The Blackjack River Forming Distributaries
A Solitaire Card Game by Gregg Jewell A distributary consists of 1) a main Blackjack River
segment, 2) all river segments connected to one
Overview side of that Blackjack River segment, and 3) all
Form river distributaries, full of 21 fish, off of the fishermen on top of those river segments.
main Blackjack River until the river runs dry. Whenever a distributary has exactly 21 fish in it,
Fishermen can help control fish overpopulation. collect the associated cards and set them aside in
Formed distributaries full of similar and matching a stack to be scored at the end of the game. Keep
fish are worth more points! each stack separate from one another.
Setup
The game uses a standard 52-card deck. Jokers
are optional, but make the game a little easier. Ace
through 10 represent river segments, each pip
represents a fish. The face cards represent
fishermen. Kings reduce a river segment by 3 fish,
Queens by 2 fish, and Jacks by 1 fish. Jokers can
reduce a river segment by 1, 2, or 3 fish based on
your choice.
Shuffle the deck and draw cards until four river Discard all cards that were connected to the other
segments are drawn. Shuffle any drawn fishermen side of the collected Blackjack River segment.
back into the deck. Place the four river segments
horizontally in a row to form the main Blackjack Draw cards until a new river segment is drawn to
River. Place the deck (river source) face down to replace the gap in the Blackjack River. Shuffle any
the left of the river. Draw four cards as your drawn fishermen back into the deck.
starting hand.
End of Game
The game ends when it is not possible to form any
more distributaries.
Turn Sequence Add up the point values of the cards in each stack
to determine your final score.
Playing Cards
Play river segments vertically above or below an Card Values
open Blackjack River segment or at the end of an ● Jokers are worth nothing, ignore them.
existing distributary. Play fishermen on top of any ● 2 - 10 river segments are worth 1 point each.
unoccupied river segment. Note: A river segment ● Fishermen are worth 2 points each.
can’t be reduced below 0 fish. Jokers can always ● Aces (trophy fish) are worth 3 points each!
“throw fish back”, so you don’t have to determine
how many fish they’ve caught until you’re ready to Card Multipliers
form a distributary. ● If you have a pair in a stack, double the point
value of those cards.
● If you have three of a kind or better in a
stack, triple the point value of those cards.
Stack Multipliers
● If all the cards in a stack are the same color,
After you play a card, draw a card.
double the stack's point value.
● If all the cards in a stack are the same suit,
triple the value of every card in the stack
instead!
