How To: Play The 13 Cards Game "Ramee"

A 13-cards Ramee game is usually played between 2 players with one pack of cards.  If three players are playing, then a 9-cards Ramee is played with one deck.  For 4-players and more 21-cards Ramee is played and two or more decks are needed.

In this article I'll explain how to play a 13-cards Ramee.

Aim and Objective

The main aim of this game is to make sequences.  The sequence is minimum of 3 cards.  One sequence of three cards without a joker is compulsory.  The ace can be used in two types of sequences as in: Queen, King, Ace, and Ace, One, Two.

Another type of sequence will be for example, 3 or more Kings, 3 or more Fours, 3 or more Sevens and so on.  But you need one plain sequence in the ascending or descending order as mentioned in the previous paragraph.

The sequence is always of the same suit.  That is all cards that constitute a sequence has to be of the same suit and cannot be of different suits.  For instance, for a sequence of Five, Six and Seven, either all will be of clubs or all spades or all hearts or all diamonds but not one heart and two clubs, i.e., no mixing and matching.

The person who utilizes all the 13 cards in making sequences fastest wins the game.  To indicate that you have won the game, you have to pick up one card from the pile or use an existing card in your hand if the picked up card is useful for you and place it face down either on the table or on the floor or on your hand along with the other cards face up.  Once a card is kept face down then you are the winner and you have to show the cards to the other player(s).  If the other player finds that there is something wrong in one sequence then you will have -100 points to your name.

Point System

Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten => all are worth ten points each
The remaining cards => are worth the points of their denominations.

How To Play

In our example, we'll consider a 2-player game.

The dealer will play last.  He will ask the other player to cut and take out one card from the pile he cuts.  This card will be an additional joker, i.e., a joker in addition to the regular jokers.  Example, if the player who cuts, takes out nine of spades and places it in the center, then all the other 3 "nines" will be jokers and can be used for making a sequence.

However, one plain sequence without any of the jokers, regular or additional is a must.

After the cards are dealt, 13 cards to each player, the remaining cards are kept at the center on top of the nine of spades and the first card on the pile is kept face up on the deck.

The person who made the cut takes the first turn.  If the card kept face up on the pile is say "King of Diamonds" and is useful for him in making a sequence or he feels he can make a sequence later on with it, he can take it, or can pull one from the deck. He can then put either the same card face down or another unwanted card from his hand will be kept face up on the table or the floor.

Then the next person proceeds to take his turn by either drawing the top card from the deck or taking the top card that is face up near the deck.

The game continues until one of the players has completed all the sequences in which case he'll either draw one card from the pile that has face down cards and keep the card face down on the table or simply pick up a card discarded by the other player and place it face down, or pick up a card, add it to the sequence and use another card to be put face down declaring "Ramee".

After the Ramee the points of the loser(s) are counted.  The points of the cards used in the sequences are not counted.  The points of the stand-alone cards i.e., those which do not fit the sequences are counted.

For instance, if the player who loses has three cards remaining that does not fit into a sequence viz. two of clubs, queen of spades and King of Hearts then his points are -22.  The points of the winner will then be +22.  This is because the two of clubs carries 2 points and the queen and the king, 10 points each.

A rare case is when the joker does not fit any of the sequences.  In our example, we had all nines as the jokers (since nine of spades was taken out) along with the regular jokers.  A joker that does not fit any of the sequences carries 10 points.  So, if the person who lost had a nine of diamonds that did not fit any of the sequence the nine of diamonds would carry 10 points and not nine points, since it is first considered as a joker and then a normal nine.  You cannot use 2 jokers in making one sequence.

In our example the nine would have its use as a nine in certain cases for a sequence like Eight of Spades, Nine of Spades and Ten of Spades or as a joker as in three 2s where one of the 2s is a nine.