Six Generations Card Games/Playing Cards: Immigration from Europe to America edition [Cards]

Finally, the day that all you freedom-loving Barrelhousers have been waiting for: someone has mustered up the courage to break down yet another oppressive, monarchic structure in favor of a more democratic ideal! And what I'm talking about here, of course, is playing cards.

No more Kings and Queens and Jacks ruling over the deck with their iron fists! No more boring numbers. Ted Soloview, a graphic designer from Alaska, has invented a new democratic deck featuring a 64-person family in six generations.

My customers asked me the quick explanation of this game. I told them, it is like playing cards. But instead of three characters of King, Queen and Jack, in my deck each card is a costumed member from a non-monarchic family. Here we match husband and wife, children and parents, but not the boring numbers anymore. It's not a fight between four suits; it is matchmaking and creation of the family.

And for those of you who love the thrill of gambling but want to throw off the shackles of traditional cards monarchic rule, you are in luck: Soloview has introduced a new game, GenPoker, which is almost exactly like regular poker, if by exactly like you mean completely different than. Soloview explains, on his own web site:

GENPOKER, as most of the Poker games, is a game of chance. The name GenPoker comes as a combination of two words: GENERATIONS and POKER. The major difference with Poker is: a card with lower number in GenPoker always has more value.

GenPoker is played with a standard 72-pack of Six Generations cards, but in the beginning the players must remove 8 cards from category #6 out of the deck, and play only with other 64 cards. The cards to withdraw are: any 4 couples from the same nation (country) from Set #6, total of 8 cards.

The other 64 cards to play with are divided into six categories, or sets. Each category portrays a different generation. There are couples from 16 countries of early 19th century Europe (32 cards) and five generations of American descendants (16, 8, 4, 2 and 2 cards), the last generation of which is a brother and sister living at the start of the 21st century.

The cards are ranked (from high to low) Children (#1) - 2 cards, Parents (#2) - 2 cards, Grandparents (#3) - 4 cards, XX century (#4) - 8 cards, Victorian (#5) - 16 cards, and Europe (#6) - 32 cards. The cards are also divided into Europeans (32 cards #6), Americans ( 32 cards from #5 to #1); Ancestors (62 cards from #6 to #2), and Childre" (2 cards #1).

There are two suits: red (women) and black (men), 32 cards of each suit; however, no suit is higher than another.

What could be simpler than that?

Of course Soloview is realistic about the future: It might take some time before Las Vegas will accept this new deck to play poker in their casinos, but the time could come. ----Review by Mike Ingram
Barrel House Blogspot
September 23, 2005

Six Generations: Immigration From Europe To America Edition, an innovative card game designed and published by Ted Soloview, is a pleasant example of information coupled with entertainment. This game contains a set of 72 cards with pictures of six generations of immigrants belonging to a family who came to the United States from sixteen European nations in the first half of the nineteenth century. The latest generation consists of the siblings Emily and Jacob, currently living in the United States; and the other five generations represent their ancestors.

The 72 cards, comprising pictures of 36 men and 36 women, are divided into six categories. Each category portrays a different generation. Players are dealt six cards each, and they are allowed to dispose of a card when the person whose picture is printed on it matches the generation of the card played by the previous players. The ultimate objective of the game is for each player to get rid of all her cards, and the winner is the first one to do so.

Recommended for ages six to adult, Six Generations is a highly engaging concept aimed at providing wholesome entertainment. It would be a welcome addition to any family's personal collection of games. This game also has educational value, as it provides useful clues to the different types of clothing worn by the people from different nations and time periods that are featured on its cards.

Ted Soloview's creative idea is well complemented by the appealing artwork of Andrey Ayoshin and Ludmila Lugina. ----BookWire/Bowker Review
May 18, 2005

Six Generations (Six Generations Publishing 2004 - by Ted Soloview) has an interesting premise replacing the traditional four suit deck with suits that are based on democracy, rather than monarchy. Instead of a few cards ruling over the rest (saith the advertisements), there is a much more democratic structure. The deck has seventy-two cards, half male and the other half female, each from a different generation, numbered from 6 (of which there are thirty-six) all the way down to the two 1 cards at the bottom of the family tree.

The cards have some outstanding artwork on them, showing people from different cultures (especially the highest in the family tree, the ones who came to America from many countries). Each card has a different name (which helps any background story, I guess), and the drawing style is very clean on a white background. You can also watch the progression throughout the ages, with the final two children looking like they were born in the nineties. The deck comes in a very small box, which barely holds the cards and small rules.

