Sixth Card

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Which card is higher?
3. Penalty points
4. Setup
5. Playing a turn
6. End of a round
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

In Sixth Card everybody plays at the same time. Each turn, every player picks one card from their hand and lays it face down; then all cards are turned over and added, from lowest to highest, to four rows in the middle of the table. A card always goes where it fits best – you can't choose. And a row can hold only five cards: whoever has to lay the sixth card in a row must take the other five as penalty points. The player with the fewest penalty points at the end wins.

• Players: 2–10; best with 4–7.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck for 2–4 players, two decks for 5–10 players (no jokers), and paper and pencil for the scores.

Sixth Card is our own adaptation for ordinary cards, inspired by 6 nimmt! (English: Take 5; Wolfgang Kramer, Amigo, 1994). It has not been playtested in this form yet.

Which card is higher?

In this game every card has a fixed place on one long ladder:

1. First compare the rank. The Ace is lowest, then 2, 3 … 10, Jack, Queen and King, the highest.
2. If the ranks are equal, the suit decides: ♣ < ♦ < ♥ < ♠ (clubs lowest, spades highest).

A♣ < A♦ < A♥ < A♠ < 2♣ < 2♦ < … < K♥ < K♠

Example: 7♠ is higher than 7♦ (same rank, spades beat diamonds) but lower than 8♣ (higher rank).

If you like numbers: this ladder numbers the cards from A♣ = 1 to K♠ = 52. You never need the numbers to play, though.

With two decks, every card exists twice. Two identical cards (for example both 9♥) are twins. A twin counts as just above its twin: it may be laid on it.

Penalty points

Every card is worth penalty points – most only 1:

Easy to remember: number cards 1, fives and face cards 2, tens 3, the Queen of Spades 5.

Setup

1. Choose a dealer at random. The dealer shuffles the cards (one deck for 2–4 players, both decks together for 5–10).
2. Deal each player 10 cards face down. This is your hand; keep it hidden.
3. Lay 4 cards face up from the rest, one below the other: each one is the start of a row.
4. Put the remaining cards aside face down. They are not used in this round.

Playing a turn

1. Choose. Every player picks one card from their hand and lays it face down in front of them. Don't wait for the others – but once your card is down, you can't change it.

2. Reveal. When everyone has chosen, all cards are turned face up at the same time.

3. Place the cards, lowest first. Starting with the lowest card revealed and going upwards, each card is added to the end of one row, according to these rules:

• Where it goes: A card goes to the row whose last card is the highest card that is still lower than it. You can't choose – the card always goes to that row. (It lies to the right of the last card.)
• The sixth card: If that row already has five cards, your card would be the sixth. You must take the five cards and put them face down in front of you as your penalty pile. Your card becomes the first card of that row.
• Too low: If your card is lower than the last card of every row, it fits nowhere. You choose any row, take all its cards into your penalty pile, and your card becomes the first card of that row.

Twins (two decks only): if two identical cards are revealed in the same turn, the one belonging to the player nearer the dealer's left (counting clockwise) is placed first; the other is placed next, following the same rules (usually right onto its twin).

If two rows end with twins (this can happen when a twin starts a row), a card that belongs after them goes to the shorter of the two rows; if both are equally long, its owner chooses.

After all cards have been placed, the next turn begins. A round lasts 10 turns, until all hands are empty.

Example: The rows end with 8♥, Q♠, 2♣ and 7♦. Anna reveals J♠, Ben K♣, Carla A♥ and Dan 7♠.

• A♥ (Carla) is the lowest card, so it is placed first. It is lower than every row's last card, so Carla chooses a row: she takes row 3 (just the 2♣, 1 point), and the A♥ starts row 3.
• 7♠ (Dan): the highest last card below it is the 7♦ (same rank, ♦ is lower than ♠). It goes to row 4.
• J♠ (Anna): the last cards are now 8♥, Q♠, A♥ and 7♠. The highest one below J♠ is 8♥, so it goes to row 1.
• K♣ (Ben): the highest last card below it is Q♠ in row 2 – but row 2 already has five cards. The K♣ would be the sixth, so Ben takes 9♠, 10♣, J♦, Q♥ and Q♠: 1 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 5 = 13 penalty points. The K♣ starts row 2.

End of a round

After ten turns, everybody counts the penalty points in their penalty pile and writes them down. Then all cards are shuffled together, the next player to the left deals, and a new round begins.

Winning the game

The game ends after the round in which a player reaches 66 or more penalty points. The player with the fewest penalty points wins; ties share the win.

Tips for beginners

• Watch the gaps. A card just above a row's last card is safe – unless that row already has five cards.
• A full row (five cards) is a trap for everyone whose card lands there. Count how many rows are close to full.
• Low cards are dangerous as well as useful: a card that fits nowhere forces you to take a row – but you pick which, so a short, cheap row may be fine.
• Remember that everyone else plays at the same time. The "safe" gap may be filled by someone else's card first, pushing yours into a worse place.
• Keep an eye on the Queen of Spades and the 10s – nobody wants a row that holds them.

Variants

• Short game: play a fixed number of rounds (for example three) or stop at 44 points.
• Exactly the right number of cards: for 2–4 players, use only as many cards as needed – 10 per player plus 4 – starting from the Aces: A–6 for 2 players (24 cards), A–8 plus 9♣ and 9♦ for 3 players (34 cards), A–J for 4 players (44 cards). All cards are then in play, and you can count which ones are still out.