One Too ManyBeta

Goal

Score points by banking the cards you draw, and pass before the Diamonds in the center bust the round. The game ends after the round in which a player reaches 21 points or more, and the player with the most points wins.

Cards

Use a standard 52-card deck without Jokers, face down as one shared deck. Nobody has a hand. Only the Diamonds’ values matter: from low to high they run 2 to 10, J, Q, K, and A.

Play

1. Choose a number in secret. Everyone still in the round chooses how many cards to ask for, from 0 to 5. On the first turn of a round the limit is 10. Asking for 0 is a pass. When only one player is left in the round, they can’t ask for exactly 1. They ask for at least 2 or pass.
2. Show the numbers together, then draw. Everyone draws the number they asked for from the deck. Each Diamond goes face up in the center. Every other card goes face up on your own pile. If the deck runs out, draw what’s left.
3. Passing banks your pile. When you pass, you score 1 point for each card in your pile and you’re out for the rest of the round. Your pile goes back into the deck, and the deck is shuffled.
4. The Diamonds can bust the round. The Diamonds stay in the center for the whole round. As soon as they hold a run of consecutive values longer than the number of players in the game, the round busts. The Ace counts high (Q, K, A) or low (A, 2, 3), so K, A, 2 isn’t a run.
5. The greediest pay for a bust. The greediest players are everyone who asked for the most cards on the turn the round busts. They score nothing for the round. Everyone else still in the round banks their pile as if they had passed.
6. A bust earns a Redo. Each of the greediest keeps 1 card of their pile face down, and it starts their pile in the next round. Each also gets a Redo for the next round. Once in that round, after the numbers are shown and before anyone draws, you can change your number, having seen everyone else’s. You can use it only while another player is still in the round. A Redo you don’t use is lost when the round ends.
7. The round ends when it busts or when everyone has passed. For the next round, every card goes back into the deck except the cards kept face down, and the deck is shuffled.

Scoring

Banked points are yours for the rest of the game. The game ends after the round in which any player reaches 21 points or more, and the player with the most points wins.

If players tie on points, the one who passed earlier in the last round wins. A player who didn’t pass in the last round ranks below every player who did, and between two of those the one who scored more in the last round wins. Players still tied share the win.

Playing with your own deck

You need paper and a pencil to keep score. Everyone can show their number on their fingers at the same time. A coin or other token can mark each player who holds a Redo.

How this version differs

• The game ends at 21 points. The published rules end it at 20.

Open the rules page