Game rules

The deal

Each player gets 4 cards, with 4 more dealt face up on the table. When everyone’s hand is empty, each player gets another 4. No more cards go on the table from the deck. This continues until the whole 52-card deck has been played. Any cards left on the table at the end go to whoever made the last capture. There are no jokers in the deck.

Your turn

On your turn, you play exactly one card. If it adds up to 11 with any cards on the table, you take those cards along with your own. Suit doesn’t matter. An ace counts as 1. For example: there’s a 3 and a 4 on the table. Play a 4 and take all three cards (3 + 4 + 4 = 11). If more than one capture is possible, you pick the one you want. If your card doesn’t make 11, it stays on the table and the turn passes to the next player.

Captures are mandatory

You can play any card in your hand. But if the card you play makes a capture, you have to take it.

Face cards

Face cards don’t count toward sums: a queen takes one queen from the table and a king takes one king. The jack sweeps up everything on the table at once, except queens and kings. If there’s nothing to take, the jack stays on the table.

Scoring

Each round is worth five points:

The first player to reach 11 points wins the match (the traditional tabletop game is played to 21). If “most cards” or “most clubs” ends in a tie, nobody gets those points.