Yaniv (Hebrew: יניב), also known as Yusuf, Jhyap, Jafar, aa’niv, Minca or Dave, is a card game popular in Israel.
Up to eight people can comfortably play yaniv together; however, as the player count increases, the pace of the game slows.
The player with the fewest points at the end of the game is the winner.
[1] At the beginning of a round, each player in the game is dealt five cards face down, rotating clockwise from the dealer's left.
The remaining cards are placed in a draw pile in the center face down.
[3] Players have two options for their turn: They may either play one or more cards or call "Yaniv!"
", then all cards of the free stack, excluding the last player's drop, are shuffled and placed face down as a new deck.
Whenever a player crosses that limit, the game ends and the victor is the one with the smallest score.
The Israeli backpackers community, where the game is most popular, attribute the invention of the game to two backpackers, one named Yaniv and the other Asaf (as both are common given names for males in Israel).
It is said that the two invented the game while backpacking through East Asia (sometimes South America) and wanting to find a better way to pass the time on long waits in train stations and long bus rides.