The rules for Golf
A fast paced game of strategy and plain old dumb luck.
For: 2 to 6 people
Needs: 2 decks of cards, Jokers included
The object of this game is have the lowest score, hence the name Golf. There is a solitaire game called golf. This is not it.
Shuffle the two decks together. Choose a dealer however you wish. Deal each person six cards. Players are NOT to look at their cards. Lay your cards on the table in the following fashion:
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Everyone can turn two cards over. It's been my experience that it is not a good idea to turn two cards over that are right above and below each other.
You need to remember the following point cards. Everything is face value. That is, aces score 1. Twos score 2. Tens, Jacks, and Queens score ten. Kings score zero. (Yes, that's right, Kings are good!) Jokers score negative two. Your goal is to have the lowest score on the table.
The other important thing about scoring is that two cards of the same value that appear on top of each other cancel each other out. Consider the following card setup:
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The cards shown score a total of 5. The nines cancel each other out since they're lined up.
One more tidbit of scoring news. There is a special condition where one player can give points to everyone else at the table. If anyone gets a block of four of the same card, that player gives 10 points to everyone else at the table. For example:
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This setup has a score of 2 because the fives cancel each other out in both columns. However, because there is a block of fives, everyone else at the table will have 10 points added to their final score. (This only works with a block. If you have the two outer columns with fives, it is NOT a block.)
With that being said, back to the game. Now that everyone has six cards with two turned over, it's time to play. The first card from the deck is turned over to start the discard pile. The first person to the left of the dealer that has that same card showing gets to pick it up and start the game. If no one has the same card showing, play starts with the person left of the dealer.
At each turn, the player can either draw from the deck or pick up the last discarded card. If you pick up the card from the discard pile, you must play it. A drawn card may be discarded if the player doesn't want to use it.
Any card on the table may be replaced with the drawn card whether it's upside down or not. Either way, if the card is replaced, it must be discarded. This is the fun of the game! If you replace an upside down card, you must discard it. Yes, you might be discarding a King or even a Joker. But that's how it works.
Play continues to the left.
It keeps going until one person turns over his/her sixth card. The person who turns over their sixth card is done. They can add up their score. However, everyone else at the table must turn over their hidden cards. Now that the remaining players can see all their cards, everyone gets one more turn to do what I call "damage control."
Record the scores.
Deal passes to the left. Continue playing rounds. You can stop when everyone has dealt once, twice, or three times. Or you can stop playing once someone reaches a designated score, for example, 50 points. Decide on your stopping point when you start the game.
Enjoy, and have tons of fun!
