The objective in Kemps is to achieve a hand of four cards of the same rank
- Card Game With Traffic Signals
- Card Game With Signals
- Card Game With Hand Signals
- Card Game With Partner Signals
- Team Card Game With Signals
Kemps, also known by many other names, is a matching card game for two to six teams of two players each, where each player must secretly communicate to their partner when they have four matching cards in their hand. The game is played with a standard 52-card deck. The game is said to have originated in Brazil.[citation needed]
Objective and game play[edit]
The fun in the game is figuring out your own signals. Dropping one of the side cards in your hand so it rests at a 90 degree angle. Eating a snack next to you. Holding the cards with one (or two hands, depending on how you started out) Holding your cards in a V shape. How to Play Kent. Kent, also knows as Kemps or Cash, is a fun card game to play with a group of friends. The object of the game is to get four of a kind (four cards of the same rank), display your team's signal, and have your teammate call.
The objective of Kemps is for a player to get four of a kind (i.e., four cards of the same rank), and then to signal this to their partner. The partner must call the name of the game to score.
Prior to the game, partners confer to pick the secret non-verbal signal that will indicate to each other that they have four of a kind.[1] There are many kinds of signals, such as tapping, gesturing, or holding cards a certain way. However, signals that are below the table are illegal, and players may not make signals which have a meaning other than 'I have four of a kind'.[1]
Partners sit diagonal each other, with the playing surface in the middle, so that opponents have a chance to see the signals.
- Each player is dealt four cards to begin the game.
- Four cards are turned face up on the central playing surface.
- All players may swap one of their cards for one of the central cards at any time.
- If it appears that no further swaps are desired, a player will verify this (often by saying an agreed on word by all, like 'flush' as in flushing the unwanted cards down the drain, or just 'trash' or 'discard'), clear the central four cards, and then turn up four new central cards.
- Cards that have been cleared may not be retrieved, so their ranks cannot be collected in full to complete the game objective.
A player may call 'Kemps!' if they believe that their partner has four of a kind. If correct, the team gains a point. If not, they lose a point.
If a player believes that an opponent has four of a kind, and if 'Kemps!' has not been called by their partner, they may cut by calling 'Stop Kemps!' (also 'Cut!', 'Counter-Kemps!', 'Block!' or another word depending on the variant being played). When a player cuts, any opponent with four of a kind must show their cards.[1] If they have a four-of-a-kind, then the cutting team gains a point. If not, then the cutting team loses a point.
Variations[edit]
Peanut Butter[edit]
Players call 'Peanut Butter' when they believe their partner has four of a kind, and 'Jelly' when they suspect their opponents. In this variant, players may use verbal signals, and agree to play a specific (odd) number of rounds at the start of the game.[1]
Guess the Sign Kemps[edit]
In this variation of Kemps, after a correct call of 'Kemps', the opposing team has an opportunity to guess the signal of the calling team. If they guess it correctly, then the point earned for the call is canceled, and neither team scores. This is used to prevent obvious signal from being used just because they work the first round.
Super series Kemps[edit]
In the Super series Kemps variation of the game four players for each side are required. The game still uses the basic principles of Kemps with two pairs competing, but at the very start both teams flip a coin and the winning side decides who will go first. There are six rounds per game, and each of the four players will play in three of the six rounds. The team who, according to the coin flip, is 'going first' will have to decide their pairs for the first three rounds first. It will then swap for the second half of the game, and the other team will decide their pairs first. The supersub is a designated extra player, one for each team, that cannot call Kemps or use cards; they can only call contra-Kemps.
Three-player Kemps[edit]
Ideally played with two teams of three players each. Played the same way as normal Kemps but two of the three players must have four of a kind and the third player on the team must call Kemps. Because there is a delay for 2 of the 3 players to get four of a kind, five cards per hand are used for the fifth card to serve as decoy for the player to avoid being called 'contra-Kemps' on.
Five-player Kemps ('Chemist')[edit]
In five-player Kemps, or 'Chemist', each player forms two independent teams with the players sitting across from them. For this reason, each player has a unique team composition. Players directly adjacent are the only players able to counter-claim Kemps. Scoring is as in the traditional game, with a correct 'Kemps' claim yielding one point for the pair of players involved in that interaction. Often this variant is played with the word 'Chemist' spoken as the signal for Kemps.
You've Got Crabs[edit]
The 2018 commercial card game You've Got Crabs by Matthew Inman and Elan Lee plays as the same as the original Kemps, with some changes to team rules and a different card distribution.[2]
References[edit]
- ^ abcdhttps://www.pagat.com/commerce/kemps.html
- ^'FAQs'. youvegotcrabs.com. You've Got Crabs.
External links[edit]
- Official site of KEMPS, archived, not actually official
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kemps_(card_game)&oldid=987330869'
This description was contributed by Elena Anaya
- Variations
Players and Cards
There are usually four players, but it is possible for a larger even number of people to play. The players are divided into teams with two players in each team; the partners sit across from each other.
