Double Joker

What You Need

• A standard 52-card deck
• 2 Jokers

Cards rank Ace high, then King, Queen, Jack, 10, down to 3. The four 2s are never played. They mark the stacks.

Setup

1. Take out the four 2s. Lay them face up in the middle of the table, the hearts and diamonds 2s on one side, the spades and clubs 2s on the other. Each 2 is the base of a stack for its suit.
2. Give each player one Joker. Put it face up in front of you. Tricks you win will pile on top of it.
3. Shuffle the other 48 cards and deal 24 to each player. Pick up your hand.
4. Decide who goes first by any method you like.

How a Turn Works

The player about to lead a trick first does one of two things at the stacks.

• Place one card from your hand face up on the 2 of the same suit.
• Take every card sitting on one of the 2s into your hand. The 2 stays.

Then lead a card of that same suit. If you placed a heart, lead a heart. If you took the spade stack, lead a spade.

Your opponent must follow suit if they hold one. The higher card wins the trick. The winner puts both cards face down on top of their own Joker. Then the player who played second to that trick does the stack step and leads the next trick. This is the odd part of Double Joker. Winning a trick does not earn you the lead. The lead simply alternates.

Winning

There are no points. The game ends in one of three ways.

• Someone runs out of cards. Count the cards on each Joker. Fewer cards wins. Equal counts is a draw.
• A player cannot follow suit. That player loses on the spot.
• A player places a card on a stack and then has no card of that suit left to lead. That player loses.

So winning tricks is bad, and running out of a suit is fatal. Every card you place on a stack shrinks your hand and sits there for your opponent to scoop up later with the whole pile.

Two-Player Notes

Double Joker was invented for two players by Angus Benedek and published on the Pagat card game site. There is no larger version.

Strategy Tips

• Keep at least two or three cards in every suit. A suit you are short in is a loss waiting to happen.
• Watch which suits your opponent leads and follows. When they seem out of clubs, place a club and lead clubs. If they cannot follow, you win at once.
• Take a fat stack in a suit you are short of. It costs you nothing but a placement and refills the suit.
• Lead your lowest card of the suit. You want the other player to win the trick. When following, play under the led card whenever you can.