Have you ever peered into the secluded back room of a corner store and seen a group of Koreans sitting on a mat, vigorously smacking small, red plastic cards on the floor? They're playing Go-Stop! Go-Stop, "Godori", is a card game that originated in Japan. As there are several versions of Go-Stop, this article will focus on the most common version only.
Go-Stop cards come in a small metal box with a toad on the front, or in a clear plastic box. Including the joker, there are forty-nine picture cards that are divided into twelve suits of four cards each, and four "clans". Clans are used for scoring points, and the number of cards in each clan is different.
The names for the suits and clans are unknown, so the names (see handy picture) are our invention. Each suit is assigned a number rank. This will be important later on since it determines the order of the play and the deal.
Take a minute now and organize your cards, first by suit, then by clan. Now that you're familiar with the cards, let's play a game.
The first thing you must learn is how to shuffle. If you don't know how to shuffle properly, Koreans will jeer at you and may not even let you play. First, spread the cards on the floor and mix them around with your hands. Then gather up the cards and hold the stack between your thumb and middle finger while the index finger rests on top. To shuffle, bring the stack down onto the palm of your opposite hand and transfer a few cards from the top. These cards are gripped by the heel of the palm and the middle finger. Continue this until all cards are depleted. The cards must be shuffled three times, before play and between each hand. Shuffling is quite difficult, and it'll take some time before you can get some speed going. Handy hint: when holding the stack, push the cards so that the edge is angled forty-five degrees downwards. This makes smacking them into your palm easier. Go-Stop is a three-player game. However, since each hand is quite short, a group of five or six isn't uncommon because players can alternate.
If there are more than three people, each player turns up one card, and the four highest-ranked cards are dealt. In the first game the dealer is the player who turns up the highest card. In subsequent games, the winner becomes the dealer.
The dealer gathers up the cards, shuffles, and offers a cut to the player on his left. The player who is offered the cut may choose to cut or to pass (decline). If a cut is chosen, the player removes at least five but no more than forty-three cards from the top of the deck and places them face down in the center of the floor. The two halves of the deck are not rejoined prior to the completion of the deal unless the dealer has insufficient cards to give out to each player.
To begin dealing, the dealer draws three cards and places them face up on one side of the cut deck. These are "play" cards. The deal proceeds around to the right with each player receiving one batch of three cards face down.
Next, three more play cards are drawn and placed face up on the other side of the cut deck. Again, proceeding around to the right, each player receives one batch of four cards for a total of seven. Any cards remaining are placed on top of the cut deck. Now players can pick up their cards and look at them.
There are four irregularities that may occur in the deal. For example, if the player offered the cut declines, dealing is modified. All six play cards are placed face up on the mat, and, going around to the right, each player gets all seven of his cards in one batch.
Second, if four of the play cards are of the same suit (if all four Roses are on the mat, e.g.), you must re-deal.
Third, if three of the play cards are of the same suit, they are put into a stack leaving four stacks of play cards. Fourth, if a player gets too many cards, a card is withdrawn at random and put into the middle of the deck. If the player is short on cards, he is dealt cards from the top of the deck.
Ok, now we have four players, each with seven cards in their hand. Small problem! Only three players can play at one time. Therefore one player, with the exception of the dealer, must fold.
Starting with the player on the dealer's left, each player is given the opportunity to fold. If the first two players refuse to fold, the last must fold.
If this is the case, the last player is entitled to collect some cash from each player, except the dealer, as compensation for being forced out. For every Kwan card he has, he can get the dollar equivalent of one point from each player. Usually one point is worth 100 won. If you're playing with a larger group, a new player will replace the "last" player before each new hand.
The object of playing Go-Stop is to obtain points. As mentioned, each point is usually worth 100 won, but any amount can be agreed upon in advance by the players. A minimum of three points is required to win a game.
When a player wins, he can elect to stop and collect his winnings from each player, or he can say "Go", thereby choosing to continue play and try for more points and more money. Note that if the player chooses to say go he is taking a risk! You see, he must get one more point before anyone else can earn the three points necessary to call "Stop" and win. If he doesn't make his point and is beaten someone, he must pay the winner double.
A player may choose to say "Go" up to three times, and then he must stop. If he wins, for each time he said, "Go", he adds on another point. So, for example, if he got three points and called "Go", and then got another point and called "Stop", his points would be 3+1+1 and he would collect 500 won from each player.
