OBJECTIVE OF FIVE CROWNS: Be the player with the lowest score when the game ends
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 – 7 players
MATERIALS: Two 58 card decks
TYPE OF GAME: Rummy
AUDIENCE: All ages
OVERVIEW OF FIVE CROWNS
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If you enjoy rummy games, you are going to love Five Crowns. It’s a rummy-style game you play in rounds. Although I’m not sure what’s crazier, the fact that there are five suits in the deck or the fact that there are 116 cards in the deck (two 58-card decks)! Let’s go over the ins and outs of Five Crowns to ensure you play a fair game.
SETUP FOR FIVE CROWNS
In order to play Five Crowns, you’re going to need a few things. First of all, you need a couple of friends. Play this at the start of your game nights to get everyone warmed up for the festivities. You can play with up to seven people. Then you’re going to need a flat surface and a Five Crowns set.
WHATS IN THE BOX?
Five Crowns includes two 58-card decks. Each deck has five suits: Hearts, Spades, Clubs, Diamonds, and Stars. There are also six Jokers. In the Five Crowns decks, there are no Aces or Twos. The rank for the cards is as follows:
- 3 (Low)
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- Jack
- Queen
- King (High)
DEALING
As always, you need to choose a dealer. You can use any mechanism you want, such as drawing cards. Now, the dealer can shuffle the cards and deal three cards to each player, one card at a time. In each round, he should deal one more card to each player until the final round. In round two, players get four cards, five cards in round three, and so on. Finally, in the last round, each player gets thirteen cards.
| ROUND # | # OF CARDS DEALT |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 6 |
| 5 | 7 |
| 6 | 8 |
| 7 | 9 |
| 8 | 10 |
| 9 | 11 |
| 10 | 12 |
| 11 | 13 |
After the deal, place the rest of the cards face down in a pile. This is the draw pile. Turn over the top card and place it beside the draw pile to form what will be the discard pile.
HOW TO PLAY FIVE CROWNS
Five Crowns is a rummy-style game, like Phase 10. Here is a breakdown of how to play Five Crowns.
BOOKS AND RUNS
Players are trying to be the first to fill their hands with melds of books and runs. A book is three or more cards of the same rank. For example, three Kings. Remember, since there are multiple decks, you may have repeating suits. So, One King of Diamonds, One King of Stars, and One King of Diamonds is a valid book.
A run is three cards or more in sequential order. The cards in a run must be the same suit. Books and runs may have as many wild cards as the player wants to include up to their natural limit. That means a book cannot contain more than five cards. Wilds and Jokers cannot be used to create a run beyond the King or less than 3.
JOKERS & WILDS
During each round, a new card will be wild. For the first round, the threes are wild. For the next round, fours will be wild, and so on. The number of cards players are dealt is the same as the rank of cards that is wild for that round.
| ROUND # | WILD CARD |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 6 |
| 5 | 7 |
| 6 | 8 |
| 7 | 9 |
| 8 | 10 |
| 9 | JOKER |
| 10 | QUEEN |
| 11 | KING |
PLAY
Play begins with the player to the left of the dealer and continues clockwise. A turn consists of drawing and then discarding. Going out is covered in the next section.
You can draw the top card from the discard pile or the draw pile. After adding that card to your hand, you will choose one card from your hand to discard. This card goes on top of the discard pile. Discarding ends the turn. You should always have the same number of cards in your hand.
GOING OUT
Play like this continues until a player is able to go out. Going out occurs when every card in a player’s hand is part of a book or run. If you want to go out, you draw a card first, then lay down all your cards, which should all be melded for everyone to see. Finally, you discard your last card to end your turn.
Once someone goes out, all the other players get one final turn. Players taking their final turn will draw, lay down all of their books and runs, and discard one final time.
SCORING FOR FIVE CROWNS
When the round ends, the player who went out earns zero points. The remaining players earn points based on the cards they have that are not part of a book or a meld.
Each card is worth the rank of the card. 3’s are worth 3 points, and so on. Jacks are worth 11 points, Queens are worth 12 points, Kings are worth 13 points, the wild cards for the round are worth 20 points, and Jokers are worth 50 points.
In the picture above, the player will earn 14 points for the round.
END OF GAME
After the completion of the final round, the player with the lowest score wins.
If you liked Five Crowns, be sure to try out Rummy 500 for another fun rummy game.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can You Play Five Crowns Alone?
Yes, you can play Five Crowns alone. There is a variant called Five Crowns Solitaire.
What Is the Number of Cards Dealt to Each Player in Five Crowns?
In the first round, each player is dealt three cards. Then, in each round, one additional card is given to each player. This continues until the final round, in which each player is dealt 13 cards.
What Does It Mean When “Kings Go Wild”?
This just means that in this round, Kings will be the wild card, and it also signifies what round is being played. The first wild card is three, and it continues to increase in rank every round.
How Many Points Is Each Card Worth?
The numerical cards are all worth their face value in points. So, Jacks are worth 11, Queens 12, and Kings 13 points. Wilds for the round are worth 20 points instead of their standard point value, and jokers are worth 50 points.
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