How to Play the Card Game Spoons
The object of the game is to collect the most number of sets of four cards that share the same rank. Spoons is played with two or more players and one deck of cards.
Set up
- Shuffle a single deck of cards and evenly deal them out to each player. Make sure there is one fewer spoon than the number of players.
- Choose a dealer who will collect and distribute the spoons.
Play
- The game is started by the dealer and moves to the left. Each player picks up the top card from their pile of cards and passes the next card in the pile, face-down, to the player on their left.
- The players pass cards simultaneously. As soon as any player sees a set of four cards in their hand which all share the same rank (Aces for example), they grab a spoon from the middle of the table. All other players must try to grab a spoon too.
- Whoever fails to grab a spoon loses the round. They collect the cards from their failed attempt, discard them and lose a spoon, leaving the spoons one fewer than the number of players.
- The game ends when the last spoon is taken. The winner is the player who has collected the most sets of four cards of the same rank at the end.
Variations
- Play with more cards: If needed, deal out more cards per player so that there are more opportunities to form a set of four.
- Change up suit order: Sort the four-of-a-kinds in descending order of suit instead of rank. This would mean an Ace of spades, diamonds, clubs and hearts is the biggest set, followed by a King, Queen and Jack.
- Ladies first: Arrange the cards for collection so that players must collect all queens first and only then can proceed to collect the kings.
