Koob is played with 2-12 players divided up evenly between two teams. It can be played on about any flat area. Use the pegs to mark off a rectangular area that is approximately 5yds x 7yds. Place the king in the center. Both teams then randomly place five blocks (koobs) on their baseline. To see who goes first, one person from each team tosses a baton at the king. The closest, without knocking the king over, goes first.
The Basic Rules Of Koob
Objective: Tip over all of the opposing team's koobs and then tip of over the king.
Team 1 starts things off by taking position behind their own baseline and tossing the six batons at any of the opposing team's koobs. You must toss the batons underhanded. Spinning, "helicopter" type, throws are not allowed. Be careful to not tip the King over! If a team knocks down the King before they've knocked down all of the opponents' koobs, then the game is over and that team looses.
When Team 1 has tossed all six batons, Team 2 tosses any koobs that were knocked down back over into Team 1's half of the playing field. The tossed koobs should be stood up again wherever they land. You get two attempts to land each downed koob in the opposing team's half of the playing field. If you fail to do so, the opposing team gets to place that koob wherever they would like. Placing these koobs behind the King is a popular strategy.
Now it is Team 2's turn to toss the batons. Any koobs that Team 1 knocked down and were thrown back onto their side of the field must be knocked down first. Only after that can Team 2 attack Team 1's five baseline koobs. If a koob on the baseline is knocked down before a field koob, then it is set back up again.
Play continues with each side taking turns throwing the batons until one team has knocked over all of the opponents' koobs. When a team succeeds in knocking down all their opponents' koobs, they must knock down the King. When this happens, they win the game.
MANNI
Introduction Manni is a popular Icelandic card game, and has large numbers of local versions. Manni means little man or chap, and is the name given to the spare hand of cards dealt to the table, which may be used to improve a player's hand. This page is based on translations by Anthony Smith of parts of "Spilabók AB" by Þ. Guðmundsson, 1989, Reykjavik and on information contributed by Eldsmiðurinn (Palli). The rules of the basic game will be given first, followed by several variations.
Basic Manni Players and cards Three players use a 48 card pack, made from a standard 52 card pack by taking out the twos. The cards in each suit rank in the normal order from ace (high) to three (low). The four twos are used as trump indicators; the trump suit rotates from deal to deal in the sequence hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs, hearts, etc. Deal 12 cards are dealt to each player, in packets of four. The remaining 12 cards form the Manni, which is placed face-down in the centre of the table. Exchanging cards The player to dealer's left has the opportunity to change all 12 cards with the 12 cards of the Manni (whose cards are unknown). If the player to dealer's left chooses not to exchange, the opportunity to do so passes clockwise around the table. Once a player has exchanged the other players must play with the cards they were dealt. If no one exchanges all play with their original cards and the Manni is not looked at. The Play The player to the dealer's left leads to the first trick. Players must follow suit if possible; if unable to follow they may play any card. The trick is won by the highest trump in it, or, if it contains no trump, by the highest card of the suit led. The winner of each trick leads to the next. Scoring A cumulative score is kept, everyone starting at zero. Players who win more than four tricks score one point for each trick in excess of four; players with less than four tricks lose a point for each trick short of four. Players with exactly four tricks neither win nor lose. The game continues until one or more players have a cumulative score of 10 points or more. The player who then has most points is the winner.
Púkk
Púkk is the Icelandic reflex of the Poch family of games, which are of some antiquity. It is suitable for a relaxing evening of conversation with friends and family, and is best played by five, six or seven players.
Equipment A pack of 40 cards is used, consisting of four suits: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades. The cards in each suit rank: 5 (low), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace (high). In addition, one needs a Púkk betting layout. This consists of a mat or set of dishes or "pools" to contain bets, and a set of chips, if one prefers not to play for money (the game is really only suitable for very small stakes, anyway). In this description, I will refer to chips, rather than coins, as a scoring medium.
The Púkk layout looks something like this: See photo below.
It has a large central compartment marked Púkk, surrounded by six compartments marked:
Ás (Ace), Kongur (King), Drottning (Queen), Gosi (Jack), Tía (Ten), Pamfíll (Jack of Clubs). .)
Dressing the Board Each play begins with all participating players "dressing the board" (að klæða in Icelandic). Each player is required to place a single chip in each of the seven compartments. The way that players actually perform this ante, in practice, is to place as many chips as there are players in the compartment closest to him, and to place one chip in the central compartment, which is a bit faster. It often happens that one or more compartments have chips left in them from the previous game, in which case, chips are added anyway. Compartments will always contain a multiple of the number of players (6, 12, 18, etc.) at the beginning of a game.
The Deal The dealer serves five cards, face down, to each player. He first serves three cards all around the table, and then the remaining two cards. Deal and play are to the left, and the deal passes to the left after each game.
When all players have received their five cards, the next card of the pack is turned face up for all to see, and designates a priviledged suit, called "trump" (tromp in Icelandic) even though Púkk is not a trick-taking game.
A player holding the 7 of the "trump" suit (a card called bísefa in Icelandic), may, if he wishes, exchange it for the turned-up "trump" designator.
Collecting the Ante The player who holds the Ace, King, Queen, Jack or Ten of the "trump" suit now displays it to the others and collects the ante in the corresponding pool. The player holding Pamfíll (the Jack of Clubs) collects the ante placed in that pool. (And, if clubs are "trump" receives both the ante for Pamfíll and that for the Jack of the "trump" suit.