Sticks card game

Sticks is a Rummy style card game with a twist to it. Instead of laying down Sets and Runs at leisure in the game of Rummy, you have a specific goal to obtain. That goal is on the stick. Each stick has a certain combination written on it to obtain while playing the game. You keep that stick turned upside until you have that combination. When you get that combination, and lay the cards for it down in front of you, you get to turn the stick face up. The winner is the first to turn over 7 sticks.
It is unknown as to the origin of the game. Some parts of the game can simply be made with your own household supplies.
Things to know about the Sticks:
Sets : a set is 3 cards of the same value. (3,3,3 or 5,5,5 or K,K,K)
Runs : a run is 3 cards in numerical order of the same suit. (3,4,5 of Hearts or Q,K,A of Clubs)
Supplies needed to play the game:
- 4 Decks of Cards with Jokers (preferably the same type)
- Approx. 42 Tongue Depressor Sticks (get at local craft store. Get extra in case of mistakes)
- 1 Solid Container or Bag (to hold the sticks in. Make sure you can not see through it)
- 1 Pen or Marker (for writing out Sticks combinations. See below for Combos)
Rules on How to Play Sticks Card Game:
1. Everyone chooses a stick from the container. Keep it hidden from everyone else when choosing. Everyone then places it face down in front of themselves.
2. If you pick up one of the FREE sticks, put it up in front of you and choose again.
3. The Dealer then deals 15 cards to every player. Return undealt cards to the top of the face down deck. Flip over the top card. If this is a 2 or a Joker card, these are wild and the starting player has to pick up that card and place it into their hand.
4. Everyone looks at their cards and sorts them out. Remember that you are looking specifically for what is on your stick. The goal is to turn that stick face up.
5. Each player, playing clockwise around the table, takes a turn either picking up one card from the face down deck or from the top card of the discard pile. You can only take the top card discarded from the player to your right and not from any underneath on the discard pile. You can only hold a maximum of 15 cards in your hand so you have to discard one to the discard pile. There are exceptions to discarding certain cards. See E1 on Exceptions List for details.
6. To turn over your stick, you must have what is written on the stick. To do this, take the cards pertaining to the stick and lay them down in front of you. You have to do this first before anything else gets laid down in front of you. After you have done this, lay down any other sets or runs in front of you as well. You can also place down extra cards in your hand onto other people’s sets and runs. See E2 on Exceptions List for more details.
7. The round can end in 4 different ways. A: Player discards the last card from their hand to the discard pile, B: Player uses the card to add to one of their sets or runs down in front of them, C: Player uses the card to add to one of the sets or runs in another player’s playing field. D: Everyone has a stick turned face up. No one has to discard their last card if everyone has a stick turned over. You are trying to go out before other people turn their stick over.
8. Once that round has ended players who where able to turn over their stick get to choose another one just like in steps 1 and 2. If you were not successful, try again. You get 3 tries at trying to get your stick turned over. If this can not be accomplished in those 3 turns, that person or persons get to reveal their stick, choose another one from the container and place their unsuccessful one back into the container. After that, the persons who were able to get their sticks turn up now can choose their new stick which can be the unsuccessful one another player had.
9. The person to the left of the first dealer now deals out to every person 15 new cards. The previous dealer now takes all the cards that were played in the round and shuffles them up. After they are shuffled place them on the bottom of the face down deck. Remember that 2’s and Jokers are wild so if the top card flipped over is a wild card the starting player must take it into their hand.
10. The game ends when the first person turns over their 7th stick. That person does not have to get rid of all the rest of their cards to go out, just be able to turn over that stick.
Exceptions List
E1. When discarding a card you have to watch for the following:
- 2’s and Jokers are wild. They can not be discarded.
- If you have not laid down but other players have, you can not throw away cards that can be added to that set or run. With runs however, you can throw away parts that have already been played but not the cards that can be added to the run. (Eg. 3,4,5 of hearts is played. You cannot throw away the 6 of hearts but you can throw away the 3, 4, or 5 of hearts as they are already down)
E2. When laying down cards for your stick, watch for the following:
- Wilds can be used to help get your stick. They can take the place of anything you need to get that stick. But, in order to use wilds for your stick you MUST have one natural card pertaining to that stick. (Eg. You need 3 nines for your stick, one of those 3 nines must be an actual 9 of any suit and can be 2 wilds with it. In a run of something, the same rule applies)
- After you have laid down and turned over your stick, you can steal wilds from other players sets. NOT RUNS. This means that Joe lays down the stick “1 run, 1 set”. Judy has lad down her stick and used a wild to help complete her 3 nines. Joe has another nine for her set but he needs her wild card to create a run he has in his hand. Joe passes over to Judy and says “Here is a nine for your set of nines but I would like your wild card please so I can use it.” Judy hands over her wild card to Joe and he lays down his run. You can also do the steal a wild from yourself to be used. It however, has to be used right away. You can not take a wild from someone or yourself and place it back in your hand to be used later. It must be played right away.
- Wilds cannot be taken from runs. They are static and once used can never be removed until the round is over.
- You can hand over cards to other players without having to steal their wilds. The goal is to get your stick turned over and catch everyone else by going out before they can get their stick up.
The Stick Combinations (to be written on the tongue depressors and placed in container):

- 1 run of 7 and 1 set
- 1 run of 4 and 1 set of 3
- 1 run of 4 and 2 sets
- 4 runs of 3
- 1 run of 9
- 1 run of Diamonds and 3 Nines
- 1 run of Hearts and 4 Aces
- 1 run of 9 (Alternating Red and Black)
- 1 run of 5 and 1 run of 3
- 1 run of Diamonds and 3 Kings
- 1 run of Hearts and 3 sets
- 1 run and 1 set
- 1 run and 1 set of 6
- 4 fives and 4 sixes
- 1 set of 7
- 4 sets of 3
- 1 run of Clubs and 1 set of 5
- 2 runs of 4 Spades and 3 Aces
- 1 run of 8
- 1 run of 5 and 1 set of 3
- 1 run of 4 and 1 set of 4
- 1 run of 5 Clubs and 3 Eights
- 1 run of 4 Hearts and 1 run of 4
- 3, 4, 5 of Hearts and 3, 4, 5 of Spades
- 3 Fives and 3 Tens
- 1 run of 4 and 4 Tens
- 1 run of 4 and 1 run of 3
- 1 run of Spades
- 3 runs of 4
- 4 Sixes and 4 Sevens
- 2 runs of 5
- 1 run of 6 Hearts
- A, K, Q, J, 10 of Clubs
- 1 run of 5 and 3 Jacks
- 2 runs of 3 and 1 set of 5
- 2 sets of 5
- A, K, Q of Hearts
- 5 Wildcards
- 1 run of 6
- A, K in all 4 suits
- 3, 4, 5 of Hearts
- 4 sticks that say FREE on them

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