RED NINES

Hey there! I want to tell you about a cool card game called Red Nines. It’s a game that you can play with four or more people, and it’s all about getting rid of your cards as quickly as possible. The way you do this is by adding cards to a pile in a certain order.

THE CARDS & THE DEAL

So, to play Red Nines with four players, you’ll need a regular deck of 52 cards. But if you have more than four players, you’ll need to add more cards. If you have an even number of players, you’ll have an equal number of red and black suits. But if you have an odd number of players, you’ll have one more red suit than black suits. For example, if you have five players, you’ll have three red suits and two black suits.

Now, the next step is to deal out all the cards. Each player should have thirteen cards. And each round, the dealer passes the cards to the left.

THE PLAY

THE FIRST TURN

When playing this game, I’ll start by explaining the rules to you! The player to the left of the dealer gets to go first. That means if I’m sitting next to the dealer, it’s my turn to play.

On my turn, I want to get rid of as many cards as possible by playing them to the discard pile. I can do this by playing cards in order from lowest to highest. It doesn’t matter what suit the cards are.

Now, here’s an interesting twist. The first player can start the discard pile with multiple cards of the same rank. So if I have two 3’s, I can put both of them on the discard pile right at the beginning. Then, I can continue the sequence with a 4, 5, 6, and so on. I’ll try to play as many cards as possible in a row.

My turn keeps going as long as I can add cards to the sequence. But once I can’t play any more cards in order, my turn is over. It’s pretty simple, right?

AFTER MY TURN

Alright, so here’s how the game goes – you ready? The next player has to keep the sequence going based on the card on top of the discard pile. They play as many cards as they can. If they can’t continue the sequence, they lose their turn. We keep going like this until one player gets rid of all their cards.

Here are some special rules:

If a player plays a King, they can start a new sequence with any number or face card, including another King. Pretty neat, right?

Now, if there comes a point where nobody can build on the discard pile, the player who played the last card has a chance to go again. They get to start a new sequence with any card they want – total freedom!

Oh, and here’s a cool one: red 9’s are wild cards. They can be used as any card you need. So, if you need a 9 to keep the sequence going and you have a red 9 in your hand, you don’t have to play it if you don’t want to. You can totally pass and keep your red 9 for something even better.

Let’s play a game called Red Nines. Each player at the table gets to play one round.

SCORING

You earn penalty points based on the cards left in your hand.

For cards numbered 2 to 10, you get points equal to the rank of the card.

Each Jack is worth 11 points.

Each Queen is worth 12 points.

Each King is worth 13 points.

Each Ace is worth 20 points.

If you have a red 9 in your hand after someone else has finished, your score for the round is doubled. If you have two red 9’s, your score is quadrupled, and so on.

If you finish the game with a red 9 as your final card, the scores of all the other players are doubled for the round.

WINNING

Each player in the game plays one round of Red Nines. The player with the lowest score at the end is the winner.