Description
Five suits and a wild card that changes every round. Five crowns is a card game for everyone who loves rummy but wants something new. You start with three cards in hand and finish with thirteen, so every round plays a little differently and the game is never decided until the very end.
How to play Five Crowns
The game has 11 rounds. In the first, everyone gets three cards and threes are wild, in the second four cards and fours are wild, and in the last thirteen cards and kings are wild. The jokers are wild in every round. On your turn you take a card from the draw pile or the top card of the discard pile, then discard one card.
When you can arrange all your cards but one into runs (at least three cards of the same suit in sequence) and books (at least three cards of the same rank), you lay them down and go out. Everyone else gets one more turn, then the cards left in their hands count as penalty points. After eleven rounds, whoever has the fewest points wins.
Why you will like it
- The wild card changes every round. What used to be just a three is now a card that completes any run.
- Taking the discarded card is tempting, but it shows everyone what you are collecting.
- Once someone goes out, you only have one more turn. So sometimes you throw away a costly wild card just to lose fewer points.
- The cards in your hand grow with every round, so you can still make up lost ground in the very last round.
Who is Five Crowns for
The game is for 1 to 7 players aged 8 and up, and with two sets up to 14 people can play. It takes around 30 to 45 minutes. It is easy to learn, and players like it best with four. There is no text on the cards, so it suits family evenings and all generations. The rules also include a solo variant in which you work on all 11 rounds at once.
What you might not like
Anyone looking for a game with lots of planning may miss having more control, since drawing cards brings quite a bit of luck. Eleven rounds with ever more cards in hand mean that rounds take longer towards the end.
What's in the box
- 2 decks of 58 cards each
- 5 suits in each deck (stars, hearts, clubs, spades, diamonds) from three to king
- 6 jokers, 3 in each deck
- rules