Now there are actually several rule sets for the game. There are at least six other games available on the publishers website (sixgenerations.com). One game actually is fairly intriguing, The Heirs.

In this two-player game, players only use less than half of the deck, without using any 6 cards. The remaining thirty-two are shuffled and placed in a four by eight grid, all face down. One player controls the black suit (the men), and the other the red (the women). Some story about finding the heirs to an inheritance is included in the rules, but it has nothing to do with what is essentially an abstract game. One player goes first, and then play alternates between the two players.

On a players turn, they may do one of three things. First, they may turn up any face down card on the table. Secondly, they may move a card of their suit on the table, if it meets certain restrictions.
- There must be another card in the same row or column, with no other cards in between.
- This card must be of a higher or equal value (in this game, the 1 cards are the most powerful).
The moving card then takes the place of the other card, removing it from the game.

Players can also make a third move, which allows them to reveal a card and move it automatically, if it is their suit and can make a legal capture. The game continues until one player cannot make a move, at which point they lose.

This seems like a fairly simple game, which is true, because it is, but I found it to be a refreshing little filler. At first glance, the 1-cards are all powerful, and a player who has theirs revealed early seems to have a great advantage. However, a clever player can maneuver the cards so that their opponent higher cards have no legal moves to make. There is still a great deal of luck involved in the game, of course; but a better player will win more often than not. I really enjoy that the game is short and simple, and easy to teach and play. It has elements of the classic game Stratego, without all of the perfect setups that accompany that strategy game.

Does The Heirs rules set make it worth owning Six Generations? I think that it just might be. Six Generations cards are neat, could possibly be educational, and certainly are a novelty item in the world based on suits. The Heirs is a rules set that takes this interesting deck and makes a decent, short game out of it.

Many people are enthralled that Six Generations is a breakthrough and a revolution in card game design. I am a bit more skeptical. However, the Heirs works well; and if more games like that come down the pike, perhaps Six Generations could see some more popularity. -- --Review by Tom Vasel
Real men play board games, thedicetower.com
June 22, 2007

Shuffle the deck and deal six cards, one at a time face down to each player. Players may pick up and hold these cards as a hand. Place the rest of the deck face down in the center of the table, accessible to all players.

Each player must play a card, if able, onto the table top. If he cannot play, a player must draw a card from the top of the deck, until one he draws CAN be played.

CARDS ARE PLAYED WITH THE FOLLOWING RULES:

1. In the beginning of the game, a player MUST play a 6th generation card.
2. A 6th generation card that makes a COUPLE is one that is of the same rank, of the opposite sex, and is from the same nation.
3. A 5th generation card cannot be played until a 6th generation COUPLE is on the table. A 5th generation card played on a COUPLE of the 6th generation is their CHILD. Whenever a CHILD is played on a previous generation, the older generation cards are removed from play (they are completed). Place completed couples face down adjacent to the deck (they are not used for the rest of the game).
4. A 4th generation card cannot be played until two 5th generation parents of opposite sex are in play, and so on down to Emily and Jacob. The players may build on these sets as their turn comes, either placing one card or drawing from the deck if necessary until one may be placed.

NOTES:
- If a player does not have the correct card to play, he must draw from the deck until he does.
- Any player must place no more than one card during his or her turn.
- Sixth generation is the only generation which may be placed on the table without being a child to an earlier generation.
- Only one child can be played on a couple. (Firstborn children are the only ones this game tracks.)
- It is possible for a player to run out of cards (and win the game) before Emily and Jacob are played.
- Each set is built up with a male and female from each generation, #6 down to #1.
- There are a total of six rows the players can build in this game; each row, or line, represents a new generation.

WILDCARD PLAY: If at any time in the game one player gets both #1 cards (Emily and Jacob), they can be played down below the generations, regardless of whether their parents are yet in play. This is the only time you can play more than one card out of your hand at one time.

KEY STRATEGY: Since each player may only play one card per turn, when you play a 6th generation card, do NOT identify the COUPLE it makes until you need to use it yourself at one of your next turns. By watching the 6th generation cards, even while you are looking for places to play your later generations, you can sometimes catch a couple others are missing and maybe get rid of one of the spare 5 generation cards in your hand.

The first person to run out of cards wins the game.