OGFHow to play Jhayesh
Jhayesh is a fast card game for 2 to 7 players. You make pairs, draw blindly from your neighbour's hand, and whoever is left holding the last King loses the round: they are the jhayesh, "the donkey".
1Goal
- Get rid of all your cards by making pairs.
- Don't be the last one holding the King, the only card that can never be paired.
2Cards
- Played with the Chkobba deck: 4 suits, values 1 to 10 (Queen = 8, Jack = 9, King = 10).
- Three of the four Kings are removed at random, face down, so nobody knows which one is left.
- That leaves 37 cards: 18 pairs and one lone King. Suits don't matter; a pair is two cards of the same value.
3Deal
- All cards are dealt one at a time; some players get one card more.
- Everyone immediately puts their pairs in the middle. With three of a kind, you put down one pair and keep the third card.
- The first player dealt to starts.
4A turn
- Draw one card, face down, from the hand of the previous player still in the round.
- If it pairs with one of your cards, both go to the middle. Otherwise you keep it.
- Then the next player draws from you.
- You can rearrange your hand at any time to hide the King: drag your cards or tap "Shuffle".
5Going out and losing
- A player with no cards left is safe and leaves the round; play skips to whoever still has cards.
- Once all 18 pairs are down, the player holding the King is the jhayesh and deals the next round.
- After the chosen number of rounds (1, 3 or 5), whoever was the jhayesh most often loses the game.
6Playing online
- Create a table, share the code or the link, and start once everyone is ready.
- If your turn timer runs out, a random card is drawn for you.