Red nines

Red Nines is a round game playable by "any number of players". This description assumes eight. The aim is to be first to get rid of one's hand cards. Deal and play are clockwise and the deal rotates to the left after each game.

A standard 52-card pack is used with the 2s and 3s removed to leave 44 cards. The red nines – 9♥ and 9♦ – are wild. Players receive e.g. 36 counters which are worth an agreed rate.

The cards are dealt singly and the first player to receive a Knave deals first. The dealer dresses two pools: the Red Nine pool with e.g. 6 counters and the Red Ace pool with half that number. The dealer shuffles and has the cards cut before dealing five cards to each player in turn and placing the remaining 4 cards face down on the table. Only the dealer may view the table cards.

Eldest hand begins by playing any card to the table, face up, and following it if possible with further cards in ascending suit sequence. Aces and Kings are stops and allow a new sequence to be started.[lower-alpha 3] The sequences are arranged in rows with the cards overlapping.

If a sequence cannot be continued because the required card is one of the table cards, the dealer (who knows what they are) cries "stop" and the player of the last card may start a new sequence, just as if an Ace or King had been played.

A player who is able to play the two red Aces sweeps the contents of the Red Ace pool.

The aim is to be first to shed all one's cards. The player who achieves this is the winner and receives from each other player 1 counter per card held or 2 counters if it is a red 9.

A player who goes out with a red 9 sweeps the Red Nine pool and receives double payment from the opponents and quadruple for the other red 9 if held in another player's hand.

The aim is to have the lowest possible score by discarding as many cards as possible. At the end of each round of play, the value of the cards remaining in a player's hand counts against them. The player who ends the round by discarding the last of his or her cards scores zero in that round. Players play the number of rounds equal to the number of players. Deal and play are clockwise.

The main differences from the 19th century game are that:

• No cards are removed from the pack; thus Aces are not stops
• All cards are dealt and there are no table cards as stops
• Suits are irrelevant
• There are no pools or bonuses for 2 Aces or going out with a red 9

Four players use a complete 52-card pack (without jokers); an extra suit is added for each additional player. With an even number of players there should be an equal numbers of red and black suits. With an odd number of players there should be one more red suit than black suits.

All the cards are dealt, so that each player has 13 cards.

Eldest hand commences play by discarding cards in ascending numerical sequence.[lower-alpha 4] The player may start with any card, and may lay more than one of the starting card's rank, but only one of each rank thereafter.[lower-alpha 5] The player continues to discard cards in ascending numerical order until reaching a point where they do not have the next card, the stop. The next player then continues the sequence if able to do so, otherwise that player must miss a turn and play is continued by the first player able to lay the required card.

Players should announce their discards so that all players can follow what is happening easily; for example a player might say "Eight, nine, ten, jack, no queen". If the next player has a queen, it makes sense to lay it and if possible a king as well. Kings are stops (they stop the sequence) and so, one discarding a king, a player may start a new sequence at any number, including another king. Play continues until one player discards the last card in their hand or "goes out".

Sometimes no player will have the stop, everyone having announced e.g. "no Ten" (whatever the required card is). When this happens the player who was last able to discard plays again, beginning a fresh sequence at any point.

The red 9s (9♥ and 9♦) are wild cards and may be used to substitute for any card of a different rank. If a nine is the next number required in the ongoing sequence, a player with no nine other than a red one may say "no nine" and hold it in reserve. This could, however, be a risky strategy.

It is not necessary to announce the use of the red 9 to substitute for any other card. The player simply announces the card that the red 9 replaces as if it was that card. It is up to the other players to observe that a red 9 is being used.

Being the first to discard in a round confers a useful advantage, especially if the player has one or more aces. The player may, as stated above, play more than one card of the same rank initially. After this, no player may discard more than one card of the same rank at a time (although discarding a king and starting again with another king can give the appearance of laying more than one king as a discard).

Each player has one opportunity to be the first to discard, so the number of rounds equals the number of players. After the end of the final round all the scores are totalled and the player having the lowest score is declared the winner.

Each card from 2 to 10 scores its face value. Jacks score 11, queens 12 and kings 13. Aces, although representing 1 in the sequence, score 20.[lower-alpha 6] If a player is caught with a red 9 in hand when another player goes out, the caught player's score is doubled. Two red 9s would quadruple the score. Conversely if the last card discarded by the player going out is a red 9 that player should announce "out on a red 9", and the scores of all the other players are doubled.