Kemps (Cash / Cams)
Kemps is a four-player partnership party game about collecting four of a kind
without letting the other table read you. You cannot tell your partner what you
hold — you can only signal, and every player at the table sees you do it.
Call at the right moment and your partnership takes the point. Call wrong and
you hand it straight to the opposition.
Objective
Be the first partnership to reach 5 points.
Setup
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Players: Four, in fixed partnerships. Partners sit across from each other —
seats 1 & 3 (North and South) are Team 1, seats 2 & 4 (East and West) are Team 2.
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Deck: A standard 52-card pack.
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Deal: Four cards to each player, then four more face-up to the pool in
the centre of the table. The rest stay in the stock.
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Dealer: North deals the first hand of the first match; the deal passes
clockwise afterwards.
The first dealer rotates between matches: East deals the first hand of the
next match, then South, then West.
Play always opens with the player on the dealer's left.
Turn Structure
On your turn you take exactly one of these actions.
Swap
Exchange one card from your hand for one card in the pool. Your hand stays at
four cards and the pool stays at four cards. This is the only way to change what
you hold — and because the pool is face-up, everyone can see what you took and
what you left behind. That is the main way your partner works out what you are
collecting.
Pass
Take nothing this turn. If all four players pass in a row, the four pool cards
are discarded and four fresh ones are turned up. (If the stock runs low, the
discards are shuffled back in.)
Signal
Tell your partner you are ready to be called. Signalling is free — it does
not use up your turn, so you can signal and then still swap or pass. You may
signal only once per hand.
The catch: a signal is public. Every player sees it, including both opponents,
who now know exactly whose hand is worth calling on. Which means a signal is
also a perfectly good bluff — see below.
Call Kemps
Claim that your partner is holding four of a kind. Their hand is revealed.
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Right — your partnership scores 1 point.
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Wrong — the opposing partnership scores 1 point.
Call Counter Kemps
Claim that a specific opponent is holding four of a kind. Their hand is
revealed.
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Right — your partnership scores 1 point.
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Wrong — the accused partnership scores 1 point.
You can only counter-call across the table; you can never target yourself or
your partner.
Bluffing
Seats alternate between the two partnerships, so an opponent always acts
between you and your partner. If you signal honestly, you are betting that
your partner calls Kemps before an opponent counter-calls you.
That is what makes a false signal worth making. Signal without four of a kind
and an opponent who takes the bait hands your partnership the point instead.
A signal is information, and information can be a trap.
After a Call
Every call ends the hand. The revealed hand stays face-up until the caller
continues, then all the cards are gathered, shuffled, and dealt again: four to
each player, four to a new pool. Signals reset.
Winning
The first partnership to reach 5 points wins the match.
No Table Talk
You may not describe your cards to your partner in words. The Signal action is
the only legal channel between partners, and the game deliberately gives you no
way to say what you are collecting — only that you are ready.