Palace

Players and equipment

Two to six players — six with two jokers, a variation below — each for themselves, and a standard 52-card pack. It is best with at least three. Nobody is trying to win so much as trying not to lose: the last player still holding cards is the Palace, and at most tables the Palace deals the next game and makes the tea. The game goes by a ruder name in most of the world, and by Shed, Karma, China Hand and Ten-Two Slide in others. Children pick it up in one game, because the whole rule is play higher or pick up the pile.

Cards rank two, ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine and so on down to three. The two is the highest card and also goes on anything, and the ten is the card that clears the pile, so those eight cards are the ones everybody wants.

SquareScores keeps the record. There is nothing to add up in Palace, so the table is a match table: one game is one match, and the host taps each player as they go out. More on that under Scoring.

The deal

Each player gets nine cards in three parts. First deal three cards face down in a row in front of each player; nobody looks at these, not even their owner, until they are turned over at the very end of the game. Then deal three cards face up, one on top of each face-down card. Then deal three cards to each player as a hand, which they pick up and look at. The rest of the pack goes face down in the middle as the stock.

Before anybody plays, you may swap cards between your hand and your three face-up cards as much as you like. The face-up cards are the ones you will be stuck with late in the game, so most players put their best cards there — twos, tens and aces — and keep the ordinary ones in hand. The face-down cards stay face down whatever happens.

The deal is random for the first game. After that the Palace deals.

Play

Whoever has a three face up among their table cards leads. If nobody does, the first player to find a three in their hand leads; if there is no three anywhere, look for a four, and so on. The leader plays any card from hand, or several cards of the same rank together, face up to start the pile, then draws from the stock to bring their hand back to three.

Play goes to the left. On your turn you must play a card, or several cards of one rank, that is equal to or higher than the card on top of the pile. Then draw from the stock until you have three in hand again; if the stock is short, take what is there, and once it is gone play on with what you hold. While you still have a card in hand you must play from your hand and not from the table.

If you cannot go, or do not want to, you pick up the whole pile into your hand. The player on your left then starts a fresh pile with anything they like. A big pile is the whole game: pick up fifteen cards and you have fifteen cards to shed before you can even reach your table cards.

Three cards do something special, and they are in the basic game at nearly every table.

Two

Resets the pile

Plays on anything, and anything plays on it

Ten

You go again

Plays on anything, and clears the pile out of the game

Four of a kind

The pile is cleared and you go again

The fourth card of a rank on top of the pile, played together or one by one

A cleared pile goes out of play face down to one side; it is not picked up by anybody and is not the stock. The player who cleared it starts a new pile at once with any card.

When your hand is empty and the stock is gone, you play from your three face-up table cards, one or more of a rank at a time. If none of them can go on the pile, put one of them on the pile anyway and pick up the lot; you are back to playing from hand until it is empty again. When the face-up cards are gone too, you turn your face-down cards one at a time, without looking first. If the card you turn beats the pile it stays and play goes on. If it does not, you pick up the pile, that card included, and play from hand until you can try the next blind card.

Scoring

There is no score. The game is the order in which people get rid of their cards, and the one who never does.

Out

Safe

Hand, face-up cards and face-down cards all gone

Still in

The Palace

The last player holding cards

Going out is the moment your last card lands on the pile and stays there. A player turning their last blind card goes out only if it beats the pile, or if it is turned onto an empty pile; a blind card that fails goes into their hand with the rest, and they play on. Play continues among the players left until one of them is still holding cards, and that player is the Palace.

On SquareScores a game of Palace is one match on the match table, and the game is set up as a podium: tap a player's name the moment they go out, and the taps run first, second, third. The first player out tops the podium, and the tap that fills the last podium place files the match by itself; everybody below it, the Palace among them, reads out, and the Leaderboard carries three, two and one points to the podium. With four or more players that is the third tap. With three players the Palace's own tap is the third: the host taps the last one holding cards into third place, and that tap files the match. At a table of two there are only two places, so the second tap, the Palace's, files the match on its own; there is no third place and nothing more to tap. End match is the door only when the table stops short of a full podium. A host who only cares who got out first can choose winner takes all at launch instead, which is one tap on the first player out. SquareScores deals nothing and never sees a card: the pile, the stock and the blind cards are all on the table, and the app only hears who has gone.

A worked game

Four players: Alice, Ben, Cara and Dev. Cara has the three of clubs face up and leads it. The pile builds to a jack; Dev holds nothing above a ten and no two, so he picks up nine cards. Ben plays a ten a few turns later and clears the pile, then leads the two kings he was holding. And so the game goes, through the stock and into the table cards.

Alice

Out first

Turns her last blind card, a two, onto a queen

Cara

Out second

Turns a nine onto a seven

Ben

Out third

Turns a four onto a jack, picks up, sheds the pile, turns a king onto an empty pile

Dev

The Palace

Still holding four cards when Ben goes

Three taps on the match table: Alice when her two landed, Cara when her nine stayed, Ben when his king went down on the empty pile. Ben's tap was the third podium place and filed the match; the next match table was already waiting under it. Alice carries three points on the Leaderboard, Cara two, Ben one, and Dev reads out; he also deals the next game. On a winner-takes-all table the only tap is Alice's.

Ending

Players drop out one by one as they shed their last card. The game ends the moment only one player is left holding cards, and that player is the Palace. Deal again straight away, the Palace dealing. On the sheet the next match is already waiting under the one just filed; nothing to tap.

