Two Player Cards

Last Card

Rules at this table

Last Card is a shedding game from New Zealand and Australia. House rules wander from kitchen to kitchen; these are the ones this site uses, for two players.

Deal

Standard 52-card pack, no jokers. Seven cards each. The rest is the draw pile. The top card is turned to start the discard — it sets the suit only; a two, five or ten as the starter does not make anyone pick up or skip.

On your turn

Play one or more cards of the same rank. At least one of them must match the current suit or the rank of the card on top of the discard. If you can play, you must. If you cannot, draw one card. If that card plays, you may play it (plus any extra copies of that rank) or pass.

Specials

Playing several twos or fives in one turn stacks the pickup (two twos = pick up four). After a pickup is taken, that player’s turn is over.

Last card

When a play would leave you with one card, you must hit Last card. Forget, and you pick up two. If you play your final card without having called, you pick up two and stay in. Dumping your last two (or more) cards of the same rank in one go does not need the call — you never sat on a last card.

The end

First player to empty their hand wins the hand. Play again from the same table if you like; first player alternates.

Stockpile

Skip-Bo style

Empty your personal stock pile. Four shared centre piles build from 1 up to 12, then they clear. This is the two-player stacking game also sold as Skip-Bo, played here without the brand.

Deal

A 162-card pack: twelve of each rank 1–12, plus 18 wilds. Each player gets a facedown stock of 20; the top card is turned up. The rest is the draw pile. Four centre piles start empty. Each player has four personal discard piles, empty at the start.

Whoever shows the higher stock card goes first (wilds beat 12). That player draws five cards to start.

On your turn

Draw until you have five cards in hand (the table does this for you). Then play as many cards as you like onto the centre piles, from:

A centre pile needs 1 to start (a 1 or a wild). Then 2, 3, … 12. A wild is whatever that pile needs next. When a pile hits 12 it is cleared and a new pile can start in that space. If you empty your hand by playing (not discarding), you draw five more and keep going.

Ending the turn

Discard one card from your hand onto one of your four discard piles. Only the top of each discard pile can be played later. You may end even if you still have plays — sometimes you want to save a card.

The end

First player to play the last card of their stock wins. Play again from the same table if you like.

Hearts

Two-player Hearts

Classic penalty trick-taking, cut for two. Avoid hearts and the queen of spades. Lowest match score wins when someone reaches 100.

Deal

Standard 52-card pack. Thirteen cards each. The other 26 sit facedown as a stock. At the start of every hand, each player passes three cards to the other (pick cards you do not want — high spades and hearts are typical).

Tricks

The player holding the two of clubs leads the first trick (if it is in the stock, the lowest club in either hand leads). Follow suit if you can. Highest card of the led suit wins the trick and leads the next. After each trick the winner draws one card from the stock, then the loser draws one. When the stock is empty, play out the cards that remain.

You may not play a heart or the queen of spades on the first trick unless you have nothing else. You may not lead a heart until hearts are broken (a heart has been played), unless hearts are all you have left.

Scoring

Each heart taken is 1 point. The queen of spades is 13. There are 26 points in a hand. If you take all 26 you shoot the moon: you score 0 and the other player scores 26. Keep playing hands until a score reaches 100; lowest total wins.

Gin Rummy

Two-player rummy

Ten cards each from a standard pack. Make sets (three or four of a rank) and runs (three or more in suit, ace low only — A-2-3, not Q-K-A). Unmatched cards are deadwood: ace 1, number cards face value, face cards 10.

The deal

Ten each. The next card is turned as the upcard. The non-dealer may take it; if they pass, the dealer may take it; if both pass, the non-dealer draws from the stock.

A turn

Draw the top of the stock or take the discard, then throw one card away. You may not throw back a card you just took from the discard. After drawing, if the ten cards you would keep have 10 deadwood or less, you may knock as you discard. If those ten cards are all melded, that is gin.

When two cards remain in the stock, you may only take the discard. If you do not, the hand is a draw and nobody scores.

Scoring

The other player lays off leftover cards onto the knocker’s melds (not after gin). If you knocked and they still have more deadwood, you score the difference. If they have equal or fewer (an undercut), they score the difference plus 25. Gin scores 25 plus the other player’s full deadwood. First to 100 wins the match.

Cribbage

Six-card cribbage

Two players, first to 121. Ace is 1. Face cards are 10 in the count, but keep their rank for runs (jack, queen, king).

The crib

Six cards each. Each player throws two into the crib (four cards). The crib belongs to the dealer. Then a starter is cut. If it is a jack, the dealer pegs 2 for heels.

Pegging

The pone (non-dealer) leads. Play cards without the running total going over 31. Score 2 for a total of 15 or 31, 2/6/12 for a pair/triplet/four of a kind, and the length of a run of three or more (cards need not be in order). If you cannot play, say go. The last card of a sequence scores 1, unless it made 31 (already 2). Then the count starts again at zero.

The show

With the starter, count the pone’s four, then the dealer’s four, then the crib: 2 for every combination that makes 15, 2 per pair, runs of three or more, a 4-flush in hand (5 if the starter matches). The crib flush counts only if all five are the same suit. A jack of the starter’s suit is 1 for nobs. First to 121 wins. Beating someone under 91 is a skunk; under 61 a double skunk.