Description

Card game made as a promotion by the biscuit people, McVitie's.

The game has 34 cards: 15 sets of 2 cards each and 4 Joker Cards. Each set of 2 cards represents one "It's a Knock Out" game. It's a Knockout was a hugely successful TV show that featured people representing a were invited to play very silly games. See the illustration where a man must ring a bell but he has to climb a greased slope to get to the bell. This would be a very typical It's a Knockout game.

The cards must be well shuffled and the complete pack dealt between the players. If some players get more than others, this does not matter in the normal course of the game. Every player looks at his cards and tries to find groups whose words and pictures fit together. Two fitting cards will be called a game, and the player who has one can lay it down when it is his turn to play. (If a player retains a 'game' in his hand he runs the risk of having the cards taken by his opponents.)

Each player holds his cards in his hand in such a way that the picture side cannot be seen by the other players. A nominated player starts and draws one card from his neighbour. If with this card he can form a game he can lay it down. Then his right neighbour draws one of his cards, and so on anti-clockwise. The first player to complete all his games shouts ’Knockout’ and places all his cards on the table.

The players then total up the number of points scored by each competitor on the basis of 5 points for each completed game, with the exception of the 'marathon' game (denoted by letter M) which qualifies for 10 points.

The Joker can be used at any stage of the game to complete the other half of a two card 'game', but this particular game only qualifies for standard points, i.e.5 If the Joker card is laid on top of a matching 2 card game this entitles the player to double points for the one 'game', i.e.10 points. The player with the highest number of points is declared the winner.