final trick draws the last card from stock, and the loser takes the face-up trump card. There are eight more tricks left, and they are played like this:

• Now each player must follow suit and play a higher card if possible. If you can’t follow suit, you’ve got to play a trump. If you can’t do either, you’ve lost the trick.
• No more melding!
• The winner of the final trick is granted ten bonus points.

After the very last trick is played, each player counts the number of aces and 10s that he’s won. Each ace and each 10 earns you a further 10 points and these are called brisques.

A Post-Script: Penalties.

More than eight cards in your hand? Bad news: 100 points to your opponent.

If a player forgets to draw a card from the stock after a trick (in the first part of the game) then his opponent gains 10 points. It’s a bit like UNO.

In the second part of the game, if you don’t play a higher card or trump where you can (and your opponent is savvy enough to spot this) then all the brisques are awarded to him.

Good luck!

Canasta

Canasta was invented in Uruguay 1939. Amaze your friends with useless trivia!

Players: 4 (variations do exist for 2, 3, 5 or 6 players)

Requirements: 2 packs of cards including jokers, score pad

Interested in Canasta checkout our gift set

Setup:

There are many Canasta variations with varying degrees of complexity, but this overview should get you started…

The four players play in two partnerships, similar to bridge. It doesn’t matter who deals initially, because the dealer doesn’t have an advantage (although the first player does). The deal then moves clockwise after each hand.

All jokers and twos are wild cards!

Different cards have different point values, and these are printed on our Canasta cards for use in scoring. Our Canasta set includes comprehensive instructions about scoring.

The Deal:

The dealer shuffles both decks and all jokers together. The player to his or her right cuts, then the dealer gives 11 cards to each player. Place the remaining cards, or stock, in the middle of the table and turn over the top card to form the discard pile.

If this top card happens to be a three or a wild card (a joker or a two) then keep turning over cards until the top of the discard pile is neither wild nor a three. All subsequent discards will be placed on top of this card – you’ll never see more than one card in the discard pile.

The Objective:

To collect sets of cards. Bezique players will already know that this is called melding.

Play:

The player to the left of the dealer either chooses to pick up the entire discard pile or draws a card from the stock. He then either melds or ends his turn by discarding something unwanted. If he picks up a red three, he must play it immediately and draw another card from the stock.

Erm… melds?

A meld is simply a set of three or more cards of the same rank, e.g. 3 sixes or four Jacks. Remember, twos and jokers are wild! A meld must contain at least 2 “natural” (not wild) cards and cannot contain more than three wild cards. As ever, referring to the rules booklet included with our canasta set will keep you on the straight and narrow, and there are examples within of permissible and impermissible melding.

You can add cards to your partners meld, and make as many melds as you like in a turn.  You don’t necessarily have to discard, as long as you can “go out” by melding all your cards.

A canasta is a meld of seven cards.

Two final points about the discard pile:

If your partnership hasn’t melded yet, you can’t pick up from the discard pile.

If a wild card turns up in the discard pile, the pile is frozen and no one can pick it up.

Happy Conasta-ing!

We offer a Canasta gift set if your interested in Canasta and want a hard copy of the rules.

Our exciting new blog will be updated regularly, bringing you news on the very latest additions to our playing card collections and game ideas.

So many people underestimate children and adults today and assume that quality entertainment can only be found in an electronic screen! PAH we say to that. Playing cards and card games are a great way to spend some quality, thoughtful time alone playing games such as patience or time together as a family spent playing fun games such as top trumps, whist and many many more!

As our first blog post, we encourage you to log onto our site and have a browse around all the different playing cards we have on offer! Have fun, be creative and get playing!