Choose your face-up cards with the end in mind

The swap before the first play decides most games. Your face-up cards are played only after the stock is gone and your hand is empty, when the pile is at its most dangerous and you have no choice of what to play from hand. Put twos and tens there, then aces and kings, and keep the sevens and eights for your hand, where you can throw them early on a small pile. A good face-up row is three cards that each go on anything.

Shed low cards while the pile is cheap

A pile of three or four cards costs nothing to pick up, so the start of the game is when to get rid of your threes, fours and fives. Play them in pairs when you have them, since two cards of one rank leave the pile exactly where one would. Save the high cards, which will still play later when the pile is twenty deep and nobody can go.

Make the ten and the two work twice

A ten clears the pile and gives you another turn, so play it when the pile is large and awkward for you, never on a pile of two cards. Then lead low after it, so the next players are tempted to play their good cards on your rubbish. A two is a reset: it lets you dump a low card the turn after, and it rescues you from a pile you could not otherwise beat. Holding one in hand into the endgame is worth more than any ace.

Count the twos and tens

There are four of each, and the face-up rows round the table show you where some of them are. When all the tens are gone, a big pile stays big and the player who picks it up may never recover; that is the moment to play your highest cards and sit on the pile until somebody cracks. When you know the player on your left has a two face up, there is no point building the pile against them.

Play on your neighbour

The player to your left is the one who must answer your card. If they have just picked up a large pile, they will be playing low cards from a full hand for a while, so lead high and keep them there. If they are down to their blind cards, a high card on the pile makes every one of their turns a gamble; a king on the pile beats most of what they will turn.

Winner, not loser

Some tables play that the first player out wins and the game stops there. The rest of the table sheds on anyway for the order, or does not. On SquareScores that is the winner-takes-all setup, chosen at launch, and the match files on the first tap.

Six players with jokers

Add two jokers and six can play. A joker goes on anything, alone or several together, and reverses the direction of play; it is not wild and cannot be played with other cards. If the player after you plays a joker, the turn comes back to you and you must beat your own card or pick up.

Deal six and choose

Deal the three face-down cards, then six cards to the hand, and each player chooses which three to lay face up on their blind row. The game is the same, but nobody sees which cards went into the other players' hands.

The ten on anything

Under the basic rule a ten beats what it is played on and clears the pile regardless; a few tables rule that a ten may not be played on a jack, queen, king or ace. Most play it as a card for any moment, which is the rule written here. Settle it before the deal.

Sevens and eights

House rules give the other middle cards jobs. The most common: after a seven the next player must play seven or lower, an eight or a ten; an eight goes on anything and reverses the direction, or is invisible, so the card after it must beat the card below it. A Dutch cousin, Zweeds Pesten, makes the seven and the nine special too. Any of these makes the game longer and more vicious, and every table has its own set, so ask before you sit down.

Pick up without the table card

At many tables a player with no hand who cannot play a face-up card simply picks up the pile and leaves their three table cards where they are, rather than adding one to the pile first. It is a little kinder, and it keeps the face-up row intact.

Back to the last player

After a pick-up, play passes to the player who played the card that was not beaten, not to the next player round the table. It rewards the player who built the pile, and it changes the whole pace of a three-player game.

Bigger rows

Finnish tables deal four face down and four face up; Smeghead, a student version, deals four of each with several packs shuffled together, or five of each with one pack between two or three players. The game is longer and the end is slower, since there are more blind cards to turn.

How do you play Palace?

Each player has three face-down cards they have not seen, three face-up cards on top of them and a hand of three. In turn you play a card equal to or higher than the top of the pile and draw back to three; if you cannot, you pick up the whole pile. Twos go on anything, tens clear the pile, and four of a kind clears it too. When your hand and the stock are gone you play your face-up cards, then turn your face-down cards blind. The last player holding cards loses and is the Palace.

Is Palace the same as Shithead?

Yes. Palace, Shithead, Shed, Karma, China Hand and Ten-Two Slide are one game under different names, with the usual differences between tables about which cards are special. Palace is the name used where the rude one will not do.

How many cards do you deal in Palace?

Nine each: three face down, three face up on top of them, and three in hand. The rest is the stock, and you draw back up to three in hand after every play until it runs out. With a full pack that is enough for five players; six add two jokers.

Can you play a ten on anything in Palace?

In the basic rules, yes. A ten can be played whatever the top card is, it clears the pile out of the game, and you play again on an empty pile. A few tables forbid a ten on a picture card or an ace, so ask if you are playing somewhere new.

What happens when you cannot play in Palace?

You pick up the whole pile into your hand, and the player on your left starts a new pile with any card. If you have no hand and were playing your face-up cards, you add one of them to the pile first, then pick everything up. If you turned a blind card that did not beat the pile, that card goes into your hand with the rest.

Can you look at your face-down cards in Palace?

No, never, and you cannot swap them either. You may swap freely between your hand and your face-up cards before the first card is played, which is why the face-up cards are usually the best ones at the table, but the three blind cards stay blind until you turn each one onto the pile at the end.

Who goes first in Palace?

Whoever has a three face up on the table. If nobody does, the first player to show a three from their hand leads; if there are no threes dealt at all, look for a four, then a five. The leader plays any card from hand, or several of one rank, and then draws back to three; the three that decided who leads stays where it is.

Does the winner of Palace get anything?

Not usually; the game is about the loser. The last player holding cards is the Palace, deals the next game and takes whatever forfeit the table has agreed. On SquareScores the order players went out in is the podium, so over a few games the Leaderboard says who has been out first most often and who has been the Palace.