The wilds and changing rounds make the game a bit faster and more interesting to some people than the standard rummy game. 

It’s not hard to learn, but you need to start somewhere. 

We’re here to explain this fun game to you in our guide on how to play Five Crowns. 

Let’s deal the cards! 

What You’ll Need To Play Five Crowns

To play Five Crowns, you’ll need a deck of cards that contains 116 cards. 

The deck includes five suits with 11 cards in each suit (3 through King), as well as six wild cards. 

The game is designed for 2-7 players, but can also be played with 8 players if a second deck of cards is added. 

Each player will need space to arrange their cards in front of them and keep score, so a table or flat surface is recommended. 

Additionally, a pencil and paper may be useful for keeping score.

We also have a downloadable Five Crown Score Card here at the link (for FREE!).

Once you have these materials, you’re ready to set up the game and start playing!

If you want to skip the trouble of finding these special cards on your own, just buy it from Amazon. 

Check out the link here and get it sent to your house in days. 

How To Win Five Crowns

The game for 11 rounds, each hand getting larger and larger. 

It starts with 3 and ends with 13 cards. 

After the final round, the player with the lowest score wins the game! 

For a quick reference, the rounds and the number of cards they have go like this: 

How The Cards Work In Five Crowns

Each deck has cards from 3-King in five suits, spades, clubs, hearts, diamonds, and stars. There are also three Jokers per deck. 

The Jokers are always wild and worth 50 points against if you if they are unmatched. 

Each hand has a special wild that matches the round you’re on.

For example, if you have five cards in that round, the fives are wild that time. 

These hand wilds are worth 20 points against you if they’re unmatched. 

Wilds may be any suit and any rank or value. 

You can also play wilds with any number and combination of regular cards. 

The cards are all worth their pip value and as follows: 

Matched Cards Or Books In Five Crowns

Since Five Crowns is a rummy-based game, the goal is to make groups of matched cards. 

In typical Rummy, these are called melds, but in Five Crowns we use the term books. 

Books come in two main forms: 

• Sets
• Runs

Sets are when you have groups of three or more cards of the same rank. 

An example would be three or more Jacks. 

Runs or straights are three or more cards in consecutive order and of the same suit. 

An example would be the four, five, and six of spades. 

Once cards are matched or booked, they don’t count against you. 

You can’t lay them down until all the cards in your hand belong to matched books. 

Once you make a book, you’re not locked in. Cards can be moved around to make different books that better suit you and lower your hand count. 

A lot of good players will use the same cards to go for multiple books at a time and open up the odds of getting a card that works for them. 

An example of this is if you have the six of spades, five of spades, and six of hearts. 

By holding these, you are simultaneously going for a set of sixes AND a run of spades. 

You can’t double-count cards for books at the end, but holding this at the beginning of a round is a smart idea to help you find matching cards. 

Game Play Rules Of Five Crowns

Once the dealer passes out the correct number of cards for the round, they flip over the top card of the remaining cards (called the stock) and puts it into the discard pile. 

The player to their left starts, and the play continues in a clockwise motion. 

Each turn, a player can either draw one from the stockpile or the top card on the discard pile. 

They then must discard one of their cards. 

If they can “go down,” meaning all their cards belong to a book, then they lay down. 

If not, the next player goes. 

Once someone goes down, all other players get one more turn to lower their hand count and they lay down their cards. 

Player count up their unmatched cards and their value. 

So if they have a five, seven, and Jack that are unmatched, they have a hand score of 23. 

The scorekeeper adds their hand score to their total. 

The deal now passes, and the round moves on to the next one. 

Game play continues until all 13 rounds are done (after the Kings are wild). 

Once this round is over, the scores are counted, and the player with the lowest score wins! 

Quick Tips To Win More Five Crowns Games

• Watch Those Wild Cards – They change every round. Don’t discard one on accident! 
• Watch For Sets Over Runs For Faster Matches – There are 10 of each card, so your odds are pretty good of getting sets. 
• Keep Nearby But Disconnected Run Cards – Don’t get rid of just-off run cards. A wild or good draw can connect them all! 
• Replace Wilds When Possible – Wilds aren’t locked in until you go down. Replace the wilds with regular cards and use the wild elsewhere to go out faster. 

