If you need to buy one, the size/design won’t make any difference, just be sure it has 4 full suits of clubs, diamonds, spades, and hearts.
Once this is complete, pick one player amongst yourselves to be the dealer. The dealer receives no special advantages in gameplay, so it is more or less an arbitrary choice.
Provided you’re playing with four people, certain ranks match with players in the counterclockwise order, such that you don’t need to count it out. If the card was an ace, a five, or a nine, the dealer will be dealt to first. If the card was a two, a six, or a ten, the player to the right of the dealer will be dealt to first. If the card was a three, a seven, or a jack, the player sitting opposite the dealer will be dealt to first. If the card was a four, an eight, or a queen, the player to the left of the dealer will be dealt to first.
If you’re playing with three players, deal each player seventeen cards and place the last card, face up, on the table. The player with the three of diamonds takes this card into their hand, unless the card itself is the three of diamonds in which case the player with the three of spades take the card.
The namesake of the game comes from it’s ranking of the game’s cards (from high to low): 2, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10 to 3. The suits are ranked (from high to low): spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds. There are four combinations in which cards can be played: single cards, pairs of cards, triples, and five card groups.
When playing a pair of cards, they must be of equal rank (ex. two nines or two jacks). Triples work in the same way. Higher suits will determine rank among equal pairs (ex. a nine of spades and of diamonds beats a nine of hearts and of clubs, because the spade is higher).
You can play a straight, which is five cards of successive rank using any suits (ex. six of hearts, seven of diamonds, eight of hearts, nine of clubs, and ten of spades). When ranks are identical, the suit of the highest ranked card determines supremacy. Four of a kinds are also possible, and you include any other card to make a combination of five. The four must be of the same rank (ex. all 4 sevens, and a three of spades). Choosing between two four of a kinds, the rank of the four cards decides supremacy. You can play a flush, which is a five card combination of any cards of the same suit (ex. nine of hearts, seven of hearts, six of hearts, ten of hearts, and three of hearts). Higher suits beat lower suits, irrespective of the ranks. Between identical suits, highest card determines supremacy. The next five card combination is a full house, which is essentially a pair and a triple. Three cards of one rank and two of another (ex. 3 fours and 2 sevens, of any suit). Deciding between two full houses, supremacy goes to the one whose triple is of a higher rank. Straight flushes are also possible as five successive cards of the same suit (with twos in this case ranking below threes, with aces able to be high or low)–an example would be an eight of spades, a nine of spades, a ten of spades, a jack of spades, and a queen of spades. Between equal ranked flushes, suit determines which is higher.
Note, you are never obligated to play cards. If you believe it’s advantageous to hold on to your cards, you can pass at will. A five card group can be surpassed by a five card group of another, stronger type. They are listed in ascending order above (ex. a straight flush can beat any five card combination). When you are unable to play a higher card or combination of cards, you must pass. Once everyone save one player has passed, a new round will begin.
The game will continue in this way until one person has played their last card. Once a player has emptied their hand of cards, they are automatically determined the winner.
For those with nine cards or less in their hand, they will count one point per card. For those with ten, eleven, or twelve cards in their hard, they will count two points per card. For those with all cards still in their hand, their score will automatically be 39 (3 points per card).
