Cards4Couples
Easy · 2/5Adding gamesInvented game (Brian Stovel, 2009)

Twenty

A quick, skilful adding game: players take turns pushing a shared count up one at a time from 1 to 20 by playing cards that hit each exact total, aiming to shed their hand or be left holding the least.

You'll need: One standard 52-card deck.

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Objective

Be the first to get rid of all your cards, or hold the lowest-value hand when someone makes the count of 20.

Count values

Ace = 1; 2-9 = face value; 10, J, Q = 10 (but a matched pair of tens, jacks or queens may count as 10 rather than 20); King is wild, worth any amount from 1 to 20.

Setup

  1. 1Deal 7 cards to each player; stack the rest face down as a draw pile.
  2. 2With two players, the player opposite the dealer begins and turns alternate.

How to play

  • A shared count starts at 1 and rises by 1 each time a player 'makes the count'.
  • On your turn you must either draw one card, OR make the current count by playing a single card equal to it or a set of cards that sum to it exactly.
  • You may always choose to draw instead of making the count, even if you could make it; if you cannot make it, you must draw.
  • The count climbs only when it is actually made, so a number may sit for several turns.
  • The hand ends when a player empties their hand, or when someone makes the count of 20.

Scoring

Scored in penalty points · play to 100

Each hand

  • At the end of a hand, each player scores penalty points for cards still in hand:
  • Cards Ace-9 = 5 penalty each.
  • Any 10, J or Q = 10 penalty each.
  • Kings = 20 penalty each.

Good to know

  • Two-player game ends when a player reaches 100 penalty points; lowest total wins. Use 200 for 3-4 players.

Winning

The player with the FEWER penalty points when someone reaches 100 wins the game.

Game mechanics referenced from pagat.com (John McLeod); rules text is our own wording.

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