Gamehelpstrikegold

Strike Gold

Strike Gold is a press-your-luck grid card game in the Golf family for 2–8 players. Each player tends a face-down 3×4 grid of cards and tries to keep its total value as low as possible. Clearing a matching column wipes it off the grid for zero points. Play runs over several rounds; once any player crosses the target total, the game ends and the lowest grand total wins.

Object

Across a series of rounds, keep the total value of your 3×4 grid as low as you can. Clear matching columns to erase points entirely. When any player reaches the target total (50, 100, or 200, chosen at setup), the game ends after that round and the player with the lowest grand total wins.

The Deck

A single deck of 150 cards carrying point values:

• −2 × 5 — the best card in the game
• −1 × 10
• 0 × 15 — harmless filler
• 1 through 12 × 10 each — points you want to shed or bury

Low and negative cards are gold. High cards are dead weight.

Setup

• Deal each player a 3×4 grid of 12 face-down cards.
• Each player turns 2 cards face up to start (only 1 in later rounds).
• Turn one card face up to start the discard pile; the rest form the face-down draw deck.
• The player whose revealed cards total the highest goes first.

On Your Turn

Draw either the top of the deck (blind) or the face-up top of the discard pile. Then choose one:

• Keep the drawn card — place it into any grid slot. The card that was there goes to the discard pile, and the placed card stays face up.
• Discard & flip — discard the drawn card and turn one of your face-down grid cards face up, locking in its value.

If you have no face-down cards left, you may simply discard the drawn card.

Clearing Columns

Whenever a column of three matching face-up values is completed, that triplet is cleared off your grid and onto the discard pile — those cards score nothing. Clearing columns is the main way to shed points.

Table option — Row wipe: when enabled, three matching values in a row are cleared the same way columns are.

Ending a Round

When a player has their entire grid face up, they are out and the round is ending. By default, every other player takes one final turn (Out player takes final turn is a table option that also gives the out player one last turn). All remaining face-down cards are then revealed and each grid is scored — cleared columns already count as zero.

The Scoring Twist

The player who went out is rewarded only if they truly dug the lowest hand:

• If the out player does have the lowest round score, they score it normally.
• If they do not, their round score is doubled as a penalty for going out too early.
• Table option — Out player scores 0: replaces the doubling penalty with a flat 0 instead.

Winning

Round scores accumulate. Once any player crosses the target total, the game ends after that round and the lowest total wins. Ties are broken by the number of columns cleared during the game (more is better).

Table Options

• Game to — 50 / 100 / 200: target total that ends the game.
• Out player takes final turn — No / Yes: whether the out player also gets a last turn.
• Out player scores 0 — No / Yes: replaces the doubling penalty with a flat 0.
• Row wipe — Off / On: clears matching rows as well as columns.