Family game night…Deuces Wild is a really fun card game to play with your older kids or any friends and family.
It’s always great to gather everyone around the table for a fun game. Deuces Wild is a card game that was introduced to our family years ago and has become a tradition for every holiday or vacation gathering. You can play with 2 people but it’s even more fun when you have 3 or 4 or even 5 people playing. All you need are two decks of regular playing cards and pen and paper to keep score. You can play a single round or keep track of the scores and play multiple nights to keep the competition going.
It’s called Deuces Wild. A game is played over 7 hands. Even after playing for years we still keep the directions handy to keep track of the number of cards dealt per hand and what the goal is for laying down each hand. So print this page, take a screenshot or bookmark this page.
DEUCES WILD
Any number can play.
Needed to play: two decks of regular playing cards and a way to keep score.
| HAND | CARDS | PLAY |
| 1st | 7 | 2 trips |
| 2nd | 8 | 1 run & 1 trip |
| 3rd | 9 | 2 runs (different suits) |
| 4th | 10 | 3 trips |
| 5th | 11 | 7 card run & 1 trip |
| 6th | 12 | 2 runs & 1 trip |
| 7th | 12 | 2 trips & 1 run…No Discard |
A run must be a minimum of 4 sequential cards in length, in the same suit.
Aces play at the top of a run…Ace, King, Queen, etc.
A trip is a 3 of a kind…3 Kings, 3 Eights, etc.
2’s (or deuces) are always wild and can be used as any needed card.
Once you lay your cards down on the board for a particular hand, you may play any of your remaining cards on other hands which have also been laid down on the board.
Scoring:
Aces and Deuces: 20 points each
8 and higher: 10 points
7 & lower: 5 points
How to play
To begin, deal each player the number of cards for that hand, place the deck facedown on the table and turn over the top card as the discard pile. When it’s your turn, take either the top card of the discarded pile or the top card of the deck which is facedown. And then discard.
If it is your turn and you do not wish to pick up the discarded card you must allow the 1st person who asks for it (along with a penalty card from the deck) to pick it up. The person who wants the card showing says “I’ll buy that!”. If someone “buys” a card it is not really their turn so they don’t discard. You then continue your turn by drawing a card from the deck and discarding a card.
When it is your turn and you’ve drawn a card and you are holding the correct cards for that hand, you can lay down your cards on the board. If after discarding, you still hold cards in your hand, play continues.
When adding to cards played on the board, you may substitute the “right” card for a deuce in a run (or a trip) and the deuce must then be played at either end of the run.
The hand ends when someone can discard the last card they hold in their hand. The other players must then total up their score by counting the points they have left in their hand.
*Note the last hand says No Discard. In that hand, you must be able to play every card you’re holding before you can lay down.
Lowest score after playing 7 hands wins!
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