Here's how to make your points. Play begins with the dealer and moves around to the right. When it's your turn, the idea is to choose a card from your hand and smack it down hard onto a play card of the same suit, thereby capturing it.
The next step is to pick up a card from the cut deck in the center of the mat, and with any luck, it will net you another match if you smack it onto a play card of the same suit. If it doesn't match, it is simply left on the floor as a play card. The cards that do match now belong to you, and you can pick them up and arrange them by clan, face up in front of you.
When it's your turn and you don't happen to have a card in your hand that matches the suit of a play card, you must still discard one card from your hand, and it is left on the mat as a play card. Then you can still pick up a card from the cut deck and try to capture something. If the card from the cut deck doesn't match either, it is also left on the mat as a new play card.
To make points you must collect a certain number or a certain group of cards for each clan. In the "Non-picture" clam, for example, you must collect ten Non-picture cards to make one point. In the Banner and Animal clans, five cards are required to make one point. For each additional card added above and beyond the minimum, another point is added on. For example, eleven Non-picture cards equals two points.
There are ways to make easier points because some cards are worth more than others or you can collect certain groups within the clans to increase your points. For example, when you collect the Kwan clan, you can really rack up the points! Three Kwan cards equals three points, four Kwan cards equals four points, and five Kwan cards equals five points. However, watch out for the Rain Kwan card. This is the weak card in the Kwan clan. If the Rain card is part of your three-point collection, you only have two points! However, if you obtain a fourth Kwan card, you get your four points as usual.
The Banner clan is also another good one to try and collect. Normally you need five mismatched Banners to make one point. However, if the Banners you collect are of the same type, the points start rolling in! For example, if you have five Banners, but you have three of a kind (i.e., three with writing on them, or three red or three blue Banners) you have four points. This means you have two points for three of a kind plus one point for each of the remaining mismatches. Again, the Rain card is weak, so it is not a good idea to collect three of a kind for red Banners.
A third way to score points is to try for "Godori", which, is all the cards with pictures of birds on them. When you collect all the bird cards you get five points! Of course, the Rain card is weak and doesn't count as part of the Godori collection.
There are also special cards to watch out for. For example, in the Stars suit, the card that has two blue stars and a red foreground is worth two points. So, if you have this card in your Non-picture collection, you only need nine cards to make your point instead of 10 because the two-blue star card counts as two.
The black and red Rain card functions in the same manner as the blue Stars card. In the Mums suit, the card with the football on it is a floater card. It can be collected either as a Non-picture card or as an Animal card. This card also acts as a two point card, but only if it is collected as part of the Non-picture clan.
One other weird card is in the Orchid suit. The card that has a picture of a pier on it is considered an animal clan card. We're not sure why it's an animal card, maybe because of moss?
All right! Now we know all about scoring and how to collect cards. There are a couple more things that you should be aware of. During play you might be unlucky enough to be the victim of a "suit sweep". This happens when you take a card from your hand, smack it onto a play card of the same suit, pick up a card from the cut deck and it's the same suit that you just smacked! When this happens, you may not pick up all three cards. You must wait until the fourth card of that suit turns up; then you can smack it and get all four cards in one suit sweep. As an extra bonus for sweeping, you are entitled to take one non-picture card from each player.
Another thing to be wary of is a "bomb". This is similar to the suit sweep; the only difference is that the three cards of the same suit are in your hand. When you smack all three of these cards onto the corresponding play card on the mat, you get these cards, plus anything you might capture with the card from the cut deck, plus one non-picture card from each player. If you are dealt a bomb, you may choose to waive the cards at the beginning of play. If you then win the game, by waiving at the outset you now win double. If you lose, there is no penalty for waiving.
If you lose and you have less than six non-picture cards on the floor, you must pay double! Also, if you are lucky enough to have all four cards of one suit dealt to you, before play begins you can declare yourself the President, Day Tong R'Young. While this is likely to be a rare occurrence, it is very profitable because by declaring yourself Day Tong R'Young, you are entitled to collect the dollar equivalent of ten points from each player on the spot! If the President becomes one of the players, he immediately puts down the suit by clan face up in front of him for all to see. If he decides to fold, there is no penalty for declaring Day Tong R'Young.
Is your mind reeling from information overload yet? It'll take some practice, but before long we're sure you can become a cunning Go-Stop player. Besides, it's something Korean to take home with you to entertain family and friends!