How to play Thirty-One
2–8 players
Thirty-One, also called Scat, is a quick card game where you hold 3 cards and try to build the highest total in a single suit. Draw one, discard one, and knock when you think you are safe. The lowest hand each round loses a life, and the last player still in wins.
What you need
A standard 52-card deck, and 3 coins or tokens per player to count lives.
Setup
Deal 3 cards to each player. Put the rest of the deck face down as the stock, and turn its top card face up to start the discard pile.
How to play
- Goal: don’t have the lowest hand. You start with 3 lives — lose your last one and you’re out. Last player standing wins.
- Your hand is 3 cards. Its value is the sum of cards in your best single suit (Ace = 11, K/Q/J = 10, others = face value). Three of a kind is worth a flat 30.
- On your turn, draw one card — from the face-down stock or the face-up discard — then discard one card back. You’re always trying to build one strong suit.
Knocking and Blitz
- Think your hand is safe? Knock instead of drawing. Your hand freezes and everyone else gets one last turn.
- Hit exactly 31 (Ace + two ten-value cards of a suit) and declare a Blitz — the round ends at once and everyone else loses a life.
- When the round ends, the lowest hand loses a life (including the knocker if they’re lowest). At 0 lives you’re eliminated.
Or let the TV keep score
[Placeholder: copy from Margaret — a sentence or two on playing this on Play Table.]