The Rules Of 'Rola'
'Rola' (Pronounced "ROLL-EH") is a gambling game in my book "Planes". In it, each player uses a deck of no fewer than thirty and no more than fifty cards, and one pair of dice per person. Both players can create their own decks, or simply use the deck of cards given to them. The game is played in turns, with the diceroll determing how many "Actions" take place each turn, equal to the added sum of the roll divided by two and rounded up, if needed. "Actions" determine how many cards can be drawn and/or discarded each turn. With a dice roll of snake eyes (Two ones) the player is required to discard their entire hand, return all cards to the deck, and draw a new hand equal to the number of cards discarded, followed by the deck being shuffled. A dice roll of two sixes grants them the choice of returning all cards to the deck and drawing a new hand, or simply shuffling the deck.
Each player must have at least five cards in their hand at all times and no more than ten cards at any time. If too many or too few cards are currently in their hand, they must either draw or discard until they reach the appropriate amount. With only five cards in a player's hand, they cannot discard and with ten cards in a player's hand, they cannot draw.
The goal of the game is to have the highest combined value of cards up to thirty WITHOUT going over. When one player believes they have a good hand, they "Set" their hand (Put them face up on the table) and their turn ends, and they can NOT make any more actions for the rest of the game. Neither player can Set until at least three turns have passed. This gives the setter the advantage of determining when the end turn takes place, but also gives them the disadvantage of no more actions and no more turns afterwards. The other player has one more turn to make a winning hand and the last actions take place during this turn. At the end of the turn, regardless of the card value in the opponent's hand, they must set their hand and end the turn. Since one can only see their opponent's hand during the end turn, bluffs and estimates are a common occurence. The player with the highest valued hand, up to thirty, WITHOUT going over, wins. If both players have the same value of cards in their hands, they each draw another card and the higher value wins. If both players draw a card of equal value, they continue to draw until one draws a card higher in value. Only during the final turn can a hand's value exceed thirty, and only during a tie hand.
Gambling is done in Rola in the form of a "Pot" which is formed by both players adding an equal amount of money to the pot. A player can only add money to the pot if their opponent has an equal amount of money. If one has insufficient funds, no more money can be added unless they win enough to add more. At the end of a hand, the player who wins takes the entire pot. The number of hands is agreed upon before and can only be changed with the consent of both players.
Many different rule sets exist. One such rule set has a dealer who deals out the cards to both players. This rule change is usually done between players who have little trust for each other. Other variations include ones with no turn requirements, ones with different or no hand requirements, and any and all other variations one can think of.