Five Crowns Card Game: Rules for How to Play

Setup

Choose a player to be the dealer. They will shuffle all of the cards together.
In the first round the dealer deals three cards to each player. They should deal one card at a time in a clockwise direction. In each future round the dealer will deal out one additional card than the previous round. For example in the second round, the dealer will deal out four cards.
Place the rest of the cards facedown in the middle of the table to create the draw pile. Turn over the top card from the draw pile to form the discard pile.

How to Play Five Crowns

The player to the left of the dealer starts the round. Play moves clockwise.

You will begin each of your turns choosing a card to draw. You can either take the top card from the draw or discard pile. Add the card you draw to your hand. Should the draw pile ever run out of cards, you will shuffle the discard pile to form a new draw pile.

Choosing which card to draw — The current player can either take the diamond three card from the discard pile, or they can take the top card from the draw pile.

The objective of Five Crowns is to create books and runs (see below for details). You can only play cards from your hand if you can use all but one of them in a book and/or a run. If you can’t use all of your cards, you must keep them in your hand.

A player unable to use all of the cards from their hand. — This player has three sixes in their hand which they can use to create a book. They are unable to use the four and Queen though. They have to keep all of the cards in their hand.

You will then end your turn by discarding one card from your hand to the discard pile. Play then passes to the player on your left/clockwise.

Wilds

Each round there will be a number of cards that are wild. For each Wild card you can choose its number and suit.

Jokers are always wild in every round.

In each round a specific number is also wild. The wild number is equal to the number of cards that were dealt to each player at the start of the round. You can figure out what card is wild by counting the number of cards in your hand before you draw a card at the beginning of your turn. For example in the first round each player gets three cards. Threes are wild in the first round. In the second round each player receives four cards, and fours are wild. This continues until the last round when thirteen cards are dealt to each player, and Kings are wild.

Wilds in Five Crowns — The Joker on the left side is always wild. The five in the hand on the right would be wild as the players have five cards in their hands.

Books and Runs

In Five Crowns you will try to create books and runs.

A book is a group of cards that are the same number. The color/suit of the cards do not matter. To create a book you need at least three cards of the same number.

Creating a book — This is a book since there are four three cards.

You can add cards that are wild to a book. There is no limit to the number of wild cards that you can add to a book.

Creating a book with wilds — The top three cards create a book since they are the same number. You can add the Joker and five cards to the book since they are both wild (there are five cards in the player’s hand).

You create a run when you have three or more cards in sequential order that are the same suit. For example you could create a run of 4, 5, 6 if all three cards are hearts.

Creating a run — This is a run of four cards since the cards are in numerical order and are the same suit.

You can use wilds to fill in for any cards that you are missing in a run. The suit of the wilds cards don’t matter as you can choose their suit in addition to their number. You can use as many wild cards as you want in a run. Multiple wilds can be placed next to one another in a run.

Creating a run with wilds — This player has created a run of clubs from five to nine. The Joker represents the seven of clubs. The five of hearts is wild as there are five cards in the players’ hands. The five will act as the nine of clubs.

Going Out

Throughout the game you are trying to acquire cards that you can play in book(s) and/or run(s). When you can play all but one of your cards in a book/run, you can go out.

Start your turn by drawing a card from either the draw pile or the discard pile. You will then play all but one of your cards into books and/or runs. You can create multiple books and/or runs as long as three cards are in each one. Place the books/runs you create in front of you.

After you played all but one of your cards, you will discard your final card. Should you be able to play all of the cards in your hand to a book/run, you must choose one to discard instead of placing it in a book/run.

Going out — This player can go out. The top four cards can be used in a run. The threes can be used in a book. Finally the diamond ten will be discarded at the end of the player’s turn.

The rest of the players then have one last turn. They will draw a card at the beginning of their turn. Next they will lay down any books and/or runs that they can create with the cards in their hand. Players can only play cards to their own books/runs. They can never add a card(s) to other players books/runs. Finally they will discard one card to the discard pile. Any cards left in each players’ hand will be scored at the end of the round.

Once all of the players have had their last turn, the round ends. Players will score points for the cards left in their hands. Cards are worth the following points:

3-10: Value printed on the card (a 4 is worth 4 points for example)
Jacks: 11 points
Queens: 12 points
Kings: 13 points
Jokers: 50 points
Number cards that are currently wild: 20 points

Scoring in Five Crowns — This player was stuck with these four cards at the end of their turn. They will score points from the cards as follows: 5 card – 5 points, 8 card – 8 points, King – 13 points, Joker – 50 points. They will score a total of 76 points.

Each player writes down their score. You will then play another round. The player to the left of the dealer becomes the dealer for the next round. The dealer deals out one additional card than was dealt out in the previous round.

Winning the Game

The game ends after the 11th round (each player had 13 cards in their hand and Kings were wild).

All of the players total up the points they scored during the game. The player that scored the least points wins the game.

If multiple players tie for the lowest score you can choose to let the players share the victory. Otherwise you will play a six card tiebreaking round for the tied players. The tied player that goes out first wins the game.

Single Player

If you would like to play Five Crowns by yourself, you need to tweak some rules. The goal of the single player game is to create books and/or runs in each pile before the draw pile runs out of cards.

To start the game you will shuffle all of the cards. You will create eleven piles. The first pile should have three cards. The second pile gets four cards. Five cards are dealt to the third pile. This continues until the last pile gets thirteen cards. Each pile should be arranged where all of the cards are face up and you can see the cards in each pile. The rest of the cards form the draw pile.

All Jokers are wild. Each pile has its own wild card which is dependent on the number of cards in the pile. For example threes are wild in the pile that has three cards.

To start each turn you will draw the top card from the draw pile and choose which of the eleven piles you want to add the card to. You then choose a card from the same pile to add to the discard pile. All cards added to the discard pile can’t be used for the rest of the game.

Once you can use all of the cards from a pile in books and/or runs, you have closed the pile. You turn the pile over to show that you completed it.

Completing a pile in the single player game — This player has completed the three card pile as the three cards create a book. They will turn the pile of cards over to indicate that the pile was closed.

The single player game can end in one of two ways. If you close all eleven piles, you win the game. If you draw all of the cards from the draw pile and all of the piles aren’t closed, you lose the game.

Winning the single player game — This player has successfully closed all of their piles. They won the single player game.

Components

22 Club Cards (2 of each card)
22 Diamond Cards (2 of each card)
22 Heart Cards (2 of each card)
22 Spades Cards (2 of each card)
22 Star Cards (2 of each card)
6 Jokers

Year: 1996 | Publisher: Asmodee, PlayMonster, Set Enterprises | Designer: Marsha J Falco

Genres: Card, Family, Set Collection

Ages: 8+ | Number of Players: 1-7 | Length of Game: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate-High

For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.

Written By:

Eric Mortensen

Eric Mortensen is an owner and head writer on Geeky Hobbies since 2014. He is an avid board game player and collector with over 3,000 board and card games in his collection. Since 2014 he has written more than 1,100 board game how to play guides.