About Spar

Spar is a card game that has been around the western African continent for a while, particularly Ghana. It's a game based on both skill and chance and mostly played for money. It is also played socially where the object is to score points. It's a turn-based game where a player wins a round of play by performing a trick. The winner of the last turn of play gets to win that round and the cycle continues until the target is reached.

Playing The Game

The players initially decide what the high score of the game should be. This is usually in the range of ten to a hundred in increments of ten. They also decide which rules apply, such as if there will be betting, the use of the under ten rule, and that of dry and wet.

A dealer is then chosen, this could be at random or based on a coin toss. It should be noted that the dealer plays the game as well and not like other card games where the dealer only deals out cards.

The deck is then shuffled and players are assigned their five cards. The dealer then start by playing any card of choice. The rest of the players on the table are then forced to follow suit. In situations where a player has not got the dealers suit, they get to play any card of choice.

After everyone has had a turn the highest-ranking card-holder of the dealer's suit becomes the round leader and proceeds to start the next round of play. The process continues, following the round leader until all the cards are played. The winner of the last round of play gets to score points, and if there was a bet gets to win the money. The process continues until the agreed points on start up are reached. A detailed description of the processes is given below.

Players

The number of players in any game of spar ranges from two (also known as heads-up) through to seven (seated at a single table).

Deck Of Cards

The game is played with 35 cards in the deck. The cards used are the six to Ace of all suits with the exception of the Ace of Spades. These are then ranked from six to Ace of all suits with the Ace being the highest. Except for Spades where the highest-ranking card is the King. Each card is worth a point except for the six and the sevens of all suits that are worth 3 points and 2 points respectively.

Shuffling the Deck

The deck is shuffled after every three games in a two-player game or heads up mode, every two games in a three-player mode and after every game in a four or more player mode.

Dealing Cards

This is done in a sequence of the one dealing the cards. Lets call this person the dealer. The dealer deals three cards to each player starting from the player to his left (clockwise) and dealing to himself last. The sequence is then followed again this time dealing out two cards to each player and himself last. The player to his left then starts the round of play. The dealer is always the winner of the previous game or if it's the start of the game the winners of a coin toss.

Scoring

1.	The most points to be won in the game, is 12 points. This is a dry and wet combination of which both cards are sixes.
2.	The next is 10 points. This is a dry and wet combination of the six and seven cards.
3.	The next is 8 points. This is a dry and wet combination of which both cards are sevens.
4.	The next is 6 points. This is winning with a six card of which the player's penultimate card was another six card.
5.	The next is 5 points. This is winning with a six card where the player's penultimate card was a seven or winning with a seven card where the player's penultimate card was a six card. The score is only awarded if both cards are not of the same suit, else only the last card counts.
6.	The next is 4 points. This is winning with a seven card of which the player's penultimate card was another seven card.
7.	The next is 3 points. This is winning with a six card.
8.	The next is 2 points. This is winning with a seven card.
9.	The next is 1 point. This is winning with any other card. (8 upwards)
10.	The least points in the game, is -3 points. This is a result of the offside rule.
NB:	in point 7 and 8, the points are doubled if the winning card is a dry card.

Dry

A player can choose to show a six or seven of any suits to the opponents, by placing the card face up on the table with the intention of winning with that card. This in turns double the value of the card. For example a six will then be worth 6 points and a seven will be worth 4 points.

Wet

A player can wet a six or a seven if a dry is already in place. This requires the card to be placed face down on the table. And just like the dry the value of the card is doubled. The exception being that a dry and wet of the same suit is not allowed. For example you cannot dry a six of spades and wet a seven of spades.

Rules

1.	A suit must be followed if requested by the round leader. This could be ranked higher or lower at the player's discretion.
2.	During the course of the game, if a player is found to have a suit, which was requested by the round leader and was not played, the player gets a score of -3 and the game ends. This is known as the offside rule.
3.	A player can play any card if they do not have the requested suit.
4.	During the course of the game, if a dry card is played at any point besides the penultimate round then the wet card must be turned face up so all players can see. This only occurs if a dry and wet is in place.
5.	A dry and or wet must occur before the first round of play.
6.	A dry and or wet card if played at anytime besides the penultimate and final round loose their double points and become regular six and seven cards.
7.	To beat a card, it has to be the same suit and have a higher rank than the played card.
8.	A player can trade all five cards for another set, if the highest-ranking card of all his or her cards is nine provided there are more cards in the deck. This is known as the under ten rule and must occur before the first round of play.
9.	A player can request to see the last card in the deck in the penultimate round, provided there are more cards in the deck. This can only occur once in a game by one player only. This is known as the under card rule. It is based on the assumption that similar cards stick together when shuffled.
10.	The looser of the game or the coin toss has the option to cut the deck before it's dealt out after it has been shuffled. This is known as the cut rule.
11.	A player cannot have more than five cards at any given time in the game.
12.	During the game if a dealer or the round leader's card is not matched they proceed to start the next round.

Betting

1.	Each player buys into the table with the amount set at start up.
2.	A bet can only take place before the first round of play if accepted by an opponent.
3.	A player is not obliged to place a bet.
4.	The winner of the game takes the money. In a situation where none of the betting players win the game, the players keep their original amounts.