For more tips and strategies, check out our winning Five Crowns strategy guide. 

The post How To Play Five Crowns: A Complete Guide For Beginners appeared first on Huddle Around Games.

But let’s be real; you want to win, right? 

As someone with a lot of experience in rummy games, I picked up on Five Crowns pretty easily and won almost every time by following these tips. 

I’m not going to share this with the people, but I will share this Five Crowns winning strategy with you! 

Let’s deal the cards! 

Learn how to play Five Crowns now!

From A to Z, we’ll help you make this fun and easy game a part of your regular rotation.

How To Play Five Crowns

#1 Watch Those Wild Cards

Every round changes the hand wilds. 

The first round, the 3s are wild, then the 4s, and so on. 

It’s obvious, and it’s one of the mechanics that makes this game unique from other Rummy ones. 

But, you’d be shocked at how many times people will discard one of those special wilds because they forgot what round they were on. 

The start of a good winning strategy is to eliminate mistakes, especially big ones like this. 

Always keep an eye out, and if you can pick up a wild, DO IT!

If you can’t pick it up, then stay quiet. Maybe the person who’s next will forget too! 

#2 Watch For Sets Over Runs For Faster Matches

Sets are groups of three or more cards of the same rank or value. 

Runs are groups of three or more cards in consecutive order in the same suit. 

In normal Rummy, they have more potential for matches because they can keep building. 

But in Five Crowns, this isn’t true. 

There are two decks of five suits in this game. 

In typical rummy, you only have four cards total that can match the set. 

So if you’re sitting on two 5s, you’ll be waiting for one of those remaining two to make a match or book as they call it in this game. 

But in 5 Crowns, you have 10 cards to pull from on top of all the wilds! 

This improves your odds dramatically! 

For runs, say if you have a 4 and 5 of spades, you’ll still be waiting on the 6 or 3 of spades. There are only two of these each, so four in total. 

I don’t know about you, but 8 missing cards for a set sounds better than 4 missing cards of a run. 

#3 Keep Nearby But Disconnected Run Cards

In somewhat contrast of my last point, though, keep nearby cards in a Run in your hand. 

An example would be to hold onto the 5 and Jack of spades if you already have a 7-8-9 of spades run. 

Why? You can use a wild to connect to the run and add on two cards or more! 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve connected cards quickly with a wild card in a run, and it helped me go out or lower my score to almost nothing. 

#4 Watch The Discard

As with other Rummy games, watching the discard pile is critical. 

While wilds, five suits, and two decks make it less likely that you’ll end up with a group of two that can’t be completed, the odds may be lower. 

For example, if you’re waiting for one of two cards for a run and you see the player across from dumping a bunch of them, it may be time to switch strategy. 

It can be a lot to watch and track all of the discards, but with practice, you’ll learn to keep your finger on the pulse of the odds for a given book and adjust as needed. 

#5 Not All Cards Are Created Equal

A small mistake that adds up quickly comes with forgetting that not all face cards count the same against you. 

In Five Crowns, Kings are worth 13, Queens are 12, and Jacks are 11. 

If you’re getting down to the end or someone has gone out, don’t just throw any face card down to lower your count. 

A point or two here or there can add up and make all the difference in the world. 

#6 Replace Wilds When Possible

Early on in each hand, you’ll probably use a wild card to complete a set or a run. 

As you play, watch for the card your wild is replacing. 

Pick it up or keep it when you draw and use your wild somewhere else. 

This may seem really obvious, but a lot of people subconsciously “write off” the card they’re using the wild for. 

They may discard it or pass it without even registering what it is. 

Here’s an example: 

Say you have a 7 of spades – Joker – 9 of spades. 

Then, the person ahead of you discards the 8 of spades. 

Do you need it? I guess not, but you should pick it up! 

Then, you can use the wild somewhere, maybe to complete another set or run or even just add on to this one. 

