Agurk

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Playing the tricks
5. The last trick
6. Winning the game
7. Tips for beginners
8. Variants

Overview

Agurk ("cucumber") is a quick, simple game from Scandinavia, where it is played in Denmark and Norway as Agurk and in Sweden and Norway as Gurka. Everyone plays seven cards in seven tricks, but only the last trick matters: whoever wins it takes penalty points equal to their card. The catch is that in every trick you must beat or equal the highest card played so far – and if you can't, you must give up your lowest card, the very card you were saving for the end. Reach 30 penalty points and you are out; the last player left wins.

• Players: 2–7; best with 4–6.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and paper and pen for the penalty points.

The cards

The cards rank from high to low: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. Suits don't matter – a 9♠ and a 9♥ are equal.

For the penalty points the cards are worth their number; the face cards and Ace count as follows:

Setup

1. Dealer: choose the first dealer at random. After each hand the deal passes to the left (clockwise), skipping players who are out.
2. Deal: the dealer shuffles and deals 7 cards to each player, clockwise. The cards left over are put aside face down; nobody looks at them.

Playing the tricks

A trick is one round in which each player plays one card face up. There are 7 tricks in a hand.

1. The player to the dealer's left leads – plays the first card – to the first trick. The lead can be any card.
2. Going clockwise, each other player plays one card: - If you have a card that is equal to or higher than the highest card in the trick so far, you must play one of them (you choose which). - If you can't, you must play your lowest card.
3. The highest card wins the trick. If several players played equally high cards, the last of them wins.
4. The winner leads to the next trick.

It helps to leave your played cards face up in front of you, so everyone can see what has gone.

Example: Fifth trick – everyone has three cards left. Anna leads a 10. Ben holds K, 8, 3 and must play the K (the only card that equals or beats the 10). Carla holds 9, 7, 5 – nothing reaches the King – so she must play her lowest, the 5. Dan holds K, 4, 2 and must play his K. Ben and Dan both played a King; Dan played last, so he wins the trick and leads next.

The last trick

The seventh trick decides the hand. The player who plays the highest card in it gets its value as penalty points. If several players play a card of that same rank, each of them gets those points. Everyone else scores nothing.

Example: In the last trick Anna leads a 6, Ben plays a 9, Carla has only a 4 left and Dan plays a 9. Ben and Dan both get 9 penalty points; Anna and Carla get nothing.

Winning the game

Keep a running total of each player's penalty points. As soon as your total reaches 30 or more, you are "the cucumber" and drop out – a cucumber is often drawn next to your name. The others play on with fewer players. The last player left wins. If all remaining players go out in the same hand, the one with the lowest total wins.

Tips for beginners

• Keep a low card for the end. A 2 or 3 in the last trick is almost always safe.
• High cards protect your low ones. If you can beat a trick, you don't have to give up your lowest card – so Aces and Kings are useful even though you don't want them at the end.
• Lead high to strip the others. Leading an Ace forces players without Aces to throw away their lowest cards, which may leave one of them stuck with a high card for the last trick.
• Watch what has gone. All played cards stay visible – count which high cards are still out there.

Variants

Agree on these before you start.

• Free choice: you may play your lowest card even if you could beat the trick (the rule given by pagat.com for Denmark).
• Aces can't be beaten: after an Ace is led (at some tables: played), every other player must play their lowest card.
• Beat the previous card: in Sweden many only require you to beat or equal the card played just before yours, not the highest in the trick.
• Game to 21: a common Danish target. In one Danish version, the first time you reach 21 you draw a cucumber and restart at the highest score of any other player; the second time you are out.
• Buy back: when playing for a pot, a player who is out may pay a second stake once to come back in with the highest score of those still in – only while at least three others remain.
• Low Ace (Poland, Finland): in the last trick only, the Ace is the lowest card and counts 1 point.
• Jokers: add jokers as extra cards above the Aces, worth 15 points.