Big Number

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. What you may play
5. Playing a round
6. End of a deal
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants
10. Differences from the model game

Overview

Big Number is a quick climbing game: whoever is on turn must beat the cards in the middle of the table with a higher number – or pass. Your cards are digits. Several cards of the same suit or the same rank together form a number: you put the digits in the order that gives the biggest number, so 2♥ 9♥ 7♥ is 972. After beating a play you must take one of the beaten cards into your hand, so the hands shrink slowly. When someone has no cards left, everybody else scores a penalty point for each card still in their hand; the fewest points win.

• Players: 2–6; best with 3–4.
• You need: the Aces to 9s of one standard deck (two decks for 5 or 6 players), and paper and pencil for the score.

Big Number is our own adaptation for ordinary cards, inspired by Odin (Yohan Goh, Hope S. Hwang and Gary Kim, Helvetiq, 2024). It has not been playtested in this form yet.

The cards

Take the Ace to 9 of each suit: 36 cards. The Ace counts as 1; every other card counts its number. The 10s, face cards and jokers are not used.

With 5 or 6 players, take the Ace to 9 from two decks (72 cards). Cards of the same suit count as the same suit, whichever deck they come from.

Setup

1. Shuffle and deal 9 cards to each player. Keep your hand secret; you may sort it as you like.
2. Put the cards left over aside unseen. They are not used in this deal.
3. Choose a start player at random. Play goes clockwise.

What you may play

• One card, or
• several cards of the same suit (any numbers), or
• several cards of the same rank (any suits).

The value of a play is the number you get by using each card as one digit, biggest digit first: 2♥ 9♥ 7♥ is 972; 5♠ 5♦ is 55; a single 8 is 8.

Example: 4♣ 1♣ is 41, 6♦ 6♥ 6♠ is 666, A♥ 3♥ 8♥ 2♥ is 8321.

Playing a round

A deal is played in rounds.

1. Lead: the player who starts a round plays exactly one card face up into the middle.
2. Beat or pass: then, in turn, each player either - plays a set that has the same number of cards as the set in the middle or one card more, and a higher value; or - passes. Passing is only for this turn – next time round you may play again.
3. Pick up: after playing, you must take one card of the set you have just beaten into your hand (if it was a single card, you take that card). The rest of the beaten set goes out of play for this deal. Now only your cards lie in the middle.
4. Round end: when all other players pass one after another, the round is over. Clear the middle away. The player who played last leads the next round with one card. You may never play on your own set.

A lower card can help to make a higher number: on an 8 you may play 3♠ 3♥ (33), because two cards may follow one.

Example: Anna leads the 4♦. Ben beats it with the 7♠ and takes the 4♦ into his hand. Carla plays two cards, 5♥ 3♥ = 53, and must take the 7♠. Dan plays 6♣ 6♠ = 66, takes the 5♥; the 3♥ goes out of play. Anna plays three cards, 8♦ 6♦ 2♦ = 862, and takes a 6. Ben, Carla and Dan all pass: the round is over, and Anna leads the next one with a single card.

End of a deal

The deal ends at once in one of two ways:

• You play your last cards. When a play empties your hand, you don't pick up a card.
• Everything at once: when you are to lead a round and all the cards in your hand have the same suit or the same rank, you may play them all together. The deal ends immediately. (Otherwise a lead is always one card.)

Everybody else scores 1 penalty point for each card left in their hand. Write the points down. For the next deal, shuffle all the cards and deal 9 each again; the player to the left of the last deal's start player begins with one card.

Example: Carla plays her last two cards. Anna still has 3 cards, Ben 1 and Dan 5: they score 3, 1 and 5 points.

Winning the game

The game ends when a player reaches 15 points or more. The player with the fewest points wins; tied players share the win. For a shorter game play to 10 points, for a longer one to 20.

Tips for beginners

• Keep cards that go together. Three of a suit or a pair is your way of making a big number later.
• The card you pick up matters as much as the one you play. Take the card that fits your hand – a 9 of your strongest suit is worth a lot.
• Small numbers are fine for a lead: if everyone else passes, you lead again.
• Count the others' hands. When a player is down to one or two cards, play your big sets before they go out.
• A set of one card more is a strong answer: two small cards beat any single card.

Variants

• Single deal: play just one deal; the fewest cards in hand wins. (The model game suggests this for a very short game.)
• Two decks with fewer players: play with 72 cards from two decks even with 3 or 4 players. More cards stay aside unseen, so it is harder to work out who holds what.

Differences from the model game

The model game has 54 cards: the numbers 1 to 9 in six colours. Its rules suggest removing two colours for two players – which gives exactly our 36 cards. With 3–4 players Big Number uses the same 36 cards, so fewer cards stay aside (with 4 players none). With 5–6 players the two decks give each suit twice; a set of one suit may then contain the same card twice (7♥ 7♥ 2♥ = 772). Everything else follows the model game.