How it plays
The deal
Four columns a side, one card face up in each. Five cards in your hand.
A turn
Draw one, play one onto any of your columns. Nothing moves once it is down, and the fifth card in a column lands face down.
The reveal
Sixteen turns apiece and everything turns up. Column meets column, first to fourth, then hand meets hand.
The score
A point for each matchup you win, two for four of a kind or better, and one more for taking all five.
House rules
A few things you will not find at other tables.
The house
Nobody around? Play the Greenhorn or the Sharp. It plays a real game and cannot see your hand.
Squash
The queen of spades in your starting columns? Bin the deal or play it. A binned deal comes back worth double.
Ties carry
A tied game makes the next one worth 2×, then 3×.
Chess clock
One bank of minutes each for the whole game.
Call the clock
Three times a game, ten seconds apart: a buzz to hurry them along.
Table talk
Say something across the table. It is gone when the room is.
Take a seat, partner.
Play the house