Play and scoring
Game play
Before play begins, all the cards are shuffled. A game of Quiddler consists of eight rounds; the first round has a three-card hand, the second round has a four-card hand, and so on until the game ends with a ten-card hand. While there is a single-player variation, the regular game requires at least two players.
In the first round, the dealer deals out three cards to each player. The remaining cards form a draw pile. The top card is turned over to start a discard pile. The player to the dealer's left goes first. The player may choose the top card from either the draw pile (card is face down) or the discard pile (card is face up). The player adds this card to their hand. The player ends their turn by discarding one card from their hand so that the player ends up with the same number of cards as were dealt. A player may not use a dictionary during their turn, but the other players may. Turns are taken in the same manner in a clockwise rotation among the players. The round continues until one player can go out. [1]
A player can go out if they can use all the cards in their hand to spell one or more allowable words. After a player goes out, every other player then has one more turn. On the last turn, each remaining player uses as many cards as possible to spell one or more allowable words.
After the round is finished, points on the cards used to spell words are counted toward the player's score. If the player had unused cards, the points on those remaining cards are subtracted. Ten-point bonuses are added to the score of the player with the longest word and to the player with the most words (if there are only two players, they should decide between them to limit the bonus to either the longest word or the most words).
The subsequent rounds follow in the same manner, with the hands increasing in size by one card each round. Thus, in the second round each player is dealt four cards, the third round five cards, and so forth. Points are added at the end of each round. The game continues until the end of the eighth round (ten cards in the hand). Depending on the number of players, the discard pile may need to be shuffled to resupply the draw pile.
The player with the most points at the end of the full eight rounds wins. [1]
Allowable words
Players should decide on an English dictionary to be used during the game. An allowable word must appear as an entry in that dictionary or as one of the listed inflected forms of an entry word. Words must also use at least two cards. The makers of Quiddler have established several restrictions on the words used in a game. No proper nouns may be used. Capitalized adjectives, such as Iraqi and Scottish, may be used. Prefixes and suffixes by themselves are not allowable words. Words requiring a hyphen for proper spelling, such as ex-wife and twenty-two are also not allowed. The Quiddler rules disallow abbreviations, but do not differentiate between various forms. Players need to decide for themselves (or follow the example of the game dictionary) if they will allow acronym-derived words such as laser and NATO. The rules contain no restrictions on English words with accented letters, such as née, though the deck contains no such letters. Players must also decide for themselves if they will allow shortened word forms such as ad (for advertisement) and math.
A player may challenge any other player if they feel that the latter has used a word that is not an allowable word. If the word is an allowable word, the challenging player must subtract from their score the number of points in the word. If it is not, the challenged player must subtract from their score the number of points in the word. The challenged player may not re-arrange their cards to form other words.
Pinochle, also called pinocle or penuchle, is a trick-taking ace–ten card game, typically for two to four players and played with a 48-card deck. It is derived from the card game bezique; players score points by trick-taking and also by forming combinations of characters into melds. It is thus considered part of a "trick-and-meld" category which also includes the game belote. Each hand is played in three phases: bidding, melds, and tricks. The standard game today is called "partnership auction pinochle".
Upwords is a board game. It was originally manufactured and marketed by the Milton Bradley Company, then a division of Hasbro. It has been marketed under its own name and also as Scrabble Upwords in the United States and Canada, and Topwords, Crucimaster, Betutorony, Palabras Arriba and Stapelwoord in other countries. It is currently available as a board game and a digital gaming app.
Gin rummy, or simply gin, is a two-player card game variant of rummy. It has enjoyed widespread popularity as both a social and a gambling game, especially during the mid twentieth century, and remains today one of the most widely played two-player card games.
Canasta is a card game of the rummy family of games believed to be a variant of 500 rum. Although many variations exist for two, three, five or six players, it is most commonly played by four in two partnerships with two standard decks of cards. Players attempt to make melds of seven cards of the same rank and "go out" by playing all cards in their hands. It is "the most recent card game to have achieved worldwide status as a classic".
Crazy Eights is a shedding-type card game for two to seven players and the best known American member of the Eights Group which also includes Pig and Spoons. The object of the game is to be the first player to discard all of their cards. The game is similar to Switch, Mau Mau or Whot!.
