Saturday

Jamaican Landmarks

Jamaica is truly an interesting place. Was doing a project recently and during the discussion it came up that there should be a website listing landmarks. I'm going to have to google this one. I have an idea about a few, but I don't know them all, if you could help me out here I would be grateful. List them with their parishes, if known. I came across this one, and thought I simply had to show it. It is a really old bridge that spans between two parishes. If you know the answer leave it in the comments section below. Usually on the way from town to country, this bridge represented that you were close to your destination.

Sunday

Jamaican Card games



Playing cards was one of my favorite pass times during the summer as a child. It was right up there with swinging from the trees and shooting birds and lizards with my slingshot. These may not be exclusively Jamaican, but I think most Jamaicans would agree that these games were well-known children's games.

You may think these games are common, but for the generation coming up these games are foreign, and if we aren't careful they will soon be forgotten,

Although the following games require a standard 52 deck card pack, not all the cards may be needed/used for each game.  I have included the rules for some of them.

If I have missed any games please feel free to jot them down here, or if you know any tricks and twists to existing games, please share.

Another interesting post on this blog is Jamaican ring games

Games

1) 3-ah-Card
2)Tief'n Cassie
3)Strip me.
4)D.O.N.K.E.Y.-1
5)D.O.N.K.E.Y.-2
6)Go Fish
7)Gin
8)Rommey
9)Tonk


Game-1
3-A Card

Rules
Each player is given 3 cards, then the dealer places one card face up. (players may look at their cards)The order of the games in voted on, whether clockwise or anticlockwise and each player takes turns in that fashion.

Each turn: If a person has a card in their hand matching the one that is face-up they would drop that card on top of the face-up card and then chose another from the other two in their hand and drop one.

This would be repeated until all cards are used up.

Each Turn: If there are no matching cards in the player's hand they would pick one from the deck, and drop it face up. The player has first dibs on the card played. If not wanted play moves to the next player until the card is desired i.e. a player has a matching card or all have refused the card. If no one has a matching card then the next player in line picks a card from the deck.

Who wins: The person who gets rid of all their cards first wins.

Game
Tief'n Cassie

Rules
All players are given 4 cards. The dealer then deals 4 cards face up. (players may look at their cards) The objective of the game is to get as many pairs as possible.

Each player takes a turn taking up cards from the ones face up with the ones in their hand. Each player can only play one card at a time to take up a pair.

Each time a pair is collected it goes to the top of the pile that the player has. The pairs must be turn face up on the pile. If player A has a matching card to the pair that was picked up by player B, player A has the right to steal all the pairs that player B has collected. (thus the name).

If a third player C has a matching card then the entire stack can be stolen from player A.i.e what player A took from player B, and then all the pairs that player A has collected.

who wins: Player with the most pairs when all 52 cards have been used wins 

Game
Strip me.

Rules
Players are evenly distributed cards, usually two players for this game. Only face cards (J,Q,K) and Aces have power.

Aces= 4 cards
K= 3 cards
Q=2cards
J=1 card

(players may not look at their cards)The players take a turn in placing a card face up until a power card is played.

On the next turn, the player pays up the power card. Unless another power card is played during payment. The previous payment is canceled and it now becomes the other player's turn to pay.

If no other power card is played, then the person who drops the last power card picks up all the other cards.

Who wins: The person retaining all the cards wins the game.

Game
1-D.O.N.K.E.Y.

Rules
Usually played with 4 people, may be played with more. (players may look at their cards) All the face cards and Aces (or other cards if more than 4 players) are removed from the pack. These become the playing cards. The whole deck is not needed for this game.

Each player is given 4 cards and the dealer starts by passing one card to the left/right.

The objective of the game is to get 4 of a kind and then drop your card as fast as the dealer or person passing the first card gets their card back.

The last person to drop gets a letter from the word "donkey"

Who wins: The person with the least amount of letters wins, and the person with all the letters in donkey loses. The other players compete for the second -third-etc places, dependent on how many players there are.

To enhance this game, I have seen where the loser gives a piggyback ride to all the players. Hence the name Donkey.

Game
2-D.O.N.K.E.Y.

Rules


Usually played with 2 players, may be more though. (players may look at their cards) A card is taken and hidden from the deck. Then all the cards are dealt to the players. Each player removes the pairs from their hand, and then take a turn to pull cards from other players hands. If a pair is achieved that pair is removed from their hand. If not the card is retained.

Who wins: The player stuck with the none matching card, get a letter out of the word "donkey." The player with the least amount of letters wins, and the player with all the letters in donkey loses. The other players compete for the second -third-etc places, dependent on how may players there are.

Game
Go Fish

Rules
Players


Jamaican Pet/Nick names

I made a post a couple of days ago about Jamaican names and someone said that I should should list the pet names of Jamaicans and those woul...