9 hole card game

Have the players sit in a circle and shuffle a deck. If there are four or more players, shuffle two decks together. If there are eight or more players, shuffle three decks together.

• If you want to use a variant rule, make sure everyone agrees before the game begins. Once the cards have been dealt, the rules cannot be changed.

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Deal out six cards to each player face down. Someone can volunteer to be dealer or you can select one randomly.

• Don't look at the cards you've been dealt! If anyone does, shuffle the cards again and re-deal.
• If you play multiple rounds, take turns as the dealer, going clockwise.
• The dealer should give himself the same number of cards.

3

Make a draw and discard pile. Place the remainder of the deck in a face down stack to from the draw pile. Flip over the top card face up next to it to form the discard pile.

4

Each player arranges their cards in a 3x2 grid in front of them. Don't look at the cards or turn them face up yet.

5

Each player turns any two cards in their grid face up. You can choose the second one after you've turned over your first.

Explain the scoring system. Use the Scoring Guide for a common system, or use a variation. Write or print it out for people who haven't played before.

• Points are bad! Make sure everyone knows the goal of the game is to get the lowest score, not the highest!

The player to the dealer's left takes the first turn. If possible this should be someone who has played the game before, so the new players can learn by watching them.

• After that player is finished, play continues clockwise, each player taking a turn in order.

At the start of your turn, draw a card. You can take the top card of the discard pile if you think it will be useful. Otherwise, draw a card from the top of the draw pile (the rest of the deck).

• Read the rest of these rules or see Strategy to help you make this decision.

Decide whether to replace one of the cards in your grid with the drawn card. You can replace any card, whether it's face up or face down.

• Pick up the card you want to replace from your grid and put it face up in the discard pile.
• Place the newly drawn card face up in its place. You cannot shift the position of your grid around before you do this.
• If you don't like the card you just drew, you can discard it face up in the discard pile instead of replacing a card in your grid. You cannot do this if the card you drew just came from the discard pile.

10

Try to make pairs of the same card. If the two cards in a column share the same number or letter (for instance, a Queen above another Queen), they cancel each other out and are worth nothing (zero points).

• Remember, you're trying to get the lowest score possible!
• If you like, you can take columns that have canceled out and place them on the bottom of the discard pile (NOT the top). This makes the table less cluttered.

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11

Take one final turn after a player's grid is entirely face up. Once someone replaces their last face down card, each other player turns their grid face up as well and takes one final turn in clockwise order.

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After the final turn, score your points. Wait until the last player takes their turn, then flip every card in front of you face up.

• Use a sheet of paper with each player's name on it to record their score for the round.
• Refer to the scoring guide to count up players' points. Remember to follow any variations the players agreed upon beforehand.

13

Shuffle the cards and play as many rounds as you like. Whoever sat left of the dealer in the last round is the new dealer for this round. The person sitting left of the current dealer always goes first in a round. Keep score after each round until:

• You play 9 rounds, 18 rounds, or some other number everyone agrees on. The traditional numbers of rounds are named after the golf theme and sometimes called "holes" instead of rounds.
• A player reaches 100 points, 200 points, or some other number everyone agrees on.
• When people decide to stop. This works well for casual groups so no one gets bored, but more competitive people might not like stopping when they're behind!

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Whoever has the lowest total score wins the game. Each player adds up their score from each round, and the lowest total wins.

• If two players are tied, either let them share the glory or decide on another game to break the tie (such as rock paper scissors).

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