▶ See how a game plays
The one where you put cards down, for 2 to 4. Build sets and runs, put them down, add to anyone's, and don't get caught holding a handful when someone goes out. Points are what you've put down minus what you're still holding.
- One pack, no jokers. Seven cards each — thirteen when it's two of you. Ace high (Q-K-A is a run; A-2-3 isn't).
- The next card is turned up to start the pile, which lies spread out so you can see every card in it. The rest is the stock, face down.
- The player left of the dealer goes first; the deal moves one seat left each hand.
The take is your table's choice, set when the game is dealt. Plain — what a new table gets — takes the one card on top of the pile, and asks nothing of it. Deep pile takes any card in the pile, with every card above it, and you must put the card you took down that go. Tables dealt before this was a choice play Deep pile.
- Draw first: the top of the stock, or take from the pile. On Plain, that's the top card of the pile — yours, with nothing owed. On Deep pile, it can be any card in the pile, but every card above it comes with it. Taken that way, the card has to go down in a set or run this go. (The app only offers a take you can use.)
- Then, as much as you like: put down sets and runs. A set is three or four of a rank; a run is three or more of a suit in sequence. Add single cards to anything already on the table, yours or anyone's. A set takes its rank up to four; a run takes the next card at either end. Rule books call these melds and lay-offs; nobody at this table has to.
- Then discard one card onto the pile. That's your go. (Never the card you just took from the pile.)
- When someone goes out — puts down or discards their last card.
- When the stock runs out, the pile is turned over to make a new one and play carries on — so a round has a winner. The one exception is a pile with nothing under its top card: there is nothing to turn over, so the hand ends there with everyone scoring what they hold. (Tables dealt before this was the rule always end the hand there.)
+Every card you put down or added to the table: an ace 15, a court card 10, the rest their number.
−Every card still in your hand, the same values.
A card you add counts for you, whichever set or run it went on. Totals can go negative.
The game ends at the end of the hand in which someone reaches 500. Highest total wins, the lowest takes the hat.
On the felt: the pile lies across the middle, spread — tap a card in it to take from there (Plain: only the top one); the sets and runs sit above it with a name on each. On your go, tap cards then Put down; drag or tap a card onto a set or run to add it there; Discard ends the go. The strip keeps everyone's total and what they've put down this hand. If someone leaves mid-hand the game ends there and the scores stand.
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