Super Hyper Twisted Knot
Interesting, but who has the time?

Super Hyper/ Twisted Knot
The card game that never gets boring (once you've figured it all out).

What you need / Starting / Taking a turn / What the cards mean / Reference Sheet
Tips and Strategies / Game history

Why do I want to learn this game? That's the question I hear from you, that's the question I'd ask anyway. There are hundreds of card games floating about, most of which involve learning things, like strategies, keeping scores perhaps. In fact why play cards at all? I'd say 90% of people who read this page are gonna go "ugh, can't be bothered with that" and if that's you then go back to yahoo and do another search on the spice girls or something, I don't care. Perhaps out of those 10% who think it’s a good idea, half might actually try playing it. Out of those, maybe the last 1% won't give up after the first game. I'm not going to lie to you. It's not easy to learn but it is easy to play once you have learnt, and at the point when you stop saying "what can I lay now?" it actually becomes really good. This game, when played properly, is about strategy, in fact, you could write books of strategies for this game (and as this page grows, it will turn into a book I'm sure). If you do get into this game then please mail me, I'd like to hear from you, you will have joined an elite.

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Down to business

What you need: A normal pack of cards, a reference sheet, and some people with intelligence and patience. Jokers are used in the game. Multiple packs of cards can also be used, this just lengthens the game. It is best to start with just one pack though.

The game can be played by any number of players (except one, obviously). Three is the best number for playing at first.

The Aim of the game: is to lay (get rid of) all your cards.

Suits (i.e. hearts, diamonds etc) are irrelevant, and not part of the game.

How to start: Shuffle, and deal the cards, each player receives a pile of cards face down in front of him. All the cards are dealt. Players do not look at the cards in their pile. The players all take one card from the top of their pile, then hint at the value of their card to decide who should go first. The player with the lowest value card (see below for values) goes first. For your first few games, I recommend that you all look at the cards and choose the lowest, since you don't know the values, although eventually, you will probably not want the other players to know the exact value if you aren't starting. Lines like "Hmm….I could be starting", "I probably won't be starting" or "I might be starting" are common.

Once the first card is laid, the player to the left of the starter^* has to beat that card, in a similar way to games such as shithead. However, beating the card is not simply a matter of laying higher than that card. Each card has specific requirements to be beaten, which we will come to shortly.

^{* Note: If the first card is a jack, a king or a ten, play does not move to the starter's left, see below for more details.}

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A Turn

If the player can beat the top card then he can lay his card on top of that, and play moves on to the next player.

If he can't then he must pick up the card (and any cards underneath it), and hold them as a hand. That player must then play (in turn) from that hand until all those cards are laid, when he can move back to his pile.

If the player wishes, he may pick up the cards and hold them in his hand even if he can beat the card on top. This would be done for strategic reasons, most obviously to give the impression that he can't beat the card, or to obtain certain cards that have been laid. If the player voluntarily "picks up" in this way he must still play all the cards in his hand (in turn) before moving back to his pile.

If the player "picks up", voluntarily or not, play immediately moves to the next player, who can obviously lay anything, as there are no cards to beat.

Multiple cards of the same value can be laid together as one (but they don't have to be).

It is usual to continue playing even after someone has won, until only one player has cards left and thus a loser has been found.

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What the cards mean

Each card may have two characteristics, it's position in the card order, and it's actions. These two properties determine what each card can beat, and what cards can beat it.

No card can beat all the other cards, and no card cannot be beaten with a different card. This is partly what makes the game so interesting.

Card Order

The cards are valued in the following order, although some cards have specific requirements to be beaten, or for beating other cards. This card order is fundamental to the game however, and is the order in which it is best to arrange cards in your hand.

The 3 is listed twice as it can beat most cards, but it can also be beaten by all cards except 2. Thus the 3 effectively 'resets' the game.

The Cards and their actions

The listings for what each card can beat, and what it can be beaten by, are based entirely on 1) The card order and 2) The actions of the cards.

^** This does not include beating 8s, or pairs beating jokers, since beating these cards is dependant on beating the card underneath.

Invisibility:

The 8 is invisible. Although this means that the card underneath has to be beaten, this happens in card order terms only, in that the card does not have to be even if a 5 is underneath, and a pair is not required if a joker is underneath. The action of the card underneath is not applied. If there are no cards under the 8, then anything can be laid upon it.

The joker is invisible in the same way, with the specific requirement that a pair must be laid that beats the card underneath. This pair does not need to be odd or even if the card underneath is a 7 or a 5. If there are no cards underneath the joker, any pair can be laid.

If a pair of 8s is laid on a joker, the card under the joker dictates what must be laid, as if only a single 8 is laid on that card.

Additional Rule:

If four cards of a kind are on top, then all the cards in play are discarded in the same way as when a 4 is laid. These 4 cards can be laid over any number of turns, but they must be together on top of all the cards in play. For example, if Player A lays two 3s, player B lays another 3 and player C then lays another 3, all the cards are discarded, and player C has another turn. If player A lays four 3s, all the cards are immediately discarded and player A has another go.

