3️⃣ How to play Thirty-One

Easy rules, to read aloud 🔊

1. Everyone gets three cards and three counters.
2. On your turn, take the top card from either pile, then put one card down.
3. Try to hold cards of the same suit, like all hearts.
4. Add them up. An ace is eleven and a picture card is ten.
5. Knock on the table when you think your cards are good.
6. Everyone else gets one more turn, then show your cards.
7. The lowest score gives up a counter. The last player with a counter wins.

The full rules

1. Card values: an ace is 11, a king, queen or jack is 10, and every other card is its number. Your hand is worth the total of your cards in one suit. If all three suits are different, it is worth your highest card. The best hand is 31: an ace and two ten-point cards of one suit.
2. Each player starts with three counters, their lives. Deal three cards to each player, one at a time. Turn the next card face up to start the discard pile and put the rest face down beside it.
3. The player to the dealer's left goes first and play moves left. On your turn, take the top card of the face-down pile or the discard pile, then put one card face up on the discard pile. If you took the discard, you may not put that same card straight back.
4. At the start of your turn, instead of taking a card, you may knock if you think your hand is not the lowest. You keep your cards, and every other player gets one last turn.
5. Then everyone shows their cards and counts their best suit. The lowest hand loses one counter. If the knocker ties for lowest, the knocker is safe. If the knocker is lowest alone, the knocker loses two counters.
6. If anyone reaches exactly 31, even straight from the deal, they show it at once and the round ends. Every other player loses a counter.
7. A player who has lost all three counters may stay in, but is out the next time they lose.
8. The deal moves one player to the left each round.

How to win: Players drop out as they lose their last life. The last player left in the game wins.

Tips

• Pick one suit early and stick to it: changing suits drops your score.
• Watch what the others take from the discard pile to guess the suit they want.
• Knock early when your hand is good enough to beat at least one player.

What it practises

adding in your head, sorting by suit, deciding when to stop.

Other ways to play

• Three of a kind. Three cards of the same number, like three eights, count as 30 and a half.
• Quick knock. A knocker who ties for lowest loses too, and any loss for the knocker costs two counters.