Welcome to Court!

Hey there! I’m Scott Huntington, the creator of Court, a super fun card game. It kind of has the same vibe as Sushi Go and 7 Wonders. Want to learn how to play? Let me show you the ropes!

Let’s Talk Cards and Dealing

Alrighty, so in Court, we use a regular deck of cards and toss in two Jokers for some extra spice. Fun, right? Now, how many cards you get in your starting hand depends on how many folks are playing. For two players, grab 9 cards each. If you have three players, deal 8 cards, and for a four-player game, go with 7 cards. Now, don’t forget to put the rest of the deck aside, ’cause you won’t be needing it this round.

When we finish each round, we collect all the cards and mix them into the deck for the next round.

HOW TO PLAY

To play the game, I choose a card from my hand and keep it facing down in front of me. Once everyone has chosen a card, we reveal them all at once. Then, we pass our remaining cards to the player on our left.

With my new hand of cards, I choose another card, reveal it at the same time as everyone else, and pass the rest of my cards to the left. We keep doing this until we run out of cards.

When I play a face card, I can only pick another if it matches. I’m not allowed to start another pair until I finish the first one. Let’s say I decide to keep the King of Spades. I pass my hand to the left and get a new set of cards from the player on my right. From that set, I choose to keep the Queen of Hearts. But, I must add the Queen of Hearts to my King of Spades. I can’t use it to start a new pair.

Once we’ve all chosen our cards, it’s time to count the score.

JOKERS

Now, let’s talk about Jokers. If I choose a Joker, I can replace it with two cards in a later round. I put the Joker in the same hand where I picked the two cards, and other players can use it if they want.

When I play the game, here’s how it works: I start by choosing the Joker and showing it to everyone. Then, I pass my hand to the person on my left and receive a new set of cards from the player on my right. In that new hand, I might see two cards that I want. I keep those two cards, reveal them to everyone, and put the Joker in that hand before passing it to the left.

Now, let’s talk about scoring. You earn points in a couple of ways. First, you get points for making certain card combinations. For example, if you have a King and a Queen together, you get 5 points. If you have a King and a Jack, you get 4 points. And if you have a Queen and a Jack, you get 3 points. There are also points for Aces. If you have one Ace, you get 5 points. If you have two Aces, you get 3 points. And if you have three Aces, you get 1 point. But that’s not all! You also earn 5 points for having the most cards in a single suit. So if you have the most cards in each suit, that’s 20 points right there!

Finally, let’s talk about winning. The player with the highest score after 3 rounds is the winner. It’s as simple as that. Good luck, and may the best player win!