Published card games
Five Crowns
Get rid of all your cards by forming runs and sets, before the cards left in your hand pile up as penalty points.
- players
- 2–7
- minutes
- 45
- variants
- 3
You’ll need the game box. Marquoir sums up the rules and keeps score.
Setup
- A 116-card deck: five suits, including stars, plus six jokers.
- The game has eleven rounds. In the first round, everyone is dealt three cards; one more card is dealt each round, up to thirteen.
- The rest forms the draw pile; one card is turned face up to start the discard pile.
How to play
- Each round, one rank becomes wild: the 3s in the first round, the 4s in the second, and so on.
- On your turn, draw one card, from the draw pile or the discard pile, then discard one.
- As soon as you can lay down all your cards in valid combinations, do so: the round then ends for the others after one last turn.
Scoring
- A run: at least three consecutive cards of the same suit. A set (book): at least three cards of the same rank.
- Jokers and the round's wild cards can stand in for any card.
- Cards left in hand count their value: number cards their face value, the jack 11, the queen 12, the king 13. Jokers are worth 50, the round's wild cards 20.
- The player who went out first scores zero for the round.
End of the game
- The game ends after the eleventh round, the one with thirteen cards.
- The lowest cumulative total wins.
House rules and pitfalls
- The French edition is called Les Cinq Rois; the original name is Five Crowns.
- A popular short version: six rounds, from three to eight cards, for a half-hour game.
Variants
Game length
11 rounds (official rules)
6 rounds (short game)
From 3 to 8 cards. A half-hour family format.
13 rounds (extended)
chosen when starting, the scorer follows
Frequently asked questions
What are the cards left in hand worth?
Number cards are worth their face value, the jack 11, the queen 12, the king 13. A wild card of the round is worth 20, a joker 50.
Can jokers and wild cards replace anything?
Yes, in a run as well as in a set, and you can use several in the same combination. A combination made entirely of wild cards is allowed.
What happens when someone lays down all their cards?
Each of the other players gets one last turn to lay down what they can, then the round ends and the cards left in hand are counted.
Can a run go from king to ace?
No: the game has no aces. Cards go from 3 to king, and a run does not wrap around.
Do you have to lay down all your cards at once?
Yes. You lay nothing down until you can place your whole hand in valid combinations, possibly keeping one card to discard.
The box
- Released
- 1996
- Age
- Ages 8+
- Designer
- Marsha J. Falco
- Publisher
- Gigamic
- Mechanics
- Gestion de mainCollection
- Contents
- 116 cartes : deux paquets de 5 couleurs, du 3 au Roi, et 6 jokers
Where to find it
Specialist French shops. Marquoir earns nothing from these links.