Anyway will get you closer to melding or going out.

It’s always in your best interest to go out as soon as possible.  

#7 Don’t Get Discouraged

Five Crowns has a saying: 

“It isn’t over ‘til the Kings go wild!”

It definitely holds true.

You’ll never be so far behind the leader that you couldn’t win. 

In the last round, anyone can gain a massive number of points and lose. 

There are 13 rounds of this game. If you have a bad hand, shake it off, focus up, and come back strong the next one. 

#8 Understand Your Wilds

Little strategy errors happen when you think you know how wilds work in this game, but you’re wrong. 

Wilds can go anywhere and replace any card. 

Three wilds can even make a book all on their own (though this isn’t a good use of them). 

Two wilds and a single normal card can make a run or set, it’s your choice! 

Once you mentally connect a wild with a set, it’s not locked in; feel free to adjust it to lower your count at the end or make more cards match. 

Wild cards can be picked up from the discard; they don’t make the discard dead for that round. 

I call this out because there are a number of games where the opposite is true. Make sure you know these special uses of wild cards, and don’t miss out on a chance to stick your opponents with some high cards. 

#9 Watch What Your Follow Picks Up

This is a multiplayer card game, and the more people you have, the less valuable this tip is. 

If the player who follows you picks up a card from the discard pile you’ve thrown, they want it. 

Think about what cards go with that one, and avoid tossing them if possible. 

You don’t want to give them exactly what they need to go out and stick you with leftover cards. 

#10 Sit After The New Players

This tip works amazingly, but it’s a little in the grey area. 

Find out who is a new player or someone you know who doesn’t play too well and sit after them. 

For one, they won’t worry about what you pick up, so you’ll be able to keep getting cards you need. 

For another, they may make a mistake and throw some wilds. 

If you’re nice, you can correct them and allow them to take it back. 

But if you’re cutthroat, you’ll get some free wilds! 

Some people may notice this strategy of yours and judge you for it, so know your audience. 

We play cards with several different groups of friends and family. With some, I never pull stuff like this, but with others, I know we’re competitive enough that a strat like this is just a part of the game. 

Read more: How to play Five Crowns with regular cards

The post 10 Easy Tips To Make A Five Crowns Winning Strategy appeared first on Huddle Around Games.

Maybe you want to play a game like this, but you left the game at home. 

Fear not! There’s a way to play it without the official cards, but while it’s not exactly the same, it’s pretty darn close. 

Of course, the question is: how do we do it? 

Answer: Read this article! 

This is our guide on how to play Five Crowns with regular cards from start to finish. 

Let’s dive in! 

Learn how to play Five Crowns now!

From A to Z, we’ll help you make this fun and easy game a part of your regular rotation.

How To Play Five Crowns

Setting Up Five Crowns With Regular Cards

Five Crowns is typically played with two decks of 58 cards. 

In these decks, there are cards from 3-King over five different suits (hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs, and stars). 

There are also six Jokers in total. 

To play Five Crowns with a normal deck of cards, we’ll need to simulate this.

You’ll need two decks of 52 cards. 

Remove all the Jokers and the 2s. 

What you should now have are two decks of 48 cards, excluding the 2s. 

Shuffle these two together and then start dealing, first with three cards each. 

Five Crowns Rules With Normal Cards

The game continues as it would normally. 

Your goal is to have the lowest score by making books or matched cards. 

Books are made either by sets or runs. 

Sets are three or more cards of the same rank (i.e., three 7s). 

Runs are consecutive cards in a row of the same suit (i.e., 4, 5, and 6 all of spades). 

When your entire hand fits into these books, you lay down or meld. 

After someone melds, each other player has one more chance to make as many books as possible. 

Any unmatched cards count against them. 

Every time it’s your turn, you may either draw from the stock or pick the top card off the discard pile. 

Then, you must discard one card. 

Points are tracked and added together at the end of every round. 

Each round increases the number of cards you get (first round is 3, second is 4, etc.) until you reach thirteen cards. 

This is the final round. The person with the lowest point total after the 13th round wins! 

