All Fours is a fun game for kids 8 years old and up. It’s an old game, but a good one. It allows kids to practice their addition, strategy, motor skills, and their ability to plan. It can be a little complicated, so I always suggest starting out with someone who has played the game before. Once you learn the rules, though, you won’t forget them!
Values of the Cards in All Fours
- Kicked Card Values
Ace = 1 point
Six = 2 points
Jack = 3 points - Trump Card Values (A suit higher than the other suits)
Highest Trump = 1 point
Lowest Trump = 1 point
Jack of Trump = 1 point, unless the Jack is “hung”, in which it equals 3 points - Values for Cards Taken in Tricks (A round of play)
Ace = 4 points
King = 3 points
Queen = 2 points
10 = 10 points
Set-Up in All Fours
All this game requires is a deck of cards and a pen and pencil for scoring. Jokers are not needed, nor will they be counted, so you can just remove them.
The game needs 2 or 4 players. If it’s just 2 players, they will play against each other. If there are 4 players, they will be in groups of 2 and play as a team.
- The dealer will pass out six cards to each player
- The player on the dealer’s left will begin the play. The player will turn over (“kick”) the card on top. This is the “trump” card.
- The first player can reject the trump. If they do reject the card, it is placed at the bottom of the deck. The dealer will then pass out 3 more cards to each player.
- The first player will “kick” again. If it happens to be the same card, then deal another 3 to each person.
Rules of All Fours Card Game
The aim of the game is to get the highest amount of points by capturing the most valuable cards.
- Once the trump is picked, the play begins. The play goes clockwise.
- The first player can play any card they choose.
- The rest of the players must play cards of the same suit (ex: they must play hearts if it’s a heart).
- If a Jack from the trump suit is played, the player will receive a point. HOWEVER, another player can “hang” the Jack (block the point) by playing a higher value card from the trump suit. That would be Ace, King, and Queen.
- The player with the highest card in that suit or the highest card in the trump suit will win all the cards in that “trick” (the play)
- The winner of the last trick starts the next trick.
- The game continues until all the cards have been played.
- The player(s) with the highest score will win the game.
How to Score in All Fours
Once all the cards in everyone’s hands have finally been played, everyone can begin counting up their points.
The cards are scored as follows
- Players will receive 1 point for each trick they’ve won
- The player with the highest number of tricks for that game will receive 1 point
- The cards in the tricks are scored. You can find the values under “Values for Cards Taken in Tricks”
- Players will receive 1 point for each time they have kicked. Each player will add into their score the point(s) they received for kicking in a valuable card. You can find the points under “Kicked Card Values”.
- Each player will add in the number of points they received for the highest trump card (which will equal 1 point) and playing the lowest trump card (also 1 point)
- A player will receive 1 point for playing the Jack of Trump, unless it got hanged (blocked) by another player. The player who hung the Jack of Trump will receive 3 points. The player who tried to hang will receive no points.
- The player(s) with the highest number of points total will win the game
