Thirty-one rules

Also called scat, ride the bus, or blitz. You collect cards of one suit and try to reach 31 before someone shuts the round down. Usually played with three lives each.

Players and deck

Two to nine players with one ordinary 52-card deck. The deal passes to the left after every round.

Values

Aces count 11, court cards 10, and number cards their face value. Only cards of the same suit count together.

What a hand is worth

Your hand is worth its best suit and nothing else. K♥ 9♥ 4♣ is worth 19: the king and nine of hearts together, while the four of clubs counts for nothing. Three tens in three different suits are worth only 10. Thirty-one needs an ace and two ten-value cards of one suit.

The deal

Three cards each. One card is turned face up to start the discard pile.

Your turn

The player to the dealer's left goes first. Draw the top card of the deck or the top of the discard pile, then discard one. You always hold exactly three cards.

Thirty-one on the spot

If you ever hold three cards of one suit totalling exactly 31, show them immediately. The round ends and everyone else loses a life.

Knocking

Instead of drawing, you may knock. That gives everyone else exactly one more turn, and then all hands are shown. Only one player can knock in a round, and the knocker does not play again — the hand you knock on is the hand you are compared on.

The lowest total loses a life. A knocker who turns out to have the lowest total loses two. If several players tie for the lowest, each of them loses a life.

Lives

Lose three lives and you are on the bus — one last round, and if you lose it you are out. Last player standing wins.

House rules

Many tables count three of a kind as 30½, beating everything except 31. Some forbid knocking on the very first turn. Agree on both before you start.

Playing well

Choose a suit early, usually the one where you already hold an ace or two court cards, and let the other cards go. Watch the discard pile: a player who picks up a spade is collecting spades, and holding the high spades back from them costs you nothing.

The judgement in this game is when to knock. Knocking on a weak total to stop someone else's run is often better than waiting for a card that is not coming.