For more on counting points, head to the next section. 

For the entire game, Aces are wild. They may fit in with any run or any set. 

Each round, the hand wild changes. 

The card matching the number of cards you get is the wild one. 

For example, when you get seven cards in your hand, the 7s are now wild. 

In the final round with 13 cards, the Kings are wild, leading to the game’s slogan: 

Scoring Five Crowns With Regular Cards

Leftover cards at the end of a hand count against you. 

Each one is worth its value, the round wild is 20 points, and the Aces are 50 points, so make sure to lay them down as soon as possible. 

Use this chart for a quick reference as needed: 

For more scoring help, a cheat sheet will go a long way. 

Head on over to our Five Crowns Score Sheet for a FREE download PDF for playing with all numbers of players. 

Number Of Players When Using Regular Decks For Five Crowns

Typically, Five Crowns says that they can go with 2-7 players. 

And with two decks of 58 cards, this is totally doable. 

For those playing with the regular decks and fewer cards, it’s not. 

For this, I’d stick with 2-5 players, maybe 6. 

If you find no one can go out with that many players, then play automatically ends when the stock pile is emptied. 

At this point, all players must track their unmatched cards and record them on the score sheet. 

Are you looking for some new games to spice up your life without spending a ton of money?

Enter the One Deck, Endless Fun eBook.

It contains 15 of my favorite card games you can play with a single deck of cards and a brief description of how to play each one.

I also include a handy table, breaking down each game in terms of difficulty, number of players, and the time it takes to play.

Download the eBook and start playing now!

Commonly Asked Questions

How Many People Can Play Five Crowns With One Deck?

With one deck, I’d cut the number of players in half. With the actual Five Crowns, stick with 2-4 players. In a regular deck, stick with 2-3. The game does best with two decks. 

Is Five Crowns The Same As Rummy?

Rummy-based games are a huge portion of the card games out there. Many, many games feature similar mechanics where you try to lay off cards by grouping them into sets and melds. 

Five Crowns is a variation of the Rummy mechanic. The main differences are that Five Crowns: 

• Includes wild cards
• Increases the number of cards per hand
• Rotates a set of wild cards
• Doesn’t allow players to lay off one another’s sets
• Uses a 5th suit
• Uses two decks
• Removes the Aces and 2s
• Includes Jokers

Can You Play Five Crowns By Yourself?

To play Five Crowns by yourself, simply play the game as you normally would, though you won’t be able to draw from the discard pile (Why would you? They’re your cards!).

As an incentive to “keep score,” I suggest counting all the points against you in your discard pile. It’ll be a lot, but you can compete against yourself or others to see who can get the lowest discard score. 

Alternatively, you can just track the number of cards in the pile over the points. 

How Many Jokers Are In Five Crowns?

Each of the decks in Five Crowns have 3 Jokers. This means there are a total of 6 Jokers in the game of Five Crowns. 

In our regular-card variation, we use the 4 Aces, meaning there are 8 total. But in my opinion, having more helps avoid getting stuck because we don’t have the 5th suit. 

Read more: Tips & Strategy For Winning Five Crowns

The post How To Play Five Crowns With Regular Cards: A Complete Guide appeared first on Huddle Around Games.

Luckily for you, we love this game and want to help with an overview of Five Crowns scoring as well as our completely FREE and downloadable Five Crowns score sheet. 

Going through this article and downloading this sheet will help you be fully prepared to add this game to your game night and have a ton of fun along the way! 

Learn how to play Five Crowns now!

From A to Z, we’ll help you make this fun and easy game a part of your regular rotation.

How To Play Five Crowns

How To Win Five Crowns

To know what you’re points are working toward, you need to know how to win the game. 

Five Crowns plays out over 11 rounds of increasingly large hands. 

At the end of each hand, players count up their unmatched cards and track those points. 

These points count against you. 

The player with the fewest points at the end of the 13th round (with the Kings as wild cards) is the winner! 

It’s in your best interest to match up cards by making either groups of the same rank or runs in the same suit with a total of three or more. 

Matches of the same rank are called sets. An example would be a set of 3 Jacks. 

