Shanghai

This description was lifted from the following:
    http://www.pagat.com/rummy/ctrummy.html#shanghai
    http://www.pagat.com/rummy/carousel.html#shanghai
    http://home.sprynet.com/~nausicaa/shanghai.html (deleted)
and then modified terribly by Russell.

The Object

The game consists of seven rounds.  The object of the game is to have the lowest score after all rounds have been played.  Each round ends when a player has played all their cards, this is called "Going Out".  Once a player has Gone Out the other players are penalized for all the unplayed cards in their hands.  After the seven rounds the penalties are added up and the player with the lowest penalty wins.  The following table shows the penalty for each card:
CARD
DEFAULT
ALTERNATIVES
OVERRIDE
2
1
5
 
3
1
5
  
4
1
5
  
5
1
5
  
6
1
5
  
7
1
5
  
8
1
10
  
9
1
10
  
10
2
10
  
Jack
2
10
  
Queen
2
10
  
King
2
10
  
Ace
3
25
  
Joker
5
50
  

Players and Deck

The game can be played with any number of standard 52-card packs shuffled together with optional jokers.  The following parameters may be changed by agreement of the players:
PARAMETER
DEFAULT
ALTERNATIVES
OVERRIDE
Decks
2
1, 3...
 
Jokers
4
None, Decks*2
 
Lowest Card
Ace
Two
 
Highest Card
Ace
King
 
Cards Dealt
11
10
  
To go "OUT" you may
discard last card
NOT discard last card
  
Price for Buying a card
1
2
 
Cards you may Buy per round
3
2
 
Can only Buy/pickup most recent discard
Yes
No
 
Allow Jokers in Books
Yes
No
 
Allow Jokers in Runs
Yes
No
 
Multiple Jokers in same Book/Run
Yes
No
  
A Run of Eight is only one Run
Yes
No
 
Six of a kind is only one Book
Yes
No
 
Bonehead Discards
No
Yes, One Undo

The Terms

BOOK: Three or more cards of the same rank are called a "Book" or a "Trip[let]".  Examples of Books are: RUN: Four or more consecutive cards of the same suit are called a "Run" or a "Straight".  Examples of Runs are: If an Ace may be the lowest card (which it can by default) then the following is a Run: If an Ace may be the Highest card (which it can by default) then the following is a Run: The following are NOT Runs: and unless agreed upon at the start the following is ONE Run not TWO: and the following : is also only One Run, if you need to make TWO Runs out of it, you must hold the heart5 until your next turn and only play:

The Game

The game consists of seven rounds.  Each round has a required "Contract".  The contracts are:
Round
Contract
1
Two Books
2
One Book, One Run
3
Two Runs
4
Three Books
5
Two Books, One Run
6
One Book, Two Runs
7
Three Runs
scoresheet

The Deal

The dealer deals cards to each player.  Select the first dealer any way you wish.  In subsequent hands, deal passes to the left.  The unused cards are placed face down to form the reserve. The top card in the reserve is turned over to seed a discard pile.

The Play

Starting with the player to the left of the dealer, and continuing clockwise, each player in turn performs the following steps:
0) others may ask to Buy the card at the top of the discard pile.
1) pick up a card from either the top of the discard pile or the top of the reserve.
2) if they have a card which a Down Joker is simulating, the card may be exchanged for the Joker.
3) optionally put Down a contract
4) if their contract is Down, optionally add cards to other players Down contracts.
5) discard any one card remaining in their hand.
6) if no cards remain in their hand, they should yell "YAHTZEE!" or other appropriate phrase.
Prior to Step 1, any other player may say "I'd like to Buy that card!" (by which they mean the top of the discard pile).

If the current player wants the card at the top of the discard pile then:
    they pick it up and proceed to Step 2.

IFF the current player does not want the card at the top of the discard pile then it may be Bought.

