Jackal is a partnership card game where conventions play a huge part.

Equipment:
4 players
Standard deck of 52 cards
Pen and paper for scorekeeping

Preparations:
Divide the players into two teams of two players. Seat the players so that every player sits in between two opponents.

How to play a deal:
The cards are shuffled and dealt so that every player gets 13 cards.

In each turn the player in turn simply plays one card from his hand face up on the table. It can be any card.

Each player puts the cards he has played in a row in front of him so that it can be seen who has played which card and in which order.

The play ends when everyone has five cards in his hand.

Scoring:

The five-card hands of the team-mates are combined into a ten-card hand. Then one counts the value of the ten-card hand (for each team) as follows:

Three of a kinds and four of a kinds are worth zero penalty points.
Pairs are worth 25 penalty points.
Single cards (that are not part of a combination) are worth 20 + the value of the card penalty points. (Value of the card: Ace=1, 2=2, ..., 10=10, J=11, Q=12, K=13)

The team whose hand has fewer penalty points wins the deal. They score victory points: 20 plus the difference of the values of the ten-card hands. If their hand had zero penalty points, they score additional 30 victory points.

If both teams have an equal number of penalty points, neither team scores.

Play several deals until one team reaches a pre-agreed number of victory points.

Communication:

The team-mates are not allowed to assist each other by speaking or making other gestures. However, they may agree that certain cards played in certain situations are signals that signal different things (usually that a player has/does not have such-and-such cards in his hand.) Such signals are called conventions. Before the game starts, each team must explain all their conventions to the opponents. During the game, the players are allowed to ask questions about the conventions the opponents use.

Strategy tips:

The following set of conventions is suitable for beginners. Advanced players may agree on more complicated and efficient conventions.

First three cards played by a player promise pairs. The first and the third card promise a pair that is one lower than the played card and the second card promises a pair that is one higher than the played card. If the player does not have a suitable pair/signal card combination, he plays an unnecessary high card.

The next three cards are replies for the partner's first three plays. (Fourth card replies to the first card, fifth to the second and sixth to the third). If the player has a card that has an equal rank to the signalled pair, he plays a low card, otherwise he plays a high card.

Seventh and eighth cards have no meaning, just discard unwanted cards.