Jon Woodward

A Lifelike Tennis

Dealer deals entire deck.
Player to dealer’s left is Angler.
Player to Angler's left is Fish.
Player to Fish's left (dealer’s right) is Cormorant.

Dealer then becomes Ghost.
Ghost holds cards facing the other players.
Other players hold their cards facing themselves.
Fish and then Ghost play first, one card each.

The difference between cards' values is the Net.
(Ace = 1, numbers = themselves, Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13)
Next Angler and then Cormorant each play a card.
If the card played is higher than the Net, that player gets a point.

The difference between their cards forms the new Net
For Fish and then Ghost who each play another card.
As before, if the card clears the Net, a point is awarded.
If played cards match, each player gets two points

Regardless of whether the card clears the Net.
Play continues until all cards have been played.
Player with most points wins hand.
Ties are won by player farthest (clockwise) from Ghost.

Ghost wins count for two hands. (Optional variant:
Cormorant can choose to become a Ghost
Any time the number of cards in her hand
Exceeds her current number of points.

To do this, she turns cards face outwards.
Ghost can not turn back into Cormorant.
If Cormorant chooses to become a Ghost
But does not go on to win the hand,

She loses one hand from her total.)
Before each new hand, Angler becomes new Ghost,
Fish becomes new Angler, and so on. First player
To reach a given number of hands wins.