How to Play

Big Two is a game for 1-4 players played with 52 standard playing cards. The game only takes about 30 minutes to play. Computer players will be provided if you don't have a full table of 4 players. The game is played over many rounds. For each round, the cards are shuffled and the entire deck is dealt evenly, 13 cards, to each player. You play cards out of your hand by playing them to the table one at a time, or in certain combinations.

Beginning a Round

The player dealt the lowest ranking card, the 3 of Diamonds, plays first. Regardless of how many cards the lead player plays, the play must contain the 3 of Diamonds. After that other players have the opportunity to play, but they must play the same quantity of cards, and the play must be of higher value according to the card rankings.

Rankings and Combinations

The highest ranking card is the 2 of Spades.  Cards rank from 2, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, down to 3. Suits rank Spades, Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds. When a player leads they may play 1 card, a Pair, Three of a Kind, or a five card combination. The valid five card combinations are Poker hands.  In order of value from highest to lowest they are:

Cards may be played singly or in groups of two, three, or five, in combinations which resemble poker hands. Value is determined by the type of card combination: Straight flush beats Four of a Kind, which beats a Full House and so on. If the combination is the same, or the play is fewer than 5 cards, then value is determined by highest card. As stated earlier the 2 is the highest card (incidentally, this is why the game is called Big Two). Note the 2 of Spades cannot be beaten whether played as a singleton or as part of a pair of 2s, and the passes are mere formalities in this case. If the highest cards are equal then suit determines the value. Remember if you didn't lead then you must play the same quantity of cards as the player before you.

For example a 5 of Spades beats a 5 of Hearts. A pair of Sevens, one of which is a Spade will beat another pair of Sevens. It follows that the highest card in the game is the Two of Spades (remember 2 is big) and the 3 of Diamonds is the lowest card -- which is why the player who starts with this card gets to go first.

If a player is unable to play, or chooses not to for strategic reasons, then they can choose to pass. There is no disadvantage to passing, each play being independent (referred to as jumping-back), although you will obviously miss an opportunity to get rid of some cards from your hand. Once three players in a row have passed, the player who last played a card wins the right to lead a new card or set of cards. They can lead any number of cards 1, 2, 3, or 5, whatever suits them. Then play proceeds normally, clockwise. When one player plays his last card, or cards, the round is over and the remaining players total the points left in their hands. Like many other popular card games, there are a wealth of variations to these rules, this version of the game doesn't provide options for variations at this time.

End of a Round

The first player with no cards left in their hand wins the round. Once a player has no cards left the players other than the winner score penalty points for the cards remaining in their hands. So if you can't be the first to play all of your cards you will want to have as few cards left in your hand as possible.

The penalty amounts are as follows: The 2's subtract 20 points, Ace's subtract 15, face cards (King, Queen, and Jack) subtract 10 points, and all other cards subtract the numeric value on the card (10's are 10 points, 9's are 9 points, down to the 3's which subtract 3 points). Then the winner of the hand scores +1 for every -1 his opponents got. For example, if Paul won, and Hal, Gort, and Robby respectively had -3, -11, and -8 in penalty points, then Paul would score +33. The game is then restarted and the cycle continues for 10 rounds.

Winning

The player with the highest score at the end of 10 rounds wins the game. During the game the total scores can be seen just above the Chat window.