A Korean friend named Jinju tried to teach me and some friends one night at a bar when I wasn't in a learning mood. That, combined with the fact that her English isn't quite good enough to explain the intricacies of game, which there are many of, didn't really result in me learning anything, or wanting to learn anything.
A few months later a different Korean friend named Amanda taught me successfully because her English is so good that I thought she was Korean-American when I first met her, thus giving her an adequate grasp of the language needed to properly explain the game. Also, it was a rainy weekend day and we had a ton of time downtown because we were on what I think was a date, even though I didn't really want to be on a date, so that doing something as innocuous as sitting in a coffee shop learning how to play a card game seemed like a good idea.
Like I said, I've been playing a lot lately: with my friends Eric and Paul on Thursdays in a cafe in my neighborhood for 200 won per point (which can add up if you have a good night like Eric did two weeks ago, that bastard) or with my girlfriend or with random Korean bartenders who are amused that a foreigner can play a Korean game until I win money off of them to pay for my drinks at their bar.
I've taught a few other foreigners, and have wanted to put together a set of instructions that detail the gameplay and scoring as simply as possible, which is difficult because I am lazy and there are a lot of rules and ins and outs to the game. What I've written so far is pasted below. Please note it is by no means complete. It totally leaves out the explanation behind the part of the game from which it gets its name: Going or Stopping. Also, I just pasted this from a text document I have in which I've added pictures of specific cards or sets of cards to help explain things. There are no pictures down below, as you can see, because those pictures don't copy into this blog's text input boxes. Oh well. Try to figure it out if you can...
Go/Stop
Objective
The point of the game is to score points. Once you hit a certain number of points (7 in a two-player game, 3 in a 3-player game), you have the option to Go (continue playing the game to accrue more points) or to Stop (end the game and collect your points).
The Deck
A standard Go/Stop deck has 48 cards in it. Unlike a deck of regular playing cards, which has four suits of 13 cards each, a Go/Stop deck has 12 “suits” of four cards each. Each “suit” in a Go/Stop deck corresponds to month of the year. Each month is represented by different flower.
Card Categories
In order to score points, you have to collect cards, which are then organized into one of four categories:
1. Gwang (Cards with a Chinese character in a circle on them, there are a total of 5 – although some Gwang have animals on them, they can NOT be counted in the Animal category.)
2. Animals (Self explanatory, although a couple of them – the one with the blue flower and yellow reeds from May, and the the one with the yellow and red flower and the Chinese character on the red leaf from September – don't exactly look like animals.)
3. Ribbons (There are 10 cards with ribbons on them – three red ribbons with writing, four blank red ribbons, and three blue ribbons.)
4. Pi (Pronounced “pee” - or simply called “Junk” - these cards have no special designs on them beyond their month's flower design. Basically, if there is no ribbon, animal, or Gwang symbol on the card, it is Pi. There are a few “special Pi” which are worth two pi, including the weird, not-so-obvious animals cards listed above.)
Dealing: The games first deal:
Two Player: One player shuffles the deck, and the other player cuts. The dealer places four cards face-down in the middle of the two players. Then the other player gets dealt five cards face down, then the dealer deals him or herself five cards. Four more cards are then dealt face-down in the middle, five more go to the other player, then five more to the dealer. In the end, there should be eight cards face-down in between the two players, and each player should have ten cards in their hands. To determine who goes first, each player flips over a card in the middle, and whoever flips over the card that represents the latest month goes first.
Three Player: Similar to the two player style, but with different amounts of cards. After the deck is cut, the dealer puts three cards face down in the middle, then each player is dealt four cards, then three more go down in the middle, then each player gets an additional three cards. In the end, there should be six cards face down in the middle and each player should have seven cards in their hands. To determine who goes first, each player flips over a card in the middle, and whoever flips over the card that represents the latest month goes first.
Dealing: After the first game:
Dealing after the first game is done by the winner of the previous game. The winner also has the advantage of going first.
Game Play
Once the cards are dealt, the dealer goes first, and play goes counter-clockwise. Two things are always done on each turn. FIRST, the player tries to match a card from his hand to a card that's been dealt face-up in the middle. If there are no matches, he must discard one of his cards into the pile. SECOND, the same player flips one card from the top of the deck. If it matches nothing, the player must leave it in the middle pile. However, if the player matches any cards in the middle from either his hand or from the deck, then he takes those cards and arranges them on the table in front of him. Cards that have been matched are eligible to score points, whereas cards that haven't been matched and are still in the player's hand are not eligible. Basically, you have to match cards in order to score points with them.
However, if a player is taking his turn and he matches a card from his hand to a card in the pile, then flips a card from the deck over which matches the pair he just put together, then those three cards remain on the table until someone plays the fourth card that matches. You can ONLY take cards away in pairs or quads. When someone takes that pile with the fourth card, the other player(s) must give him one Pi card as a bonus. Also, if you have three of the same suit in your hand and the remaining match is in the middle, you can play all three at once, and again, you get a bonus card from the other player(s). If you do manage to play all three cards at once, you can take up to two turns where you don't discard from your hand, you just go straight to the deck and flip a card.
If a player cannot match a card from his hand, then discards one of his cards into the center pile, then flips a card that matches the card he just put down, this is called a Kiss, and the other players must give him one Pi in this situation.
Also, if at any time a player clears all the center cards, either by making two matches or by a Kiss, the player will one Pi from the other players.
Once you match cards and can score with them, you need to arrange them into the four categories listed from above. There are many different ways to score points, so it's important to organize your cards correctly.
Jokers
Each deck comes with six jokers, but games are usually played with only two. A joker is worth two Pi cards. If you are dealt a joker, you can play it, giving you two more Pi, and then you simply draw a card to replace it, and then start your turn over. Jokers can NOT be used to match cards that are on the table, they are simply used to give you another card. Once you play the joker and take your card, you must then play a card from your hand and then flip a card just like a regular turn.
If you flip a joker from the deck, you simply take that joker and flip one more card.
Scoring
Pi – to score with Pi, you must have at least 10 Pi cards. Once you have ten, you receive 1 point. Each additional Pi is worth 1 additional point. REMEMBER: there are four cards that are 'special' Pi cards, and that are worth two Pi each. See above. You might notice that two of them are also in the animal category. These two cards can be EITHER one animal or two Pi. If you collect either of these two cards, you can put them in the animal category first, and then opt to move them to the Pi category afterwards, but you cannot move them the other way.
Animals – to score with animals, you need at least 5. Each additional animal is worth 1 point. There is a special case with birds. You will receive 5 points if you collect the bird cards from February, April, and August.
The other card with a bird on it from December, does NOT count. However, if you collect the three correct bird cards, and two more animals, you will receive 6 points (5 points for the birds + 1 point for having 5 animal cards). Again, each additional animal card is an additional point.
Gwang – You need at least 3 Gwang cards to score points. If you have 3 Gwang cards, then you will have 3 points UNLESS one of the three is the one from December.
If you have three Gwang cards including the one from December, you only get 2 points. However, if you have any four Gwang cards, you get four points. If you get all five Gwang cards, you get 15 points.
Ribbons – Any combination of five ribbons gives you one point, with each additional ribbon giving you an additional point. However, if you can match a set of ribbons (3 blue with writing, 3 red with writing, or 3 red without writing) then you will get 3 points. However, if one of three blank red ribbons is the ribbon from December, you do NOT get points for collecting the set. You may get 4 points for having all four blank red ribbons, or 3 points for having the three blank red ribbons that are NOT from December. So, for example, if you have all three blue ribbons, plus two blank red ribbons, you will have 4 points (3 points for the set + 1 point for having a total of five ribbons).
