Garbage rules

Fill ten numbered slots in order before your opponent does.

  • 2-4 players
  • Standard deck

Also called trash. You are filling ten numbered slots in order, and the game is entirely about what you do with the cards you cannot use.

The deck

One 52-card deck for two players, two decks for three or four.

The layout

Deal each player ten cards face down in two rows of five. Do not look at them. Position one is top left, running along and then back, to position ten at the end.

Card values

Ace is 1, and number cards are their own value up to ten. Kings are wild and may fill any slot. Jacks and queens are dead — they can never be placed.

Your turn

Draw the top card of the stock, or the top of the discard pile.

If it can fill a slot — a six goes in position six — put it there face up, and pick up the face-down card it replaced. Play that card the same way, and keep going for as long as each card you uncover has a home.

When you draw or uncover a card you cannot place — a jack, a queen, or a number whose slot is already filled — discard it face up and your turn ends.

Winning a round

The first player to fill all ten slots wins the round. Everyone else keeps their layout as it stands.

The next round

The winner plays the next round with nine cards instead of ten, then eight, and so on. Everyone else starts again from ten.

The first player to win a round with a single card — just an ace or a king — wins the game.