Description

Mitaines is a French Canadian game: the French word 'mitaines' means mittens. The game is also known in English as Mitts. Cards are played to a common discard pile, which can be captured by matching its top card or playing a jack. Points are scored for sets of two or more equal ranked cards played to the common discard pile: two equal cards are a mitaine (mitten), three cards are a gant (glove), and four cards are a chausson (sock).

Each turn, a player plays one card to the discard pile. If he plays a Jack or a card matching the top card of the discard pile, he captures the pile, which may be worth points, if it contains the ten of diamonds.

Alternatively, a player may call a mitten, glove or sock. If he does so, he plays the first card of his combination. The next card is played on his next turn, etc. When he completes his combination, he scores points for that combination. When a combination has been called, the discard pile cannot be cleared. However, other players can steal the combination by calling a higher combination (which is either a larger combination or a combination with higher cards). If such a player completes their combination, they score both their own combination and any combinations they have stolen.

Multiple hands are played until a player (or team) reaches 500 points; that player (or team) wins the game.