Spoons Card Game
Posted : admin On 7/14/2022Do you know how to play Spoons? It’s so much fun!
The Spoons card game rules vary among different groups of people. For example, college students play it in a more exciting way, full of speed, luck and spite. The same set-up applies, which include cards, and spoons. This is an exciting version for those students but must be played with responsibility. You still need 4 or more players with one. Spoons is a clever card game that can be played by children and adults. This card game also goes by the names Pig and Tongue. Despite the name, spoons are not necessary to play those versions of the game.
I remember playing with my family during the summer when I was younger so it was one of the games I was excited about introducing our children to this summer as part of our “Old School” Bucket List!
It’s a fun family card game that is probably best for ages 5 and up, but our 3 1/2 year old was able to play with us as long as we slowed the pace down.
1. Gather a deck of cards and a bunch of spoons. You’ll need one less spoon than the number of players.
2. Take a complete set (all 4) of the same rank of cards for each of the players. For example, for the 5 of us we use all of the 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, and 6s.
3. Have all the players sit in a circle with the spoons in the middle.
Euchre Rules For The Trick-Taking Version Of The Card Game
4. Shuffle and deal 4 cards to each player. The players can look at their cards, but not show anyone else.
5. During the game each player passes one card to the player to their left, so cards are constantly being passed in a circle at the same time. You can only ever see 4 cards at once so you have to make sure you pass your card before picking up the next one.
6. The goal of the game is to collect 4 of a kind.
7. Once you have 4 of a kind you can grab a spoon from the pile. Once one spoon is taken everyone else takes one too.
8. Whoever doesn’t get a spoon is out and the play continues with one less spoon until there is one winner.
Playing groups games like card games has so many benefits for kids. It’s a time to have fun and bond as family and a great way to learn life lessons such as sharing and being a good winner and loser. Card games also help kids practice math skills and are a fun way to sneak in a little learning!
Spoons Card Game Rules
Catch up on the rest of our “Old School” Summer Bucket List activities! I’ve been adding the links to all the ones we’ve done to the bucket list, but some of the most popular have been How to Make Ice Cream in a Bag, Tin Can Lanterns, and Pool Party Games: Marco Polo.
Players aim to collect four cards of the same rank | |
| Alternative names | Pig |
|---|---|
| Type | Collecting |
| Players | 3-13 (4-7 best)[1] |
| Skills required | Stealth, memorising |
| Age range | 7+[1] |
| Deck | French |
| Play | Clockwise |
| Related games | |
| Happy Families, My Ship Sails, Spoons | |
Donkey, also known as Pig, is a collecting card game that is best for five or six players. It is played with a 52-card French pack.[2] It has variants such as Spoons and may be descended from an old game called Vive l'Amour.[1]
Rules[edit]
The following rules are based on Arnold (2009) and Parlett (2008).[1][2]
Preliminaries[edit]
A standard 52-card pack is used from which as many quartets (four of a kind) are removed as there are players. For example, six players would use 24 cards which could be four each of Aces, Queens, Tens, Sevens and Threes. This sets the maximum number of players at thirteen; Parlett suggests that five or six is optimum, while Arnold suggests four to seven are best. Any player may deal as the role of dealer is not critical, nor is the position of players in the round. Players are dealt four cards each.
Playing[edit]
Each player looks at their hand and selects a card to get rid of, passing it face down to the player on their left. Players do this simultaneously, not in rotation, so that players cannot use the card they receive to decide what to shed. Once again, players examine their cards and pass one card to the left. This process continues until one player has collected a quartet in their hand, called a book.[1]
The player with the quartet does not announce it, but quietly places their hand down and touches their nose, keeping it there. As other players notice, they do the same. The last player to touch their nose is the Donkey (or Pig), i.e. the loser.
Variants[edit]
Spoons[edit]
The following rules are based on Arneson.[3]
The aim is as for Donkey: to be first to collect a quartet. Two or more play using one or more 52-card French decks. A number of spoons, one fewer than the number of players, are placed in the middle, handles outwards. The dealer deals four cards to each player, places the rest down as a stock.
The dealer draws the top card from the stock, and either discards it or exchanges it with a hand card, passing the discard, face down, to the player on their left. That player selects a hand card to discard and passes it left. Subsequent players do the same, in rotation, except for the last player, who discards their card into a wastepile next to the stock. This process continues, with the dealer drawing from the stock and the last player discarding to the wastepile. If the stock runs out, the dealer draws from the wastepile.
As soon as a player has a quartet, that player takes a spoon. As other players notice, they do likewise until one player is left, empty-handed, as the loser. That player is either eliminated, the game reducing by one player each round. (Alternatively, the loser is given the letter 'S' and, for each subsequent loss, another letter from the word, spoon, dropping out of the game on reaching 'N'.) The game continues until only one player remains, becoming the overall winner.
Strategies may include:
- Bluffing: Bluffing is allowed. Spoons may be reached at any time as long as they are not touched. This may distract the others or even cause someone to grab a spoon prematurely which may result in their elimination.
- Eyes on the spoons: Players keep an eye on the number of spoons in case one has been taken without anyone noticing.
- Eyes off the cards: Players play without looking at their hands, just passing the discards on while watching the spoons.
Played By Children
Other variants[edit]
- Extreme Spoons: Instead of placing the spoons in the middle, they are placed in some inconvenient location nearby.
- Joker Spoons: The deck includes jokers which act as wild cards.
- Tongue: The first player to collect a quartet sticks out their tongue. The last one to do likewise loses.
See also[edit]
- Happy Families - another quartet-collecting game
- My Ship Sails - a collecting game in which seven or eight cards of one suit are needed to win
References[edit]
- ^ abcdeArnold 2009, p. 89. sfn error: no target: CITEREFArnold2009 (help)
- ^ abParlett 2008, p. 399. sfn error: no target: CITEREFParlett2008 (help)
- ^Arneson 2019. sfn error: no target: CITEREFArneson2019 (help)
Literature[edit]
- Arnold, Peter (2009). Chambers card games for families. Chambers Harrap, Edinburgh. ISBN978-0550-10470-0
- Parlett, David (2008). The Penguin Book of Card Games, Penguin, London. ISBN978-0-141-03787-5
External links[edit]
- Arneson, Erik (2019). How to Play Spoons at www.thesprucecrafts.com.
- Rules for Spoons at boardgames.about.com
- Rules for Pig at Classic Games and Puzzles.com