Laugh and lie down

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Laugh and lie down: a short guide

Laugh and lie down is an old English fishing card game for five players. It’s one of the earliest European games in the fishing family. It uses a standard 52-card deck (English pattern, French-suited), with aces low.

Setup
- Five players sit in a circle and cut for the first deal (lowest cut wins). Deal and play go clockwise.
- The dealer antes 3 chips; each of the other players antes 2. The dealer deals 8 cards to each player, one by one. The remaining 12 cards are spread face up on the table.
- Look for three-of-a-kind (a prial) or four-of-a-kind (a mournival). You may immediately lay down two cards from a prial or all four from a mournival.

Gameplay
- The aim is to capture table cards in pairs (two of a kind). Each captured pair is placed face up in front of you.
- The eldest hand (the player to the dealer’s left) starts by playing a card to capture one or three table cards of the same rank. A pair from your hand can capture a matching pair on the table, and a prial from your hand can capture a single table card.
- If you hold a pair and another card of that rank is captured from the table, you may lay down the pair immediately (even out of turn) since it can’t be won by table cards.
- If you cannot capture, you must throw all your cards face up on the table and drop out of the round.

End and score
- When all but one player has dropped, the round ends. The remaining player’s cards and any unused table cards are added to the dealer’s pile.
- The player who took the last trick wins 5 chips from the pot.
- Scoring: players with fewer than eight captured cards pay a chip for every two cards short; players with more than eight capture a chip for every two cards over eight. This clears the pot.