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really simple game, the real fun comes with the Dead rule :)

This game is for italian cards:
40 cards, 4 sets from 1 to 10. anything like this works.

2 to 20 people in a circle. To add more people, add another set of cards to the deck.
Elimination game, the player with the lowest card in that round loses a life, the last player with at least one life wins. I usually play with 3 lives.
(It's better to keep track of lives with some tiny objects like pens, dice, pieces of paper, or even money (in that case, the winner takes it all)).

How To:

The card Dealer (choose however you want) gives one hidden card to each player including themselves, and the player to the Dealer's right, A, starts the round.
A looks at their card and decides if they want to excange cards with the player on their right, B.
If A wants to exchange, B looks at their card. B cannot refuse the exchange, unless they have a King (10). If they do, they must reveal it and say "Cucù" and no exchange happens.
Then B (or C if B had a King), decides if they want to exchange cards with the player on their right, C, and so on.
The Dealer plays like everyone else, except that since they're the last one, they can exchange their card with the deck by cutting it and seeing what card is on the bottom of the half they're holding (don't know how to explain it better sorry). If it's a King, the deck has told him "Cucù" and he has to keep his original card.
After this, everyone reveals their card, and the player with the lowest one loses a life. If two or more players have the same lowest number they all lose a life.
Whoever lost all of their lives is Dead and doesn't play anymore.
The (alive) player at the Dealer's right becomes the new Dealer and starts again.

The Dead Rule:

Nobody can speak or interact with the Dead or they will steal one of their lives and resume playing the next round*. If it was their last life, they'll also steal their card and play the current round.
The Dealer must not give the Dead a card or they will steal one of their lives.

You can be as lenient or cruel with this rule as you want.
Some force the Dealer to name all the Dead before giving the cards (if they don't they lose a life). Some say that the Rule does not apply when distributing and collecting cards before and after a round. Some say the Rule doens't apply when there's only two players left too.
Others say that "interact" includes naming the Dead, or flinching if a Dead lights a lighter in front of your nose...

As I said, this is the fun part! Tricking people into losing a life is fun! You can be as creative as you want. I've heard of a person that got up, went to another room, and called another player on the phone to steal a life!
(*or the current round if the Dealer hasn't finished distributing the cards and you decided that the rule still applies)