Can you teach us how to play Boltan?

Boltan is played with the 72 Inrah cards: the number cards from two to seven and the higher face cards squire, knight, mage, sage, lord and ace. There are six colors: air, fire, water, ice, humus and ore.

In the Svelltt Boltan, each player receives two cards face down. The first round begins. The dealer places five cards in the middle — these are called the Svellt cards.

The dealer reveals the first three of them. The players secretly combine their cards with the Svellt cards in order to achieve the highest possible or spectacular card combination together. These card combinations are called the Boltan hands.

The next betting round follows. Then the fourth and, after a further increase in the stakes, the fifth common Svellt card is revealed. These are also available in order to achieve the highest possible Boltan hand.

A Boltan hand consists of a maximum of five cards. But what the highest Boltan hand is is not clear. There are many regional diversities of this card game, so there are innumerable variations. Out of the pride of the tough, experienced Svelltlander, no one admits that he doesn't know any of the hands. So a good liar or number juggler can invent new hands. It is important to convince the other players of the rarity and the greater value of the hand. The most famous boltan hands, in ascending order, are:

• twins (two cards of the same rank)
• double twins (two twins)
• court (five face cards)
• elementary circle (five cards of the each element)
• parade (squire to lord)
• family (a triplet and a twin together)
• alley (ascending row of cards)
• elementary row (five cards of the same element)
• quadruplets and courtiers (all picture cards of one element)
• five-a-kind, also called quintuplets (all five cards of the same rank)

In Svelltdale, other names for special Boltan hands have developed: orc escape (five cards of air), Lowangen Academy (only mages), dwarf clan (ore 2 to ore 6) and, most recently, the star rain (five fire cards with ace).