OBJECTIVE OF CANADIAN SALAD: Change per hand, discussed in detail below.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 players
NUMBER OF CARDS: 52 card deck
RANK OF CARDS: A (high), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
TYPE OF GAME: Trick-Taking Card Game
AUDIENCE: All Ages
INTRODUCTION TO CANADIAN SALAD
Canadian Salad is a Canadian trick-taking game with a different goal for each hand. The goal is to avoid taking certain cards from the trick which accrue penalty points.
The game is most popular in Canada, although it is considered to be North American. The American variant, that is similar to Canadian Salad, is called Wisconsin Scramble.
THE DEAL
Canadian Salad is generally played with 4 players. The deal and play passes to the left, and the first dealer is chosen by cutting the deck. The player with the highest card deals first. The dealer shuffles and deals each player 13 cards.
THE HANDS & THEIR OBJECTIVES
The game has 6 hands played in the following order:
- Hand 1: Take no tricks. Each trick won is 10 penalty points. Total of 130 points in this hand.
- Hand 2: Take no Hearts. Each heart taken in a trick is worth 10 penalty points. Total of 130 points in this hand.
- Hand 3: Take no Queens. Each Queen taken in a trick is worth 25 penalty points. Total of 100 points in this hand.
- Hand 4: Take no King of Spades. The player who takes the King of Spades in a trick scores 100 penalty points.
- Hand 5: Don’t take the last trick. The player who takes the last trick scores 100 penalty points.
- Hand 6: None of the above, all rules from the above hands’ count, for a total of 560 possible points.
THE PLAY
The player to the left of the dealer leads in the first trick. After, the winner of the previous trick leads in the next. A trick consists of each player playing a single card. Players should try and follow the suit of the first card played or led with. If you do not have a card from the suit led with, you may play any card in hand. The highest ranking card from the suit led with wins or takes the trick, and they lead in the next trick.
There are no trumps.
SCORING
After each hand players total the how many points from tricks they have won and add them to their game score.
END OF GAME
Once the final hand is played, the player with the lowest score is the winner.
For more information on Trick-Taking games, click here.
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Hand four strong. It is do not take the king “of” spades. Not do not take kings or spades.
Greg thanks for calling out that typo! We’ve finally fixed it thanks to you. Mahalos
Hand four is wrong. It is do not take the king “of” spades. Not, do not take kings or spades.
#4 needs editing. It should be “Take no King of Spades (not Kings)” and the next sentence should be “The player (not Players) who takes (not take) the King (not Kings) of (not or) Spades in a trick scores (not score)100 penalty points.
Hi Bob, great catch! Thanks for the help!