Thirteen Steps

How to play

2 to 6 players, with the classic deck of 52 cards: clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades, the ace to the king.

• 2 players: one deck
• 3 players: one deck
• 4 players: two decks shuffled together
• 5 players: two decks shuffled together
• 6 players: two decks shuffled together

Eleven rounds

• The first round deals 3 cards to each player, the next 4, and so on up to 13 in the eleventh.
• In each round the cards of the hand's size are wild: the 3s in the first round, the 4s in the second… then the jacks with 11 cards, the queens with 12 and the kings with 13. A wild card stands for any card.
• One card turns face up to start the pile; the rest is the stock. The deal moves to the left each round, and the player after the dealer starts.

A turn

• Draw the top card of the stock, or take the top card of the pile, then discard a card on the pile (never the card just taken from the pile).
• Your hand sorts itself into the best melds: sets of three or more cards of one number, and runs of three or more cards of one suit in a row (the ace low only, before the 2).
• When your discard leaves every card of your hand in a meld, you go out. Each other player then plays one last turn, and the round is scored.
• When the stock runs out, the pile under its top card is shuffled into a new stock, three times a round at most; the next time, the round is scored as it stands.

Scoring

Each player counts the cards left out of their best melds: the ace 1, a 2 to 10 its number, the jack, the queen and the king 10; a wild card left out counts its own number. After the eleventh round the lowest total wins. A player who leaves loses.