Three cards each, and the nerve to keep betting blind.
The three-card game of the Indian subcontinent, played at Diwali in more homes than anywhere else. It is poker in structure and quite different in feel, because you may bet without ever looking at your cards.
Three of a kind, straight flush, straight, flush, pair, high card. As in three-card poker a straight beats a flush. Ace, king, queen is the best straight, and ace, two, three is the second best.
Everyone puts in an equal ante, called the boot. Three cards are dealt face down to each player.
This is what makes the game. You may look at your cards or leave them face down.
A blind player bets, and a seen player must bet at least twice what a blind player would. Playing blind is cheap, and a blind player who later looks becomes a seen player from that point on.
Going round the table, each player either puts in a stake or folds. Stakes rise as agreed.
When only two players are left, either may pay for a show and both hands are revealed. The better hand takes the pot. A seen player cannot demand a show from a blind player — the blind player must be given the chance to continue.
A seen player may ask the previous seen player to compare hands privately. The request can be refused. If accepted, the weaker hand folds and nobody else sees either.