We are still in laid back camping mentality around here. (Doesn’t mean there’s been time to lay back and relax, but I am there mentally.) I’d love to be sitting at a picnic table and playing games with my family.
What are your favorite games to play while you are camping? Today I thought I would share a couple of ours, as well as how to play our favorite card game, Tic.
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I think there are several different versions of Tic, but this is the way that we were taught to play. You can play with 2 players (HH and I do it all the time) and up to 6 players. Any more than that makes the game get really slow.
The Object of the Game:
To be the first player each round to “Tic” and get rid of all of your cards, and to have the lowest number of points at the end of the game. You “get rid” of your cards by grouping them into sets of 3 or more, all of the same card (ie three Queens) or having a straight flush.
How to play:
Start by taking 2 standard decks of cards (including the jokers) and shuffling them together. You play in rounds in each game. For the first round, each player is dealt 3 cards. Jokers are wild and 3’s are wild (because you have 3 cards). The dealer turns over the top card on the remainder of the combined deck and creates the “discard pile”. The person on the dealer’s left goes first. They can either pick up the card on top of the discard pile or draw from the deck. They can keep the new card or discard it, but they can’t have more than three cards. Remember, the object is to create a “set” of cards and to “Tic” before any of the other players.
Here’s an example:
All players were dealt 3 cards. Let’s say that Player B was the first one to “Tic”. They had a run of 3 in a row a 9 of clubs, a 10 of clubs and a wild card. Once someone “Tics” every other player gets one last chance to either pick up the card they need/minimize the number of points thy’ll get stuck with. In this instance, Player C drew from the pile and fortunately came up with a 3, which is a wild card this round. They will go out with 0 points against them. Player A didn’t have 3 of a kind or a run, and had no wild cards, so the best they could do is to discard a high point card. (Aces count as 15 points against you, face cards are 10 and everything else is number value)
The person who was the first to Tic becomes the dealer in the next round. This time, each player is dealt 4 cards and 4’s become the wild card. (The 3 is now just a regular card.)
Let’s say that Player B is having a really good game, and they are the first to “Tic” again. Player C gets one last chance to pull the card they need or minimize the count against them. In this case, they pull the card they need, so again, they go out with 0 points. Player A pulls a wild card which allows them to create a set of 3 kings and those cards will not count against them. They go out with 8 points.
The after the round of 4 cards, the next round is 5’s. Each player gets 5 cards and 5’s are wild. (I personally think that 5 is the most difficult round.) Once you move on to 6 cards, it gets easier because you are able to break things back down into sets of 3.
So in this example, Player A “Tics” with a run: 8,9 and 10 of clubs and a set of 3’s (Remember, 6 is wild.) Player B is able to go out with 0 points: 3 Aces and a run with the 4 and 5 of hearts and a wild card. Zero points against Player B, but poor Player C is stuck with 53 points. They couldn’t put together any sets of 3. Bummer!
So from here you play a round with 7 cards, then 8 cards, then 9, all the way up to the point you’re trying to hold 13 cards and Kings are wild.
Scoring:
You want the lowest score possible, which is why it’s so important that you don’t get stuck with a lot of points at the end of each round. In fact, the person who “Tics” in each round actually gets -15 points added to their score. (I always have HH keep score or use a calculator since adding and subtracting with negative numbers can get me all twisty. Math? Me no likey.)
Anyway, Tic is one of our favorite games and we hope you give it a try. It’s a smidge confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it is addicting.
A couple of other games that we love:
and Left Center Right
.
Disclosure: I am an amazon.com affiliate
We are a game game family! We took Apples to Apples just 2 weeks ago and LOVE it! Great games up there!
Pinned it so I can refer to the rules. Might have to have the laptop out the first few rounds 😉 Thanks for sharing.
This is basically 5 crowns with regular cards and slightly diff scoring.
These all look like fun. I am terrible, terrible, terrible at understanding games from reading about them, but I love to play once I've got the hang of them. I'm pinning this for easy reference. Thanks, Viv!
Cool! We need more card games to play. Pinned!
We play a game very similar to Tic that we love very much. Our new favorite game is a fast moving dice game called Tenzi. There are lots of easy to learn variations of Tenzi (Team Tenzi & Stealzi that we like to throw in as well)
This is the same as five crowns but with a regular deck of cards. Thanks! didn’t even think to use the regular deck!
We played the game with -5 points for the One who tics. Seems a better pay to keep competition going. I like the game and hope to find players in my country of birth.
We play that the person who “tics” gets -10 points. Also, you always have to have a discard when you tic.
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY—we removed the ‘offensive’ cards to allow the 12-yr old to play with us.
We like “Golden 10”—played with rook cards. (need at least 3 players)
“pig” is a fun card game, also “cheat” which goes by many other names such as “liar” or Bullsh*t”.
Touble is also a family favorite
Genius idea!!!!
God directed Paul to create a storehouse at that time of plethora so there
would-be loads for individuals in the period of absence.
Tic card Game: if a player accidentally discards a wild card, can any player grab it and immediately discard one card from his hand? on rounds where the two and ace are wild, do you still deal 13 cards, or 14 for the aces and 15 for the twos?
Hi June,
If a player accidentally discards a wild card, only the next person can get it. There is never a round where the 2 and the ace are wild. You starts with 3 cards (three being wild) and work your way up to 13 cards with the king being wild. 🙂
We play that it is taken by the next player in line.
We play two extra hands after the King: ONE WITH 14 CARDS WHERE aCES ARE WILD, AND ONE WITH 15 AND DEUCES WILD. COMPLETES BY USING ALL CARDS AS WILD.
oNE QUESTION: cAN YOU LAY TWO WILD CARDS AND ONE NATURAL AS A SET OF THREE? i DON’T THINK IT’S RIGHT BUT SOME IN OUR GROUP PLAY THAT WAY.
Hi Vivienne,
I came across with your blog while i was seeking for different card games on web. i ve read your tic blogpost and felt a little bit ashamed since i did not know this game as a card game blog owner.
thanks for sharing. keep up the good.
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what if you have a tie score in tic. don’t see it mentioned.
Then you play another round, or you could always have a tie breaker where you play the Ace or 2 as the wild cards. (You’d still need to put together a book of 3…)
I recently learned this game but I’m flabbergasted at the name tic. It’s really a progressive form of rummy with wild cards. thUs, when teaching it to my grandchildren I now call it progressive rummy. Makes way more sense than tic.
We have played for years and years, almost 50 years i would guess. We start with 3s as you say dealing 3 cards and go through aces dealing 14 cards. We only deal 3 through ace. You can play wild cards as natural cards, but you have to have at least 2 natural cards in a set or run. Yiu can then have as many wild cards as you want. The other difference we have is in scoring. The person who ticS subtracts The value of whatever card is wild from their score. So when 5s are wild you subTract 5, when jacks are wild, you subtract 11, etc. Anyone who tics second gets a score of 0. When counting up your score foR each hand, the card valUes are face value for 2-9, but unused 10s, jacks, queens, and kings count 10 against you. Aces and jokers unused count 15 against you.. its like golf, the lowest score wins.