Penny card game or Ten penny card game is one of the most popular forms of Rummy card game. The game can be played with 2 to 8 players and requires them to score the lowest and get rid of the cards in their hands.
So, if you are interested to know more about Ten Penny card game, then keep reading further.
· Ten Penny Card game goal – To be the player having the lowest score at the end of the game.
· Total number of players – 2-8 players
· Number of Cards – 52 card deck and 2 Jokers for every two players
· Order of Cards – From Low to high – 2 – Joker
· Game Type – Rummy game
· Game Audience – Adults, Family
How to Deal
The Ten pennies card game is played with 52 deck of playing cards and 2 jokers for two players. In case the number of players is an odd number, the players will have to round up the number of decks used.
To chose the dealer and scorekeeper, all the players have to take a card from the deck. The player having the highest-ranking card will become the first dealer. They also act as the scorekeeper.
The dealer deals eleven cards to all the player, one at a time. The rest of the cards are kept aside to form the stock pile or draw pile. The dealer is required to flip over the top card from the stock pile so as to form the discard pile.
How to Play
The player to the left of the dealer begins the game. They start their turn by buying the top card from the discard pile or just let the player to their left buy that card. In case neither want to buy the card then the game continues around the table.
The player who buys the card will add a penny in the pot. Once they pick up the bought card, that player has to again draw 2 cards from the draw pile. The cards can be played only when the person has their turn.
In case the player who has their turn did not buy the card, they simply draw one card from the top of the draw pile. Then they go ahead with their turn to the meld building phase of it.
In the game of Ten pennies card game, the players have to build a particular meld in every round before playing the others. In case a player fails to meet their first meld requirement, their turn finishes.
To end the turn, players discard one card from their hand. In case the players have already met the first meld requirement, that player is allowed to meld or lay off already played melds. After that, their turn ends and they discard one card from their hand. The game proceeds to the next player.
The game continues in the same way till a player empties their hand. It is not mandatory for players to discard to go out.
Melds
In the ten pennies card game, players can only make one type of meld – Set. A set is made using 3 or more cards having the same rank. However, players are not allowed to use 2 exact same cards in a set. This means that, if a player has a set of 4s then they cannot have two or more 3s of diamonds in it.
First Melds
In the game, all the rounds require players to have a first meld requirement. This has to be met by all the players in order to make further progress in the game like laying off cards or adding to other melds.
Here are the game Rounds and their First Meld –
1. 2 sets of 3
2. 1 set of 4
3. 2 sets of 4
4. 1 set of 5
5. 2 sets of 5
6. 1 set of 6
7. 1 set of 7
Laying Off
Lay off means when one or more than one cards are played on the already built melds. When a player meets their first meld requirements, they can build other melds as well as lay off.
For instance, if the meld – 5-5-5 is present on the table, then a player can add a 4th 5 in the meld or add a wild card there. This will be called as laying off.
Jokers and Wilds
The Jokers are the wild cards in ten penny card game. In the last 3 rounds, the aces and 2s become the wild cards. For the wild cards, there are certain rules as to how many wild cards can be used in each round.
Here are the game Round numbers and the Number of Wilds Per Set in those rounds –
1. Round 1 – Joker 1 wild per set
2. Round 2 – Joker 1 wild per set
3. Round 3 – Joker 1 wild per set
4. Round 4 – Joker 2 wilds per set
5. Round 5 – Joker, Ace, 22 wilds per set
6. Round 6 – Joker, Ace, 22 wilds per set
7. Round 7 – Joker, Ace, 23 wilds per set
Scoring
When a player gets rid of all of their cards, the game round finishes. The players score points that are equal to the value of cards in hand. Players also have the option to pay a penny to the money bowl for every card that is still remaining in their hand. Once the scores are calculated for that round, the player sitting to the left of the dealer will now become the dealer.
Given below are the Cards and their Point values –
· 3-9 cards = 5 points each
· 10-King = 10 points each
· 2’s = 20 points each
· Ace Cards = 20 points each
· Jokers = 50 points each
Who wins ten Penny Card game?
The player having the lowest score at the end of the game wins ten penny Card game. If the players are paying on money, then the winner will collect the pot.
