While we hope that you will not be sent to prison any time soon, sometimes you can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In that case, it is best to be prepared. In every TV show and movie involving prison we see prisoners playing Prison Card Games to spend the time, but how accurate is the media we see at home? Today, we are going to discuss the Prison Card Games played most commonly. We will mainly discuss the card games played in US prisons because they have the largest prison population in the world and the world’s highest per 100,000 citizens – 724.
Spades
Spades is an American card game invented in the US in the 1930s. It takes its rules from other games like Bridge or Hearts, which are part of the Whist family of card games. However, instead of the trump being decided by the highest bidder, spades is always the trump, hence the name.
Fairly popular in county jail, this game is sometimes frowned upon in real prison due to its simplicity. Thankfully, because it is so straight forward it takes no time to learn. It is worth learning whether you end up playing or not.
Poker
When I think of prison poker I think of the Prison Break episode Bluff (S.1 E.18), when C. Note and T-Bag win the poker game through some underhanded means. Beyond any reasonable doubt, I would not recommend cheating in any prison game – you’ll lose friends quick and make enemies even quicker. In fact, most prisons ban poker because it can get so rowdy. In any case, we still recommend learning it because it’s a good game to have in your repertoire. You’ll have lots of transferable skills such as bluffing as well as reading the bluff’s of you opponent.
While Pot Limit Omaha can be played (five card poker) it is played sparingly, the Texas Hold ‘Em variant (two hole cards) is far more popular. Texas Hold ‘Em is also objectively easier and carries less risk in betting because Pot Limit Omaha can spiral out of control very quickly.
Poker can seem very complicated and at the professional level it is, but as an amateur there are some simple rules to help you make informed choices. Without going into too much detail here, Pot odds determine whether or not you should bet. Pot odds are essentially “how much am I putting in, what am I getting back?” If there’s anything better than 1:3 odds, i.e. putting in $1 to get $3 back, it is probably worth it, but pot odds are completely dependent on card remaining in their draw. There are novella sized articles discussing pot odds, so we will not be doing that here to save you some time.
Solitaire
If you don’t fancy playing with your fellow inmates Solitaire is always a safe bet. Alternatively, Solitaire is known as “Patience”, this is because it requires a large amount of patience to play the right cards and makes the right moves. The game has Germanic or Scandinavian origin passing to France, then Britain, then America.
While many varieties of Solitaire have evolved over time, the aim of the most common style is building cards in sequences. This is often by suit, but sometimes colour. The game starts with a certain number of revealed and hidden cards. Cards are then moved and placed to create an ascending (e.g. Ace to King) or descending sequence. When a hidden card is free, it may be turned over and revealed.
It may be hard to believe, but around 80% of Solitaire games are winnable from the outset, but 80% of games are not won. This is because one wrong move can result in the game being unwinnable – it is very unforgiving. When you factor this in, realistically only 43% of games are winnable for a professional. On the upside, if you are playing in Prison every day you will get good pretty quick.
Solitaire is a classic, but some people want some variety on this. We have a list on the best single player card games for you to check out if you want something different.
Double Deck Pinochle
Pinochle (pronounced P-Knuckle In American English) is a must learn if you ever end up spending time in the slammer. It is a great way of making friends as there are two teams of two players. The aim is the first pairing to 500 points, earning points for your hand and your bids.
The bid winner chooses which trump will be played, but there are some restrictions. First, they must have a “marriage” in that suit meaning they have a Queen and King. In addition to this, if you lose the bid, you lose the number of points you bid.
When the bid is won, that team shows potential runs/melds depending on the combination table found here. From this point, the game continues as a traditional trick taking game.
Pinochle is a very tactical game with a lot of nuance. Some players have a specific call to partners via bidding. A “51” might mean that they have a no trump hand, a return bid of “52” might mean they want to decide the trump. Its certainly one to build relationships – or ruin them!
Honourable Mention – Dominos
Even though Dominos is not strictly a card game its gameplay in Prisons is widespread. It is worth mentioning solely on this basis as tabletop games is our bread and butter on this site. Easy to learn, hard to master, if you end up in prison you will certainly need to play dominos.
Conclusion
We really do hope that no one reading this article will be going to prison and it is simply for educational purposes. If you had to pick just one to learn from the list, we would recommend double deck Pinochle, it was easily the most popular in our research. Of course, all of these Prison Card Games can be played outside of prison. In any case, it is best to have some of these games up your sleeve. Figuratively of course, cheating in any Prison Card Game will get you in a lot of trouble and lose you a lot of friends.
