Kalooki is a card game with object to form melds which are three or four cards of the same rank (such as 7-7-7, or a run of three or more cards of consecutive rank in the same suit (such as 8-7-6-5 of heart). Two standard packs of cards plus two jokers are used. Ace scores 11 points and ranks high only as in AKQ ( no 32A). All face cards score 10 points. Other cards score as their face value. A joker scores as the points of the card it represents, but has a penalty of 15 points. The beauty of this game is to play against a robot, and you have an option to see how it plays by clicking button See Opp’s. The players first agree on the stake of the game, its default is $10. You can change it on the Welcome page. To play the game without seeing the opponent’s card click button Play on the Welcome page and the game proceeds as follow:-
1) Players take turn to be the dealer. You are assigned as the dealer for the first game. You deal the first card face down to your opponent and then one card to yourself until each player has 13 cards, then the next card face up on the table to start the discard pile, and the remaining pack face down on the table as stock cards.
2) The non dealer plays first. For the first play a player can either taking the face up card by clicking button Take Up or a face down card from the stock by clicking button Take Down. For subsequent play, a player is not allowed to take a card from the discard pile unless the player can lay down his/her initial meld(s). After having laid down meld(s), a player is free to take a card from either pile.
3) You then have an option to lay down as many melds as you have. A meld consists of three or four cards of the same rank of different suits. A meld can also consist of three or more consecutive cards in the same suit. Jokers can be used to represent any missing cards. The first meld(s) to be laid down by a player must have value not less than 40 points. Once you have laid down your own meld{s]. You can also lay off card(s) which forms melds to other cards on the table. To meld cards, tap at the cards and click button Meld.
4) When there is a joker in a meld on the table and you have the card it represents, you can swap your card with the joker and then immediately use it to meld cards in your hand. You do this by clicking at the card and the button GetJoker.
5) You then discard a card face up from your hand to the top of the discard pile. To discard a card tap at the card and click button Drop.
6) A player wins the stake if after discarding a card and has no card on hand. This is known as “calling up”. A player wins double of the stake if he/she can meld all his/her 13 cards at once. This is known as “kalooki”. When a player calls up or kalookies, the total points of cards on hand of the other player are counted as penalty of that player. When a player’s penalty point reaches 150, he/she has to pay again five times the stake to the other player. If the stock runs out, the discard pile except the last discard card is reshuffled as stock. When the stock runs out the second time, the game is declared void. To play next hand click button Next.