Flapjack - A Math Card Game

From Life Take 1
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Here's a card game I (Lisa in AZ) made up to help my daughter with adding positive and negative numbers. I named it Flapjack and it uses a standard deck of cards. More than two people can play it, and you can use multiple decks of cards if you like.

The object of the game is to play cards so that the total value played equals 13, -13, or 0. The player who does this takes the trick. (all the cards currently in play) At the end of the game, the player with the most cards taken wins.

Deal each player 7 cards. Place the remaining cards face down between the players for a draw deck. The black cards are positive numbers (ace = 1, jack = 11, queen = 12, king = 13) The red cards are negative numbers (ace = -1, jack = -11, queen = -12, king = -13)

One player plays any card face up, announces the total value of the cards in play, and then draws a new card from the draw deck to replace it. Unless the first card played is a king (value = 13 or -13) then the next player will lay down a card, placed so that all cards in play can be seen, add its value to the current value of the cards in play and announce the new total. Players may not play a card that will cause the total value to exceed 13 or -13. As soon as any player plays a card that causes the total value of the cards in play to equal -13, 0, or 13, that player announces the total and the win by yelling 'Flapjack!', and takes all the cards in play as a trick. (place the won cards in a separate pile next to the winning player to be counted after the game is over)

The player who wins a trick starts a new round. If a player can play no card legally, he/she skips a turn. If no player can play legally, or when all cards have been played, the game ends, and the unused/ unwon cards are left in the middle. Each player counts the number of cards won in tricks, and the player with the most cards wins.

There's enough strategy to this game to make it interesting for adults as well as for children. I came up with this game because my daughter hadn't been exposed to negative numbers before, and because she needs a lot more practice with her basic addition and subtraction facts. It's probably suitable for children aged 8 and up.

If you want to play a simpler version of this game, you could remove the face cards and play to 10, 0, or -10. Another alternative version of the game would have all cards with a positive value, and play to either 0 or 13, but allow each player to specify whether the new card played is to be added or subtracted from the old total. (If you play this version, you'll have to have somebody keep close attention to the running total, because it'll be hard to go back and recalculate it.)