Besides being the national card game of Turkey, Pisti (pronounced pishti) is one of the few partnership games where both the suits themselves and the hierarchy of cards within each suit are irrelevant. If anything, Pisti resembles a game such as Snap, but with room for a lot more strategy.
HOW TO DEAL It’s traditional to deal (and play) in a counterclockwise direction. Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and deal four cards face down to the kitty, plus a batch of four cards to each player. Turn up the bottom card of the deck for all players to see. The remaining cards are the stock.
SCORING The goal is to be the first team to score 151 points. Points are awarded for the following cards captured during play:
| CARDS | POINTS |
| 10 of diamonds | 3 |
| 2 of clubs | 2 |
| Aces | 1 |
| Jacks | 1 |
In addition, the team capturing a majority of cards (twenty-seven or more) scores 3 points. If both teams capture twenty-six cards, no points are awarded.
A pisti, worth 10 bonus points, is scored when the pile contains just one card that is captured by a card of equal rank. When a jack captures a lone jack, the pisti bonus is doubled to 20. You may score a pisti at any point in the game except on the very first and very last cards played. Turn the capturing card face up in your pile as a way to remember your pisti bonus—and to deflate your opponents’ morale.
HOW TO PLAY The dealer turns up one of the kitty cards to start a discard pile (turn up a second kitty card if the first is a jack).
Starting to the right of the dealer and moving counterclockwise, each player tries to capture the discard pile for her own team. You capture the pile by playing a card matching the rank of the topmost discard (7 captures 7, queen captures queen, etc.). Playing any jack captures the entire pile, regardless of the topmost discard’s rank. Place captured cards in a pile, face down, in front of either team member. If you cannot capture the pile, play a card from your hand onto the discard pile. The next player now must match the card you’ve just played in order to capture the pile.
When the discard pile is captured for the first time, the winning team also takes the remaining face-down kitty cards; you may look at the kitty cards (the opposing team may not) before placing them in your capture pile. The next player in rotation then throws a card from her hand to start a new discard pile, and play continues in a counterclockwise direction.
When all players are out of cards, deal another batch of four cards to each player (do not deal any additional kitty cards). With four players, there are enough cards for three rounds. The exposed stock card is always dealt to the dealer on the last hand.
At the end of the game, the remaining cards in the discard pile are taken by the team who most recently captured a pile. Scores are tallied, and the deal moves to the right.
Two-Hand Pisti is a surprisingly decent game for two players. The rules are identical to the main game. The only difference is there are six rounds (instead of three).