Step 0 - BUYing a card

The player to the current player's left has the first chance to Buy an unwanted discarded card.  If they don't want it, the opportunity moves clockwise from there until it reaches the player who actually discarded the card.  They are not allowed to Buy it back.  As soon as any player accepts the opportunity to Buy, they take the card AND one or two more cards from the reserve.  Then the current player (not the Buyer) returns to Step 1 unless players have agreed that "Can only Buy/pickup most recent discard" is NO, in which case the current player returns to step 0.

Once Step 6 is past, play proceeds to the person to the left of the current player.

Step 1 - Picking Up a card

"So, do you come here often?"  If that line did work, you probably wouldn't want the card.  The player, at their discretion, picks up either: If the parameter "Can only Buy/pickup most recent discard" is TRUE, then the top card on the discard pile may only be Picked Up if it was the last card discarded by the last player to discard.  So, once the player has allowed someone else to Buy the top discard, their next move is usually obvious.

Step 2 - Exchanging Jokers

Once a Joker has been Put Down, it must stay Down, but not necessarily where it was originally deployed.  A Down Joker always has a Rank and perhaps a Suit (if in a Run) associated with it.  If the player has a card which the Joker had been deployed in place of, they may exchange their card with the Joker as long as: The player may exchange as many cards for Jokers as they wish.

Step 3 - Putting Down

During Step 3 the player may put Down a valid contract.  They must put Down exactly as many Books or Runs as the contract calls for.  The player may still exchange Jokers at this point.

Step 4 - Piling On

During Step 4 if the player has put Down they may extend any Book or Run which has been put Down by any player.  The player may still exchange Jokers at this point.

Step 5 - Discarding

If the player has no cards left, the hand is over, otherwise the player must discard one card.  If the player is now out of cards and the parameter "To go "OUT" you may" equals "discard last card" the hand is over.
If the hand is not over, the discard is now subject to the scrutiny of the other players.  If the next player is already Down and the discard could be picked up and deployed, the current player is to be subjected to ridicule.  Depending on the value of the "Bonehead Moves" parameter, the discard may not be accepted.

Step 6 - Gloating

You'll have to develop your own style.

Jokers

Jokers look like:

If you are playing with jokers (the cards not the opponents) they may be used in Books or Runs as agreed on in the parameter section.  In a Book, a Joker replaces a card of a specific Rank.  In a Run, a Joker replaces a card of a specific Suit and Rank.
 

More Variations

When only two people are playing, Buying as described above can't occur.  Therefore, if you wish wish to increase the number of cards in your hand you may pick up two cards from the reserve prior to your turn.  The net result is that you may add three cards to your hand and then discard one card from your hand.

With six or more players, two decks can get a bit dicey.  We've often emptied the reserve and have had to resort to shuffling the discards and recycling them.  There are a few alternatives such as more decks or partnerships.

More decks should not require an explanation, but we've found playing with three decks to be tedious and hard to shuffle.
 

Partnerships

Partnerships need some 'splainin'.  We've played partnerships with four and six people.  The player opposite you is your partner.  A round ends when one member of the partnership is out.  Optionally it can end when both are out.  Any player, when at Step 1, may forgo buying or picking up a card and instead pass two cards from their hand to their partner.  The partner assimilates the two cards into their hand and then passes back two cards.  The same cards may be passed both ways although the originator will become annoyed.  The instigator does not discard, but instead turns over the top card in the reserve and places it into the discard pile as if they were discarding. Play commences with the player to the left.  Anyone can offer to buy the 'discard', even the person who turned it over.  There are a few strategy changes to consider.
When you are the current player and your partner wants to buy the discard, obviously you will let them unless you too need it badly.  If you don't want the card and a player with higher priority than your partner also offers to buy it, you may feel the need to pick up the card and hold it until your partner can pass two cards to you.

If the partner of the current player wants to buy the discard and you have higher priority, you may offer to buy in order to 'force' the current player to pick it up.  This can backfire.

If your partner is down and your opponents seem to have more cards than you, you may want to pass cards to your partner which will enable them to go out.

If you can go down but have a joker, you may want to sandbag until you can free up the joker to pass to your partner.