7 Card Golf Instructions

For this game you need one deck of standard playing cards for up to four people and two decks for 5 – 9 players. For more players you may add yet another deck. Jokers must be included. Dealer deals seven cards to each player, then one on a discard pile. The remaining cards are the deck. You may look at your cards.

Play:

Player to the left of the dealer starts play. Player may do one of the following:

  1. Play a card from his hand and place it onto the table in front of him.
  2. Draw a card from the deck, place it on the table in front of him and then take a card from his hand and discard it.
  3. Pick up a discarded card, place it on the table in front of him and then take a card from his hand and discard it.

Play then goes to the next player. Play continues in this manner until all players have placed seven cards on the table in front of the (i.e., seven rounds). This is the end of that hand.

The game ends when an agreed to number of round or deals, or a time limit has been reached. The options are nine rounds (as in real golf), each player deals once or twice or a time limit.

Object:

The object of the game is to end up with as few points as possible in each hand (the seven cards played in front of him). The player having the least points at the end of the game wins. The following rules are used to score and minimize points:

  1. Cards are worth their face value (10-K are 10 points). Jokers are wild and by themselves are worth two points.
  2. Any two or three of a kind are worth 0 points.
  3. A joker may be paired with another card to make 0 points (i.e., in that case the joker is not -2 but considered a match to the other card only).
  4. Four matching cards are worth -10 points. A joker cannot be used to form this combination.

Strategy:

Strategies may include:

  1. Determine your discard by reviewing those cards needed by other players.
  2. You may wish to hold certain cards in your hand for as long as possible so you do not ‘show’ other players what you need.
  3. You may wish to play a joker first as it makes no difference the sequence of how you play cards in front of you—at the end of the hand you may mix and match to keep your score as low as possible.
  4. If you have an unmatched joker on the seventh round and an unmatched (non-ace) card in your hand go ahead and draw a card from the deck—it may match a card you already have (you can only improve your hand, you cannot make it worse).
  5. If a player can make 4-of-a- kind by picking up the discard, you may wish to draw a card or pick up the discard yourself instead of letting the person get 4-of-a kind (-10). You have to factor in the person’s score, your score and potential hand values to come up with the correct decision.
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