P’yanitsa is a version of the card game War and a favorite among Russian children. When learning about games from around the world, it is interesting to note how many games are the same or simply variations of games that we are already familiar with. After learning how to play P’yanitsa, have your child compare P’yanitsa to War, finding the similarities and differences.
Equipment Needed to play P’yanitsa
- A deck of playing cards
- 2 players
Goal of P’yanitsa
There are two variations to this game. In the first version, the player with all the cards wins, and in the second version, the player with no cards wins. Decide before playing each game which version you want to play.
How to Play P’yanitsa
The game is played with 36 cards. Use the A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6 of each suit. Remove the other cards from play.
In P’yanitsa, aces are the highest ranking card, with the exception that sixes beat aces.
Cards are shuffled and dealt face down to the two players. Cards remain face down and are placed in a pile in front of each player.
Each player turns up the top card from their pile and places it in the center of the table. The highest ranking card takes the trick, unless an ace and a six are played. In that case, the six takes the trick.
The person that wins the trick, places the cards face down at the bottom of their pile, and these cards become part of their playing deck.
If a tie occurs, each player turns over another card face up on the card they just played. High card wins the trick and all the cards in the center of the table unless there is another tie, in which case another card is turned up. This continues until one player wins the trick.
The game continues until one player has all the cards and the other player has none. Depending on the version that you chose to play, the winner is the player with all the cards or none of the cards.