500 rum, also called pinochle rummy, Michigan rummy, Persian rummy, rummy 500 or 500 rummy, is a popular variant of rummy. The game of canasta and several other games are believed to have developed from this popular form of rummy. The distinctive feature of 500 rum is that each player scores the value of the sets or cards they meld. It may be played by 2 to 8 players, but it is best for 3 to 5.
Golf is a card game where players try to earn the lowest number of points over the course of nine deals.
Rummy is a group of games related by the feature of matching cards of the same rank or sequence and same suit. The basic goal in any form of rummy is to build melds which can be either sets or runs and either be first to go out or to amass more points than the opposition.
Scrabble variants are games created by changing the normal Scrabble rules or equipment.
Scattergories is a creative-thinking category-based party game originally published by Milton Bradley in 1988. The objective of the 2-to-6-player game is to score points by uniquely naming objects within a set of categories, given an initial letter, within a time limit. The game is based on a traditional game called "Categories".
Biriba is the Greek partnership version of a rummy card game of Italian origin called Pinnacola. It is played by two to six players, with two decks and 4 Jokers comprising 108 cards. If 6 players play, one more deck and two jokers more are added. Biriba can also be played by three players with or without partnership rules.
Mille is a two-player card game requiring two standard 52-card decks. Mille is a rummy game similar to canasta in the respects that if a player picks up cards from the discard pile, the player picks up the entire pile, and the only legal melds are three or more cards of a same rank.
Rat-a-Tat Cat is a memory card game designed by Monty and Ann Stambler and published by Gamewright. It won a Mensa Select award in 1996. The Washington Post described it as "like poker for kids".
Indian Cherokee Rummy is a card game in India with little variation from original rummy. It may be considered a cross between Rummy 500 and gin rummy. Indian Rummy is a variant of the rummy game popular in India that involves making valid sets out of 13 cards that are distributed among every player on the table. Each player is dealt 13 cards initially; if the number of players is 2, then a 52 cards deck is chosen for the game and if there are 6 players, two decks of 52 cards each is combined for the game. Each player has to draw and discard cards by turns till one player melds their cards with valid sets that meet the Rummy validation rules. It could be that Indian Rummy evolved from a version of Rummy in South Asia, Celebes Rummy, also called Rhuk.
Ponytail Canasta is a card game that originated in Uruguay in the early 20th century and became popular in many countries, including the UnitedStates.
Rage is a 1983 trick-taking card game marketed by Fundex Games that is based on the game oh hell. Players bid to take a particular number of tricks, and are awarded bonus points for doing so. The commercial game differs significantly from the traditional version in the use of a proprietary deck with 6 colored suits and the addition of 6 types of special cards that change gameplay.
Buraco is a Rummy-type card game in the Canasta family for four players in fixed partnerships in which the aim is to lay down combinations in groups of cards of equal rank and suit sequences, there being a bonus for combinations of seven cards or more. Buraco is a variation of Canasta which allows both standard melds as well as sequences. It originated from Uruguay and Argentina in the mid-1940s, with apparent characteristics of simplicity and implications that are often unforeseeable and absolutely involving. Its name derives from the Portuguese word "buraco" which means “hole”, applied to the minus score of any of the two partnerships. The game is also popular in the Arab world, specifically in the Persian Gulf; where it is known as 'Baraziliya' (Brazilian). Another popular variation of Buraco is Italian.
Lexicon is a word game using a dedicated deck of cards for 2 to 4 players published as a shedding card game.
Scarto is a three player trick-taking tarot card game from Piedmont, Italy. It is a simple tarot game which can serve as an introduction to more complex tarot games. The name comes from the discarded cards that were exchanged with the stock, which is also the origin of the name for the Skat card game.
Five Crowns is a card game created by Set Enterprises. Players compete by trying to obtain the lowest number of points after playing all eleven hands of the game and making sets of "books and runs." The game ends when the eleventh round has concluded. As the slogan of Five Crowns states: "The Game Isn't Over 'Til the Kings Go Wild!" The game combines aspects of Rummy and Phase 10.
