Card CommonsCard Commons

Goal

Win sequences of plays to pull the five face-down point cards into your row. At the end of each round you score the point cards in your row, and double the ones you guess right. After 4 rounds the highest total wins.

Cards

Use one pack. The clubs, hearts, and spades are the deck, 39 cards. The ♦A to ♦5 are the five point cards, worth 1 to 5 points (the Ace is 1). The other diamonds aren’t used. Each player has one Joker.

Ranking

Cards rank from Ace (low) up to King. Suits never matter.

Setup

Shuffle the five point cards and lay them face down in a row between the players. This is the neutral row, and each card sits in its own lane: Single, Pair, Triple, Run of 2, and Run of 3. Each player puts their Joker face up beside them. Deal 16 cards to each player and set the other 7 aside unseen.

Play

1. Leading. The dealer leads any combination.
2. Answering. The other player must play a higher combination of the same type, use their Joker, or pass. Play goes back and forth until someone passes.
3. The Joker. Once a round, instead of answering, flip your Joker face down and take your opponent’s last combination. Add one card from your hand to it, or take one card off it, so that it becomes a different type. You can’t add to three cards or take a card off a single. A card taken off is discarded. The new combination counts as your own play: your opponent must beat it, and a pass on it pulls the lane of its new type.
4. Passing. The played cards are discarded. The player who didn’t pass pulls the point card in the lane of the last combination one step toward them: from the neutral row into their row, or from the other player’s row back to the neutral row. A card is never more than one step from the neutral row.
5. Peek or swap. Then the player who passed may look at any one point card, or swap any two point cards without looking at them. A swap trades the two cards; each lane keeps its place in its row.
6. The next lead. The player who didn’t pass leads next.
7. Going out. The round ends the moment a player plays their last card. Nothing is pulled, peeked at, or swapped for that play.

Scoring

• The player who went out may guess the point cards in their row. Name one card’s value, turn it over, then name the next. If every guess is right, their row scores double. If any guess is wrong, their row scores 0.
• If they don’t guess, the other player may guess the cards in their own row instead. Only one player can guess each round.
• A player who doesn’t guess scores the cards in their row at face value. Cards in the neutral row score for nobody.
• Play 4 rounds, taking turns to deal. The highest total wins.

Meld types

There are five combinations, and each one has its own lane.

• Single one card, the first lane
• Pair two cards of one rank, the second lane
• Triple three cards of one rank, the third lane
• Run of 2 two ranks in a row, in any suits, the fourth lane
• Run of 3 three ranks in a row, in any suits, the fifth lane

A run can start at the Ace (A, 2, 3) but doesn’t go from King to Ace. Answer a combination with the same type at a higher rank. A run is ranked by its top card.

How this version differs

• The site remembers for you. A point card you have looked at shows its value to you wherever it moves, and a card you can work out (the last one you haven’t seen) shows too. A card your opponent has looked at wears an eye.
• No guess you’re sure of is asked. When you guess, each card whose value you know is named for you. If you know every card in your row, or your row is empty when you go out, the guess is made for you. The guessing stops at the first wrong guess.
• No empty reward. After you pass, the site offers doing neither only once you know every point card.
• Three rulings. One wrong guess scores your whole row 0, as the player aid says. The player who didn’t pass leads next. A card taken off with the Joker is discarded.