Identify a card game where you discard playing cards based on die rolls

Question

I am looking for rules to a card game I played as a child, which we called "Polish Poker". However, when I search for the name online, the rules I get don't match what I played, so I guess it must go under other names.

I recall that we used a standard deck of 52 cards and took out aces, sevens, kings, and jokers. On your turn, you roll two dice. If you have a card in your hand matching the roll (Jacks are 11 and Queens are 12), you discard it. If you roll a seven, you put a penny (or whatever you are using for chips) from your supply into a pot in the center, which the winner gets at the end. I don't remember what happened if you rolled a card you didn't have.

I think the whole deck of cards might have been dealt to each player in their hand, but I'm not entirely sure. Does this sound like a game that might have more complete rules, perhaps under a different name?

Answer 1

I played the game like this in the mid 1970's

Equipment:

• 2 Dice (d6)
• 1 Pile of pennies for each player, or tokens of your choice
• 1 Cup or bowl
• 1 Deck of playing cards for every 4 players

Example:

• 1-4 players = 1 deck
• 5-8 players = 2 decks
• etc...

Setup:

1. Remove Jokers, Aces, Sevens and Kings and put them aside as they are not used.

2. Remove any extra cards starting with the Queens to ensure everyone gets an even number of cards.

   Examples:

   • 3 players = 1 deck. ( 40/3 = 13 ), remove 1 Queen
   • 6 players = 2 decks. (80/6 = 13), remove 2 Queens
   • etc...

3. Place cup/bowl in center of the table.

4. Shuffle the cards.

Game Play:

1. To start the game, each player picks a card, the player with the highest card deals and starts. If 2 or more pick the same high card, all others are out and the tied players pick again until only one gets to start. If more than one game is played, the winner of the last game deals and starts the next game.

2. Game play is to the left.

3. Roll the dice.

4. If you roll a 7, you throw a penny in the pot and pass the dice to the left.

5. If you have the number thrown (for example you throw 3+5 = 8 and you have the 8 of hearts), you toss that card on the pile and pass the dice to the left.

6. If you don't have the number thrown, you throw a penny in the pot and pass the dice to the left.

7. If the person before you did not have the number matching the dice, and you have more than two cards remaining, you may throw a matching card yourself and then roll the dice as stated above.

8. You must roll the last two cards yourself. So you can't throw one of those if your neighbor fails to play a card.

9. The game ends when a player has no more cards.

10. They are winner and collect the pot.

Answer 2

That is the polish poker that we played too. You may continue to roll the dice as long as you can discard the card that corresponds with the dice. If you roll a number that you don't have, then the dice goes to the next person that has the card to match. We also played that if you rolled doubles you retain the roll of the dice despite not having the corresponding card but the next person that has the card may discard it. And yes, the entire deck (minus the aces, sevens, kings, and jokers) is evenly distributed to all players. Extra cards are set aside.

Answer 3

The game sounds a little bit similar to wichita, it doesn't exactly match your description and is not normally a gambling game but someone might have put a slight variant on it.

Here are the complete rules.