Poker Relay

At the start of every game players are dealt 13 cards each from a single deck and the first player to start must either place a 7 of any suit on the board or put one of the cards they're holding facing down, which is taken out of play and will count towards the player's score at the end of the game. The next player then places either another 7 of any remaining suits on the board or must play the next highest or lowest card for the card that was previously played (for example, if the first card played was the 7 of spades then the next player must either have a 7 of hearts, diamonds or clubs or a 6 or 8 of spades). If the player doesn't have a playable card then they must decide which one of the cards they're holding to put down. The game concludes when each player has played or put down all of their cards, and each player's score is calculated at the end of the game according to the total face value of the cards they put down (for example, kings = 10, aces = 1, etc.). The player with the lowest score wins and that player is awarded points, while the other players lose points according to the total face value of their cards. If a player's points reach zero then they have to leave the game. The game features a number of strategic elements that players can take advantage of. Before starting each game the player can choose which of the nine available opponents to play against (with the main difference between each opponent being the number of points they start with) and the player can also select a multiplier value that will substantially increase the number of points they receive if they win the game. The multiplier value adds an additional element of risk to the game because if the player loses they'll lose more points than normal, which could force them out of the game sooner. Once a game is underway, if a player holds a 7 of any suit this can be deliberately held back to force other players to try and play all of their cards from other suits first; this strategy needs to be applied carefully though because the player won't be able to play any of their own cards from the same suit until the 7 is played. Players can also use their other cards to stop opponents from playing higher or lower cards in the same suit (for example, if the player has the 9 of clubs then it will be impossible for other players to play the 10, jack, queen or king of clubs).