OBJECT OF THE KING OF HEARTS HAS FIVE SONS: The objective of The King of Hearts has Five Sons is to be the player with the lowest number of points after 11 hands.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 1 to 7 Players
MATERIALS: 2 modified 52 Card Decks and Jokers
TYPE OF GAME: Shedding Card Game
AUDIENCE: 8 Years Old and Up
OVERVIEW OF THE KING OF HEARTS HAS FIVE SONS
The lovely thing about The King of Hearts Has Five Sons is that you do not know the winner until the Kings go wild! Players are able to come back from the final hand and win the game, it has been done! The goal of the game is to accumulate the least number of points possible. Get those cards out of your hand and keep your points low!
SETUP
To begin setup players must establish the decks. The decks consist of three Jokers and all four suits containing cards three through ten, Jacks, Queens, and Kings. All of the cards are shuffled together and the dealer will begin the deal.
For the first deal, each player will be dealt three cards. In the second deal, the players are dealt four cards. This continues throughout all eleven rounds, until players are dealt thirteen cards each. The rest of the cards are placed in the center, creating the draw pile. The top card is revealed, creating the discard pile.
The game is ready to begin!
GAMEPLAY
The player to the left of the dealer begins the game, and gameplay will continue clockwise. During their turn, players may choose to draw a card from the draw pile or pickup the top card from the discard pile. The player will then discard one card, ending their turn.
During their turn, a player may lay down runs or books in order to remove more cards from their hands. Runs are made up of three or more cars that are of the same suit. Books are made up of three or more cards that are of the same value, and suit does not matter. Wild cards may be used in place of some cards in order to make these combinations occur. Jokers are always wild cards, and the card that matches the number of cards dealt to each player is the wild card each round.
When a player goes out, the other players get one final turn. The player may lay down all of their books and runs. The remaining cards in their hand count as points against them. The only points that matter are those of the cards left in the hand. The hand comes to an end.
Gameplay continues until all eleven hands have been played. Final points are then tallied.
Scoring
Jacks- 11 points
Queens- 12 points
Kings- 13 points
Jokers- 50 points
Wild Card- 20 points
Number Card- face value
END OF GAME
The game comes to an end after 11 hands have been played. Points are tallied. The player with the lowest number of points wins the game!
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