The Game of Chicago

A word card game made in celebration of the centennial of Chicago's founding in 1833.

It has 54 cards: 1 rules card, 1 joker, and 52 letter cards -- the complete alphabet in both red and black. Each letter card also has a picture from Chicago's history or architecture; the joker, which is a wild card, shows Mrs. O'Leary's cow.

There are rules for two games:

The Game of Chicago: Deal 7 per player and turn up the top draw card to start the discard pile. In a turn, a player draws 1 from either pile and discards 1. The hand ends when a player can lay down a 7-letter word from the hand. Then everyone scores for the longest word they can spell: 100 points for 7 letters; 60-30 points for 6-3 letters respectively. Spelling "Chicago" earns 500 points, which is the goal total of the game.

Alphabet Rhummy: Start as above. In a turn, a player: draws 1; lays down a word of 4+ letters, or adds to either end of an existing word, or substitutes letters in an existing word; and discards 1. The letters substituted for are taken in to the hand, and must be at least as many as were just played. The hand ends when a player goes out; he then gets 1 point per card in others' hands. The game ends when a player reaches 52 points.