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Reference Sheet:

Super Hyper / Twisted Knot

Card Order (lowest first)

• 2
• (3) Can be beaten by any card except 2
• 5
• Queen (counted as even)
• 7
• 9
• 10
• (Joker) can beat any card 2-10 but is invisible (see below) (counted as odd or even)
• 6
• Jack (counted as odd)
• King (counted as odd)
• Ace (counted as even)
• 3,4,8 - All on same level for beating other cards

Special Functions

• These cards multiply function according to number of cards, ie lay 3 tens, have 3 goes

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Tips and Strategies

Use of 9s and Aces:

Since most of the game is played with cards in the player's hand, it is important to have a strategy for getting cards from your pile. Simply waiting until you have played all the cards in your hand is generally not good enough, and a common technique is to collect either nines or aces. What you do is say collect 3 aces, play all your other cards, and lay the three aces together. You can then pass three cards from your pile to the next player. With nines, you can try to play them last, and discard a number of cards directly from your pile. Important: When passing or discarding cards directly from your pile, you are allowed to look at them first.

Use of tens and kings:

Tens and kings can be used to lay a number of cards at once. If you collect, say, three tens and two kings in a three player game, along with some aces, you can lay the three tens, some sixes, some jacks, the kings, and then your aces all in one turn. The kings are your third turn from the tens and as both the other players then miss a go, you have a fourth turn to lay the aces, and then (hopefully) pass on some cards from your pile.

If you collected two tens with threes and nines, you can then lay then tens, the threes, and end up with the nines so that you can discard some cards from your pile. With more tens you could also lay other low cards (e.g. sevens) between the threes and the nines. This is a useful way of getting rid of low cards, as well as discarding cards from your pile.

Saving particular cards so that you can beat other cards:

There is a general habit among new players to hold on to queens for the express purpose of using them when the next two comes in their direction. This isn't worth it, and I'll explain why: The two technically beats nothing, and can only therefore be laid on it's own, or on an eight with nothing underneath. Two twos could be laid on a joker with nothing underneath. So the net result of not having a queen is at worst picking up a two and some eights or a joker. Picking up twos isn't as bad as it seems, they generally get passed on again quite quickly, and as for eights and jokers, neither could be called bad cards. Picking up only really hurts when there are a lot of cards, and there never are underneath a two.

In a two player game, a Jack can only be beaten by a five. This is an important part of the two player game since a Jack, unlike a two, can be laid on a large stack of cards. Not having a five at a crucial point can quite simply lose you the game. Like with the twos, laying multiple Jacks requires multiple fives, so keeping track of all the Jacks and fives that might be in play is essential.

Winning:

It is unusual to win just by laying the cards in your hand, generally you will be stuck with a few cards that the other players continually prevent you from laying. To get around this you need to ensure that you have the right number of nines or aces to finish the game. Say you had two cards left on your pile, and five in your hand, including a ten and three aces. You could lay the ten, followed by the aces, pass on the remaining three cards, and you would be out of the game. Obviously this kind of strategy requires careful planning.

Being unpredictable:

In this game more than others, being unpredictable is paramount. If the other players know your tactics, they can then manipulate you into losing. Badly. So it is important to change your tactics frequently, and sometimes, playing cards which just leave the other players stumped. Playing at random all the time just doesn't work though, at least not if any of the other players are good.

Making it harder for other players:

This game is often not about winning, but about not losing. The key thing to remember is that you need to try to keep the other players off their piles, and playing from their hands as much as possible. You can do this using the "pick up" cards, like jokers and twos. Even if you don't know what cards a particular player has in his hand, if he has two cards they are unlikely to be a pair, so a joker will probably mean he has to pick up. A player with two cards in his hand is far less likely to have two queens, so those irritating twos come in useful, if you can lay them.

Another thing to remember is that when a player has only one card in his hand, he will need a second card to lay two queens or a pair. If a player needs two cards in this way, then he may take a second from his pile, whether the first meets the requirement or not. Clearly, you do not want him to take from his pile, so it is best not to lay the joker, or to lay only a single two.

Example: If you lay two twos, and the next player has only one card in his hand, he is entitled to a card from his pile whether the card in his hand is a queen or not. If, however, you lay a single two then the next player cannot take a card from his pile, and must pick up the two if the card in his hand is not a queen.

This may seem like a small consideration, but every card that a player takes from his pile brings him one step closer to winning. He has fewer cards on his pile, and an extra card in his hand that may be a good one.

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The History of "Super Hyper"

The game was developed by Toby Galbraith, Steve (Nev) Lewis, Seamus Constance and Paul Mabley in room 8 Wolfson Terrace, Bath University in November 1993. It has since been played across the UK, most notably in Bath, Southampton (where a variant of the game was developed), Cornwall, London and Manchester.

The Southampton variant

The Southampton variant of the game is the one more commonly known as "twisted knot" and features a slightly different interpretation of some of the rules. The first being the number 8 "invisibility" rule, which instead of meaning the "invisibilty" described above simply means a repeat, in full, of the card underneath as though that card had simply been played again. The other main difference is where cards that are laid in multiples (eg: three 2s) actually multiply their meaning. In the Southampton twisted knot variation multiple twos do not require multiple queens. So a single queen can be laid on any number of twos.

Comprehensive

Finally, I believe that this is the first time (11/97) that the rules to this game have been written down in such a comprehensive way, and I need to thank the all those involved for creating it. I also need to thank Toby Galbraith for his assistance in compiling this page.

NOW GO AND PLAY IT!

The game super hyper/twisted knot is © Galbraith/Lewis/Constance/Mabley 1993 and details of play may not be distributed for profit or reward without first attaining the permission of one of the creators.

The instructions and information as published on this page are © Paul JaYmes 1997 and may likewise not be distributed for profit or reward without first attaining the permission of the author.

Click here for loads more card games

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Stolen for my own evil purposes on March 7th, 2000 from http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/5550/cards.html.