Card CommonsCard Commons

Goal

Score as few points as you can. Each hole is one deal, and the lowest total after the last hole wins. Players tied for the lowest total share the win.

Cards

Use one standard 52-card deck without Jokers for 2 to 4 players. For 5 or 6 players, shuffle two decks together.

Starting hand

Deal 6 cards face down to each player. Without looking at them, each player lays theirs out in 2 rows of 3. The rest of the deck is the stock. Turn its top card face up to start the discard pile.

Then, starting with the first player and going to the left, each player turns any 2 of their own cards face up.

Play

1. Draw a card. Take the top card of the stock, or the top card of the discard pile.
2. Use it or discard it. Put it face up in place of any one of your 6 cards, and put the card it replaces face up on the discard pile. A face-down card is replaced without looking at it first. A card from the stock can go straight onto the discard pile instead, but a card taken from the discard pile must be used.
3. Play passes to the left. A turn is always one card drawn and one card used or discarded.
4. The end of a hole. Once all 6 of a player’s cards are face up, every other player has one more turn. Then all the cards are turned face up and the hole is scored.
5. An empty stock. If the stock is empty at the start of a turn, shuffle the discard pile, all but its top card, to make a new stock.
6. The next hole. The first player moves one seat to the left each hole.

Scoring

• Ace: 1 point
• 2: −2 points
• 3–10: face value
• J and Q: 10 points each
• K: 0 points

Two cards of the same rank in a column score 0, even two 2s. Add each hole’s score to your total.

Examples

One player’s cards at the end of a hole, with what each column scores.

	Left	Middle	Right	Total
Top row
Bottom row
Points	0	9	8	17

• A pair of 7s The left column holds two 7s, so it scores 0 rather than 14.
• A pair of 2s Two 2s in a column score 0, not −4.
• A King over a 9 A King counts 0, so the middle column scores just the 9.

Playing with your own deck

You need paper and a pencil to keep score. Keep a column for each player and a line for each hole.

How this version differs

• Everyone else has one more turn. Once a player’s 6 cards are all face up, every other player takes one more turn before the hole ends. The published rules end the hole at once, and list this as a variation.
• An empty stock is rebuilt. The discard pile, all but its top card, is shuffled into a new stock. The published rules don’t say what happens.
• You can also play 3 holes. The published rules name 9 and 18.