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Goal

Build three poker hands face up in front of you, a few cards at a time: a top row of 3 cards, a middle row of 5, and a bottom row of 5. Score points by beating each opponent row by row, and score extra, called royalties, for strong rows.

Your bottom row must be at least as strong as your middle row, and your middle row at least as strong as your top row. If not, your board fouls.

Cards

Use a standard 52-card deck without Jokers. Each player uses 17 cards a hand, 13 on the board and 4 discarded, so with 3 players 51 of the 52 cards are dealt.

Ranking

Each row is a poker hand, ranked as set out under Hand rankings. Aces are high, except in the straight A-2-3-4-5, where the 5 is the high card. Suits never break a tie, so two rows with the same ranks are equal.

The top row has only 3 cards, so it counts only as High Card, a Pair, or Three of a Kind. Three cards in sequence or of one suit aren’t a straight or a flush.

When the top row and the middle row are the same kind of hand, compare them rank by rank, the pair first and then the other cards from the highest down. If every rank in the top row matches, the middle row is stronger. So Q-Q-7 on top is fine above Q-Q-7-5-4, but it fouls above Q-Q-6-5-4.

Setup

Shuffle the deck. Each player leaves room in front of them for three rows, one above the other: 3 cards on top, 5 in the middle, and 5 on the bottom. The player to the dealer’s left plays first, and the deal passes to the left after each hand.

Play

1. First turn, 5 cards. On your first turn you’re dealt 5 cards. Place all 5 face up on your rows, in any rows with room.
2. Next 4 turns, 3 cards. On each later turn you’re dealt 3 cards. Place 2 of them and discard the third face down. Only you see your discards.
3. Placed cards never move. A card stays in its row for the rest of the hand.
4. Play goes to the left. Everybody takes their first turn, then everybody takes their second, and so on. After 5 turns each, every board is full and the hand is scored.

Scoring

Score your board against each opponent’s board in turn. Whatever one of you scores, the other loses.

• Rows. Compare each of your rows with the same row of your opponent’s. Each row you win scores you 1 point, each row you lose costs you 1, and equal rows score nothing.
• Sweep. Win all 3 rows and score 3 more.
• Royalties. Score your royalties from the tables below, and lose your opponent’s.
• Fouls. A fouled board scores no royalties, and its rows aren’t compared. It pays each opponent 6 points plus that opponent’s royalties. Two fouled boards score 0 against each other.

Your score for the hand is what you scored against every opponent, added together, and it goes on your running total.

Top row royalties. Each rank higher pays 1 more, so a pair of Queens pays 7 and three 5s pay 13.

Top row	Royalty
A pair of 6s up to a pair of Aces	1 to 9
Three 2s up to three Aces	10 to 22

Middle and bottom row royalties. Anything lower pays nothing.

Hand	Middle row	Bottom row
Royal Flush	50	25
Straight Flush	30	15
Four of a Kind	20	10
Full House	12	6
Flush	8	4
Straight	4	2
Three of a Kind	2	0

Play 1 hand, 1 round, or 2 rounds, where a round is one hand dealt by each player. The highest total after the last hand wins, and tied players share the win.

Hand rankings

Hands rank from strongest, at the top, to weakest. Aces are high, except in A-2-3-4-5, the lowest straight. A top row of 3 cards can only be a Pair, Three of a Kind, or High Card.

1. Royal Flush A, K, Q, J, and 10, all one suit
2. Straight Flush 5 cards in sequence, all one suit
3. Four of a Kind 4 cards of one rank
4. Full House 3 cards of one rank and 2 of another
5. Flush 5 cards of one suit
6. Straight 5 cards in sequence
7. Three of a Kind 3 cards of one rank
8. Two Pair 2 cards of one rank and 2 of another
9. Pair 2 cards of one rank
10. High Card none of the above, so the highest card counts

Examples

Two boards at the end of a hand, scored against each other. Under each row is its hand and the royalty it pays.

Row	Player 1	Player 2	Winner
Top	Pair of Queens +7	King high	Player 1
Middle	Two Pair, 9s high	Three of a Kind, 10s +2	Player 2
Bottom	Flush, Ace high +4	Straight, 7 high +2	Player 1

Player 1 wins 2 rows and loses 1, for 1 point. Player 1’s royalties are 7 + 4 = 11 and Player 2’s are 2 + 2 = 4, so Player 1 scores 1 + 11 − 4 = 8, and Player 2 loses 8.

• A sweep: Player 1 scores 15 If Player 2’s middle row is this Pair of 10s instead, Player 1 wins all 3 rows, for 3 points and 3 more for the sweep. Player 2’s royalties fall to 2, so Player 1 scores 3 + 3 + 11 − 2 = 15.
• A foul: Player 1 scores 17 If Player 2’s middle row is this 10 high instead, it’s weaker than the top row, King high, so Player 2’s board fouls. No rows are compared, and Player 2 pays 6 plus Player 1’s royalties, 6 + 11 = 17.

How this version differs

• No Fantasyland. Most published rules give a player who makes a pair of Queens or better on top, without fouling, a bonus hand dealt all at once. Here every hand is dealt the same way.
• No other variants. There’s no progressive Fantasyland, no 2-7 lowball middle row, and no second deck for 4 players.