Disclaimer: Rules that deviate from the Official Rules are styled in bold red.
Collect a hand with the lowest number of points.
2-8 (optimal: 4-6)
The standard 52-card pack + 2 Jokers
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
| Joker | -10 |
| Ace | 0 |
| For N in [2, 10] | N |
| Jack | 10 |
| Queen | 10 |
| King | 15 |
The first round's dealer is the player who called the game. For subsequent rounds, the turn to deal proceeds clockwise. Four cards are dealt to each player face down beginning on the dealer's left. The remaining cards are then placed in the middle of the playing table creating 2 different piles:
Players organize the cards into a 2 x 2 hand. To start, a player may view only the bottom row of 2 cards of the hand. The top row of 2 cards remain unknown, at least at the beginning of the game.
The game consists of individual rounds where each round is won by a single player. The overall game ends when a single player has won an agreed upon number of rounds (typically 5).
An individual round proceeds by players taking turns in a clockwise direction. With each turn, a player has to make two decisions. First, a player decides whether to
Then, with a selected card in hand, a player decides which card (if any) to return to the face up pile in the center of the table:
Each time a new card is placed in the face up pile, players race against each other to be the first to stack a matching card. Only the first player to successfully stack can discard cards. Stacking is the only time a player can interact with the cards in the center piles out of turn.
A player that stacks a non-matching card by mistake must accept the target card as a penalty. The penalty card should be placed face up in the player's hand and it cannot be played for the remainder of the round. A player cannot accept a Joker as a stacking penalty.
The Jack and the Queen are unique cards that have special powers.
Playing a Jack entitles a player to swap any 2 cards on the table. If Jacks are stacked on top of one another, swaps take place in the order they were stacked.
Playing a Queen entitles a player to peak at any card on the table. Similar to Jacks, if Queens are stacked on top of one another, peaks take place in the order they were stacked.
After concluding a turn, and before the next player begins a turn, a player may call 'Lotta Watta'. When this happens, every other player has only one turn left before the round concludes. The player that calls 'Lotta Watta' doesn't get to play another turn.
A player can "shoot the moon" by collecting a hand of a single card in all 4 suits. If a player shoots the moon successfully, the game is immediately over at this time and they are declared the winner.
When a round concludes, the cards are flipped and each player's hand points are counted. The round winner is the player with the lowest number of points.