Brain Damage

Brain Damage is blackjack for people who do not want to count to 21. The target is 7.5, the deck is missing a few cards, and the bets are paid in beer. Explaining it gets blank stares; one hand fixes that. Among drinking card games it is the rare one with real decisions in it, which is also why the last person to deal ends up the way the name suggests.

What you need

• A standard deck with all four 8s, all four 9s, and the two red 10s removed (42 cards)
• Beer for every player, since bets are paid in sips and a spirit makes no sense here
• A large shot glass or similar to cap the size of a bet
• 2 to 8 players

Setup

1. Strip the deck. Take out the 8s, 9s, and the 10 of hearts and 10 of diamonds. The black 10s stay in as wild cards.
2. Spread the deck face down and cut for deal. Everyone takes a card. The highest value deals first, and the rest deal in descending order. A black 10 counts as 7.5 here, so it wins the cut outright; a 7 is nearly as good.
3. Remember the one hard rule: nobody leaves until they have dealt. Dealing first is the luckiest seat in the game. Dealing last means facing the whole table after everyone has been drinking for an hour.
4. Set a bet limit. A large shot glass of beer is the usual maximum for one bet. Smaller is fine. Bigger turns the game into something else.

How to play Brain Damage

1. The dealer gives one card face down to the first player and one to themselves. The player looks at their card; the dealer looks at theirs.
2. The player bets an amount of beer. Anything up to the agreed limit, stated out loud before any more cards are dealt.
3. The player hits as many times as they like. Extra cards are dealt face up. The first card stays face down. The aim is to get as close to 7.5 as possible without going over.
4. A player who goes over 7.5 says so and drinks the bet. No hiding it; the bust has to be announced, and the hand is over for that player.
5. If the player stands, the dealer turns over their own card and hits. The dealer keeps drawing until they believe they have beaten the player. If the dealer goes over 7.5, the dealer drinks the bet.
6. Both hands are revealed and the lower total drinks the bet. The player turns over their face-down card. Ties go to the dealer, so on equal totals the player drinks.
7. A five card charlie wins for the player instantly. Five cards without busting beats everything. The dealer cannot draw and drinks the bet, even holding a wild 10.
8. The dealer moves to the next player and repeats. Go around the table until the deck runs low, then the next dealer in the cut order takes over, shuffles, and starts again. The game ends when everyone has dealt.

Card values

Variations and house rules

• Short-deck finish. When the deck has 6 or fewer cards left, the dealer stops dealing proper hands. The remaining cards go face down, the player bets, both draw one card, and the lower card drinks the bet. Ties go to the dealer as usual. Some tables also make a dealer who starts their turn with 6 or fewer cards reshuffle and deal again, which is the version the old rules described.
• Seven and a Half proper. The original game uses a 40-card deck with all 8s, 9s, and 10s removed, and the King of diamonds as the only wild card. No five card charlie. Play it this way if someone at the table grew up with Sette e Mezzo and will not stop mentioning it.
• Dealer pays double. A dealer who busts drinks twice the bet. It balances the tie rule and makes the dealer think harder before hitting on 6.5.
• Fixed bet. Everyone bets the same amount, a set number of sips, every hand. Removes the betting decision and makes the game faster and a lot easier to follow after the third dealer.
• Face-down hits. Hit cards are dealt face down too, so the dealer plays blind against the player’s whole hand. More bluffing, more busting.
• Full-table Brain Damage. The dealer plays one hand against everyone at once, each player with their own bet. Much faster with 6 or more players, but the dealer drinks several bets on a single bust, so use it only with a low bet limit.

Tips

• Hit on anything under 5 and stand on 7. Between those, look at how many face cards have already been dealt; a half point is the card you want and there are 12 of them.
• Bet big with a 7 or a black 10 showing in your hand and small with anything under 3. The player chooses the bet after seeing a card, and that is the whole edge.
• Keep the bet cap at a shot glass of beer or less. The last dealer plays every other player in a row, so even small bets add up to a lot of beer for one person in a short time. If the last dealer is clearly done, let someone else finish their deal.
• Leave the 8s, 9s, and red 10s in a separate pile, not in a pocket. Someone will want to play a second game.