One standard deck of 52 cards is used (if there are more than eight players, two decks may be used).
Object of the Game
- Hand Goal:
- To obtain four of a kind (i.e. four cards of the same rank) and for your partner to say 'KEMPS', or to say 'KEMPS' yourself when your partner has four of a kind. Alternatively you can win the hand by saying 'STOP KEMPS' when a player from another team has four of a kind, before their partner says 'KEMPS'.
- Game Goal:
- In each hand the losing team gets a letter of the word KEMPS as a penalty. The first team to spell the whole word K-E-M-P-S loses the game.
Preparation - agreeing signals
First decide who is playing with whom. Then each two player team goes away and privately agrees a signal that they can secretly use to tell each other when they have four of a kind. The signal can be a body movement, a gesture or a hand signal, but words are not allowed (for example saying 'elephants' cannot be used as a signal).
You can have several signals and can use more than one in a game. You can also use meaningless signals to confuse the opponents, but you are not allowed to have any signals with a meaning other than 'I have four of a kind'. Cheating by using signals with other meanings is known as 'table talk' and is penalised by loss of the game if discovered.
After any hand any team is allowed to agree new signals; they may want to do this if they suspect that the opponents might have guessed some of their existing signals. The more subtle the signal the better.
Card Game With Traffic Signals
The Deal
Choose a dealer. This can be done at random or someone may volunteer. The dealer deals four cards to every player. After everyone has looked at their cards, the dealer deals four more cards, one at a time, in a row face up in the middle.
The Play
When the last card has been turned up, any player can pick up one (or more) of the face up cards from the middle, add it (them) to their hand, and immediately discard a different card(s) face up in its place. Players do not take turns. A player who picks up more than one card must discard an equal number of different cards, to reduce their hand back to four cards. If two players want the same face up card, the first player to touch it gets it.
Players continue replacing cards, as often as they want to, until no one wants any of the four face up cards. The dealer then sweeps these four cards away, and deals out four new cards on the table. Play then continues as before. This is repeated until the deck is gone or someone yells 'KEMPS' or 'STOP KEMPS'.
KEMPS
As soon as this is said the hand is over. The partner of the person who said 'KEMPS' must reveal their cards. If they have four of a kind the opposing team receives a letter starting out with 'K'. With more than 4 players, all of the opposing teams get a letter. If the partner does not have four of a kind, then the team that incorrectly called 'KEMPS' receives a letter. The dealer then deals for the next hand.
STOP KEMPS
As soon as this is said the hand is over. 'STOP KEMPS' is said when a player suspects the opposing team of having 'KEMPS'. If one of the opposing players does in fact have four of a kind, then the team who was 'stopped' receives a letter. However, if 'STOP KEMPS' is said and the opposing team does not have 'KEMPS' then the team who said it receives the letter. The dealer then deals for the next hand.
Example: Team A thinks Team B has four of a kind. Team A says 'STOP KEMPS'. When the hands are checked neither player of Team B has 'KEMPS', so Team A gets a new letter.
Real Deal
If a point is reached when no one wants any of the face up cards, and the dealer has no more fresh cards to deal, the hand ends and no one gets a letter. This is called a real deal. The dealer then deals for the next hand.
End of the Game
Card Game With Signals
The first team to lose five hands, thus getting five letters spelling the whole word K-E-M-P-S loses the game.
Variations
- Some people play that at the end of the deal, the play starts when the dealer says 'GO'
- Some people only allow one card to be picked up at a time. The player must discard a card before picking up another.
Peanut Butter
Card Game With Hand Signals
Elton Pinto writes that in the variation Peanut Butter:
- You say 'peanut butter' if you suspect that your partner has four of a kind
- You say 'jelly' if you suspect that an opponent has four of a kind
- Verbal signals are allowed
- The two teams agree beforehand how many hands should be played (the end of a hand is when someone says peanut 'butter' or 'jelly'). This must be an odd number.
Hints
- Use simple signals.
- Make an agreement with your partner to look for the signal after each time that the cards are swept away.
- Don't be obvious as to which cards you are going for.
- Observe the other team carefully.
- Confuse the other team by occasionally picking up cards you don't need.
- If you figure out what cards your partner is going for, discard cards that will help your partner.
- Use fake signals to make the other team yell 'STOP KEMPS', without confusing your partner.
Card Game With Partner Signals
Other Kemps WWW Sites
When I first published this page I thought that Kemps was an American game, but since then I have been contacted by Kemps players from various parts of the world. For example the former 'Official Site of KEMPS' at kemps.free.fr was published in France and claimed to be the first web site entirely devoted to this game.
Here is Ed's CSB Kemps site from California, which includes rules of the version of the game played there.
Team Card Game With Signals
Clever Games have published an app The Kent for Android.