The Game of 3-13
This game can be played with 3 or more people.
It's a money game but it's cheap entertainment,
usually less than a dollar for a couple of hours of fun.
It's like Gin with a different number of cards
and different wild cards each hand.
You'll need two decks and no jokers. You can add
another deck or more if you have more than about
five people.
The Play
You will play 11 hands. Take turns dealing.
The first hand you will
deal three cards to each person and the 3's will
be wild for that hand. The second hand you will
deal four cards and the 4's will be wild. Each
hand is dealt with one more card and the card
that is considered wild progresses up through the
king.
After dealing the cards you turn up one card to
start a discard pile and put the remaining cards
in a draw pile. Each person plays in turn by taking
the top card from either the discard pile or the
draw pile and discarding one card to the discard
pile. Each player tries to collect sets of like
numbered cards or runs of same suited cards. Each
set or run is made up of three or more cards. An
ace is always low. If, at the end of his turn,
a player can use all of his cards, then he lays them down.
He must also discard. When a player has laid
down, the other players get one more turn to collect
and lay down their sets and runs. The cards that
are not included in their sets or runs are counted
and added to their score.
The Wild Cards
The wild cards may be used as any card in a set or run.
The fun part is to not discuss what card is wild because
someone will inevitably forget and discard it. When
someone asks what is wild just tell them to "count their
cards."
Counting
Cards that can not be laid down are counted. All cards
are counted as their face value, one through thirteen.
The person that laid down first and anybody
else that manages to use all of their cards scores zero.
The Money
The person with the least amount of points after the
last round wins. Subtract the winner's score from
each other player's score to calculate how many cents
he owes the winner, round to the nearest nickel.
Paul Chamberlain
tif@tifster.com