Gamehelpthreethirteen

3-13 is a rummy-style card game played over 11 rounds. The goal is to accumulate the lowest score by going out with a fully melded hand or minimizing unmelded cards when another player goes out.

Players

2-5 players

Equipment

• 2 standard 52-card decks shuffled together
• 4 jokers (2 from each deck)
• Total: 108 cards

Round Structure

Round	Cards Dealt	Wild Card
1	3	3s
2	4	4s
3	5	5s
4	6	6s
5	7	7s
6	8	8s
7	9	9s
8	10	10s
9	11	Jacks
10	12	Queens
11	13	Kings

Jokers are always wild in addition to the round's wild card.

Setup Each Round

1. Shuffle and deal cards equal to the round number + 2
2. Place remaining deck face-down as the draw pile
3. Flip top card face-up to start the discard pile
4. Starting player rotates left each round (first round is random)

Turn Sequence

1. Draw one card from either the draw pile or discard pile
2. Go Out (optional) — lay down your entire hand if fully melded
3. Discard one card face-up to the discard pile

Melds

Minimum 3 cards per meld:

• Set: 3+ cards of the same rank (e.g., 7♠ 7♥ 7♦)
• Run: 3+ consecutive cards of the same suit (e.g., 4♣ 5♣ 6♣)

Wild cards (jokers + round wild) substitute for any card.

Aces are high or low in runs (A-2-3 or Q-K-A) but not both (K-A-2 is invalid).

Going Out

• You must meld your entire hand in valid combinations
• You must have a card to discard after drawing
• No partial melds — you cannot lay down melds until you can go out completely
• Once a player goes out, all other players get one final turn

Scoring

After someone goes out, remaining players score unmelded cards in hand:

Card	Points
2-10	Face value
Jack	11
Queen	12
King	13
Ace	15
Unusable Wild	50

A wild card (joker or round wild) that cannot be used in a meld counts as 50 points. This creates risk/reward tension in early rounds when holding wilds without meld opportunities.

The player who goes out scores 0 for the round.

Winning

After 11 rounds, the player with the lowest total score wins.

Summary

• No laying partial melds — only complete hands
• Wilds: Jokers (always) + rank matching the round number
• Aces: Flexible in runs, but costly (15 points) if stuck
• Unusable wilds: 50-point penalty
• One final turn for all players after someone goes out