Feral Worlds: Tabletop Games · Card Games · Classic rules
Big Two
Empty your hand. Twos are high.
Setup
- Players: four: you and three bots, each playing for yourself.
- Cards: a standard 52-card deck, 13 cards each.
- Rank: from low to high: 3, 4 … King, Ace, 2. Suits: diamonds, clubs, hearts, spades.
- First play: the holder of the 3 of Diamonds leads, and the play must include it.
How to play
- 1Lead a play. Play one card, a pair, three of a kind, or a five-card hand: a straight, flush, full house, four of a kind plus a card, or a straight flush.
- 2Beat it. The next player must play the same number of cards, and a higher hand. Or pass.
- 3Five-card hands. A straight beats nothing but a lower straight. A flush beats any straight, a full house any flush, four of a kind any full house, and a straight flush beats everything.
- 4Take control. When everybody else passes, the last player to play leads anything they like.
- 5Go out. The first player to play their last card wins the hand.
- 6Pay for your cards. Everyone else scores a penalty point for each card they still hold.
Winning
After the last hand, the lowest penalty total wins. Our Quick game plays 3 hands and the Full game plays 7.
Scoring
| At the end of a hand | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Out of cards first | 0 |
| Each card left, up to 9 | 1 each |
| Ten to twelve cards left | 2 each |
| All thirteen cards left | 3 each |
Our Classic rules: suits break ties, straights run 3 up to 2 without going round the corner, and the lowest total wins. Some tables score by pointing money, or let a straight go round the corner; those are house rules.
Key terms
- Big Two:
- The 2, the highest card in the game. Also the name of the game.
- Pair:
- Two cards of the same number.
- Straight:
- Five cards in a row, in any suits, from 3 up to 2.
- Flush:
- Five cards of one suit.
- Full house:
- Three of one number and two of another.
- Control:
- The right to lead anything, after everyone else passes.
- Pass:
- Declining to play. You can pass any time there is a play to beat.