Golf (also known as Polish Polka, Polish Poker, Turtle, Hara Kiri and Crazy Nines) is a card game where players try to earn the lowest score (as in golf, the sport) over the course of multiple deals (or "holes", as in a golf course hole), usually nine.
This game is not to be confused with the solitaire game of the same name, with which it has little in common.
Deal
A single 52-card deck is recommended for a two or three player game. If played with four or more players, a double-deck of 104 cards is ideal.
Each player is dealt six face-down cards from a shuffled deck. The remaining cards are placed face down to form the stockpile, from which the top card is taken and turned up to start the discard pile beside it. Players arrange their cards in two rows of three in front of them and turn any two of these cards face up.
- Each Ace scores one point
- Each Two scores minus two points
- Each numeral card from 3 to 10 scores its face value
- Each Jack or Queen scores 10 points
- Each King scores zero points
- A pair of equal-ranked cards in the same column scores zero points for that column regardless of the rank of those cards
During play, it is not legal to return a card drawn from the discard pile without playing it. When a player picks up the top card of the discard pile, that card must be played by swapping it with one of that player's cards.
A full game is typically nine hands, also known as "holes", after which the player with the fewest points total is designated the winner. Play proceeds similar to six-card golf. The end of a round is initiated by a player 'knocking', after which other players get one final turn.
Nine-card golf
One or two decks are involved, depending on the number of players. One deck is adequate for 1-3 players, two or more decks are suggested for 4+ players. To begin the game, each player is dealt nine cards, laying out the cards face down in a 3x3 grid. The method or pattern for how the players layout their 3x3 grid is arbitrary, as long as the cards remain face down.
The game is played as six-card golf. Once any grid contains only face-up cards, the game is immediately ended, there are no further turns, and all players must flip all their face-down cards to determine their scores. Scoring is the same as six-card golf, with players having to form a full three-of-a-kind column to have that column score zero.
- Instead of drawing a card, a player may choose to flip a card in their grid face up
- Playing until a player exceeds 100 points instead of 50
Alternative scoring
There are many variants for point values of cards, including:
- Jokers are added to the deck and score -5,