The other rummy type card game I just began playing is called Five Crowns.
Three-Thirteen Basic Rules
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As each round is played, each player tries to combine all the cards in their hand into one or more sets (as either 3 or more of a kind, or as a run, or a combination of both). When a player’s hand is complete, they lay down their hand and all other players get one more turn to try and improve their own hand to reduce their score.
Play begins with a three-card hand and the number of cards increases by one for each subsequent hand from 3 to 13 (kings). Designated wild cards can be used for any card when saving runs and sets. The wild cards change with each round with the jokers always being wild and each round having as its wild card the card that equals the number of cards dealt for that round (i.e., with 3 cards, 3s are wild, with 4 cards, 4s are wild, etc.)
At the end of the final round (Kings), the winner is the player with the fewest number of points. There are several variations of Three-Thirteen, as seen here in the Wikipedia article.
Since learning to play 3/13, I have taught it to everyone in my family. So anytime I get together with siblings, children, or grandchildren, this has been our card game of choice.
Recently, I joined a card group at my apartment complex. They get together once a month to play cards and then share a meal. My first time I planned to play whatever the group had decided on, but also hoped to eventually teach them my favorite card game ~ Three-Thirteen. When I arrived for my first visit to the group, I discovered their preferred game was Five Crowns. Turns out that the rules are basically the same as my beloved game of 3/13. What fun! I learned a new game with new friends and still get to play my favorite rummy card game!
Five Crowns Basic Rules
Five Crowns differs from playing with simply a regular deck of cards (or two decks if you have more than 3 people) in that there are five suits (your regular hearts, spades, clubs & diamonds, plus a STAR suit.
The game consists of two 58-card decks (116 cards in all) containing the five suits, each consisting of eleven cards from the 3s to the kings. There are also six Jokers in this game, used as wild cards in each round.
As with the game of Three-Thirteen, Five Crowns is won by the person with the lowest score at the end of play.
Summary
Whether you play Three-Thirteen or Five Crowns, these rummy-style games are quick, easy and a great deal of fun to play. If you enjoy playing cards, you will find these two games extremely pleasurable.
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