My Ship Sails

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Setup
3. Playing
4. Winning
5. Tips for beginners
6. Variants

Overview

My Ship Sails is a simple, quick card game for children. Everyone passes cards around the circle at the same time, trying to collect seven cards of the same suit – seven hearts, for example. The first to manage it lays their hand on the table and calls "My ship sails!" It works like Pig, but you collect a suit instead of four of a kind, and nobody touches their nose.

• Players: 4–7.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers.

Setup

1. Choose a dealer. The dealer shuffles and deals 7 cards to each player, one at a time, face down.
2. The rest of the deck is set aside; it isn't used.
3. Everyone picks up their cards and sorts them by suit, keeping them hidden from the others.

Playing

All players pass at the same time, again and again:

1. Choose one card you don't want and put it face down on the table to your left.
2. When everyone has put a card down, pick up the card your right-hand neighbour put down for you and add it to your hand.
3. Repeat.

Pick the suit you have most of and pass on the other cards. Your neighbours are doing the same, so a suit you collect may be one they pass on – or one they keep.

Example: Anna holds ♥ A 9 7 4 2, K♣ and 3♠ – five hearts. She passes the 3♠ to her left and picks up the card from her right: the J♥. Now she has six hearts and passes the K♣ next time.

Winning

As soon as you hold seven cards of the same suit, call "My ship sails!" and lay your cards face up on the table. You win the deal. If two players call in the same round, the one who called first wins – or, if you agree beforehand, the one with the highest card in their suit (Ace high).

Play as many deals as you like and count who wins the most. The deal passes to the left.

Tips for beginners

• Decide on your suit early, but stay flexible: if your right-hand neighbour keeps passing you clubs, it may be easier to switch.
• Watch what you pass: the cards you pass to the left help your neighbour, so don't pass the suit you think they are collecting.
• Keep your cards sorted so you notice your seventh card at once.

Variants

Optional – agree before you start.

• Three cards (Foster): deal 3 cards each. The player to the dealer's left swaps one card with their left-hand neighbour, who must give theirs before seeing the one they get; then that player swaps with the next, and so on round the table. Whoever first holds three cards of one suit calls "My ship sails", swapping stops and all hands are shown. If several players have one, the highest total wins (Ace 11, face cards 10, other cards their number). If nobody has three of a suit after two rounds of swapping, the highest total in two cards of one suit wins; ties go to the player nearest the dealer's left.
• Ox, lie down! (Ochse, leg dich!): a German and Austrian family version. Use 32 cards (7 to Ace of each suit; put the 2s to 6s away) and play with 4. Deal 8 each. Instead of passing all at once, the players pass in turn: the player to the dealer's left passes a card to their left-hand neighbour, who then passes one to theirs, and so on round the table. Whoever first holds all eight cards of a suit lays them down and calls "Ox, lie down!" Each other player then pays the winner one chip for every card they are short of eight in their longest suit.
• Matrimony or Vive l'amour: for 4 players. Deal out the whole deck, 13 cards each. The player to the dealer's left passes a card face down to their left, then the next player, and so on. The first to hold a complete suit of 13 cards wins.