Runs or straights are consecutive cards in the same suit. An example is four, five, and six of spades. 

Both sets and runs can be larger than three, but they must be at least three to count as matched and not count against you at the end. 

You hold onto all of your cards until you or someone else has all the cards in your hand matched. 

Then, you lay them down.

Everyone else gets one more turn to draw and match what they can. 

Everyone plays what they can and then counts up the total number of their unmatched points to track on the score sheet. 

If you don’t have any unmatched cards, you get zero for that round, and your score stays the same as the previous one. 

If you have points, the scorekeeper tracks it on the sheet and adds it to the previous total. 

This is where the score sheet and scoring guide come in (these are in the next sections). 

Are you looking for some new games to spice up your life without spending a ton of money?

Enter the One Deck, Endless Fun eBook.

It contains 15 of my favorite card games you can play with a single deck of cards and a brief description of how to play each one.

I also include a handy table, breaking down each game in terms of difficulty, number of players, and the time it takes to play.

Download the eBook and start playing now!

Five Crowns Score Sheet

Download the score sheet here. 

There is one page for playing with 2-4 players and two pages for tracking when you play with 5-7 players. 

Print off what you need (all FREE). If you think it’s helpful, please share this link and the pages with your friends! 

Five Crowns Scoring Breakdown & Table

At their base levels, all cards are worth their value. 

For example, a three card is worth 3 points. A seven card is worth 7 points. 

Jacks are worth 11, Queens are 12, and Kings are 13. 

Jokers (permanent wilds) are worth 50 points to the bad, but since these almost always play, you’ll rarely see this count against you. 

I say base level because for every round of the game, the hand wild changes. 

In the first hand, you deal out three cards and THREEs are now wild. 

As such, if these aren’t matched they count against you for the “hand wild” amount of points. 

These are 20 points against you. 

Like Jokers, since you’ll almost always be able to throw them in to another match, they’ll rarely count against you. 

After all, there is no limit to how you can use wilds as long as they have another regular card to go with them. 

This is just for those rare instances when none of your cards match at all and you only have one wild. 

For quick reference, use this Five Crowns scoring table to see what all the points are worth: 

Commonly Asked Five Crowns Scoring Questions

Why Does Five Crowns Have Five Suits?

This is a tough one to answer. Officially, using two 58-card decks with an extra suit allows for faster gameplay and helps you include more players. 

Using a standard 52-card deck for rummy games does limit the number of players you can have. 

I believe unofficially; it’s a marketing device by the designer. By adding a fifth suit, you make it more difficult to play the game using two 52-card decks. 

To be clear, I don’t think this is a bad thing; it’s kind of genius on their part. 

It is possible to play Five Crowns with regular cards, though it takes a bit of extra setup. 

For more on that, check out our Five Crowns with regular cards rules guide. 

Can You Discard A Joker In Five Crowns?

Yes, you can discard a Joker in Five Crowns. If someone makes a mistake and discards it, the next player may pick it up and use it. 

Strategically, the only reason you’d WANT to discard it is if you have no matches to make at all, and it’s the last turn. 

It’ll count 50 points against you if it’s in your hand, so get it out of there! 

Are There Aces In Five Crowns?

There are no ACES or TWOS in the game of Five Crowns. When playing with regular cards, Aces take the place of Jokers and are permanently wild. Twos don’t have any role in this game. 

Do You Use Both Decks In Five Crowns?

You’ll notice that your game comes with two decks of 58 cards. 

The decks consist of five suits with cards from 3 to King and three Jokers in each (six total). 

Traditionally, the game is played with both decks, meaning that there are 10 of each normal card in the deck. 

The abundance of cards makes each round go fairly quickly. However, if playing with fewer than 5 players and you want a challenge, try playing with only one deck. 

This will make the game slow down, and it’ll be harder to make books or matches. 

But some people like the challenge. 

This also throws the game balance to more strategy-based than luck-based, like the original. 

The post Five Crowns Scoring & FREE Downloadable Score Sheet appeared first on Huddle Around Games.