Spoons

Players and equipment

Three to thirteen with a standard 52-card pack, more with a second pack shuffled in. The whole pack is used; for a quicker game, trim it to four cards of the same rank per player, so five players use five ranks and twenty cards. Spoons go in the middle of the table where everybody can reach them — always one fewer than there are players.

The deal

Four cards each. The dealer keeps the rest of the deck face down beside them as the stock.

Play

The dealer takes the top card of the stock, decides whether to keep it, and passes one card face down to the left. Everybody does the same thing at the same time: take from the right, pass to the left, never holding more than four cards. The last player passes onto a discard pile rather than back round to the dealer, and if the stock runs out before anybody is ready, the discard pile is shuffled and becomes the stock.

Nobody waits their turn. The cards move as fast as the slowest player can move them, which is most of the game.

The moment somebody holds four of a kind they take a spoon. Everyone else may then take one too, whatever they hold, and the player left with no spoon loses the round. The four of a kind is shown, the cards are gathered and shuffled, and the deal passes to the left. Taking the spoon quietly is allowed and is most of the fun: a sly player slides one off the table and keeps passing, and the round goes on until somebody notices the gap.

Scoring

There is no score. There are spoons, and then there are letters.

Four of a kind

Safe

Take a spoon, quietly if you like

Everyone else

Safe

Grab the moment the first spoon moves

One player short

Takes a letter

There is always one spoon fewer than players

S-P-O-O-N-S

Out on the sixth

One letter per round lost

Reaching for a spoon when nobody has taken one, and being wrong about it, costs a letter too.

Agree the word before you start, because tables differ: S-P-O-O-N-S gives everybody six lives, S-P-O-O-N five, and some play no letters at all and put you out on the first spoon you miss. When a player spells the word and leaves, take a spoon away as well, so there is still one fewer than there are players.

The letters are kept at the table, out loud or on a scrap of paper, and the app is not asked to count them. On SquareScores a game of Spoons, from the first deal to the last player at the table, is one row on the match table, and one tap on the winner's name records it; a table that plays two or three games in a sitting keeps a tally of wins.

A worked game

Five players — Alice, Ben, Cara, Dev and Emma — with four spoons in the middle, spelling S-P-O-O-N.

Round 1

Emma: S

Ben collects four sevens and takes a spoon; Alice, Cara and Dev grab

Round 2

Ben: S

Cara slides a spoon away on four kings and keeps passing; Dev sees the gap, then Alice, then Emma

Round 3

Emma: S-P

Emma grabs on three nines and a ten, and nobody has four of anything

Round 4

Ben: S-P

Alice on four twos; Ben and Dev both land on the last spoon and Dev's hand is underneath

Round 5

Emma: S-P-O

Dev on four jacks; Emma is watching her cards again

Round 6

Ben: S-P-O

Cara on four aces; Ben reaches with the wrong hand and knocks his spoon off the table

The game runs on like that, a letter a round. Emma spells S-P-O-O-N in the eleventh round and leaves, and a spoon comes off the table with her, so it is four players and three spoons; Ben follows her four rounds later, then Dev. Alice and Cara play the last rounds for one spoon between them, and Cara takes it on four sixes while Alice is still deciding whether to keep a queen. Cara wins, and on the match table one tap on Cara's name files the game.

Ending

Players drop out as they spell the word, and the last one at the table wins. A shorter word makes a shorter game: P-I-G is three letters and about ten minutes.

Pass fast

Look at the card coming in, decide in a second, and pass. A player who studies each card slows the whole table and, worse, holds up the cards for the player on their left, who will remember it. Speed matters more than judgement, because the player who sees the most cards in a round is the one most likely to finish four of a kind first.

Watch the spoons, not the cards

Most rounds are lost by a player looking at their hand when a spoon moves. Learn to pass without looking down: the cards can be read with a glance and the spoons need to be watched all the time. Keep one hand passing and the other free and resting on the table, not hovering over the spoons, which most tables count as reaching. The moment a spoon moves, take one; you can ask why afterwards.

Where to sit

Cards come to you from the right, so sit to the left of the fastest player at the table and you will see more cards than anybody; sit to the left of the slowest and you will starve. Sit where you can reach the spoons without standing, and where you can see every hand around them. A player at the far end of a long table loses rounds on distance alone.

Chasing a rank

Early in a round keep two pairs and let everything else go; when a third of one rank arrives, throw the other pair and chase that one. Do not chase a rank you have seen passed around: if two eights have gone past you, the other two are somewhere to your left and are not coming back.

The quiet take

When you have four, do not stop. Keep taking and passing cards with one hand and ease a spoon off the table with the other, then carry on as if nothing has happened. A round can go on for a minute with a spoon missing, and the player who never noticed has no complaint. A grab and a shout gives everybody a fair start, which is generous and loses nothing but the joke.

Pig

The same game with no spoons at all. A player who collects four of a kind quietly puts a finger on their nose and carries on passing. Anybody who notices does the same, and the last player left without a finger on their nose takes a letter, spelling P-I-G. Good where there are no spoons to hand, and for small children.

Tongue

Pig with the tongue instead of the finger: four of a kind sticks the tongue out, everybody who notices does the same, and the last one talking or looking at their cards loses the round. Harder to do quietly than the nose, which is the point.

Donkey

The name the game goes by at many tables, with or without spoons, spelling D-O-N-K-E-Y over six rounds lost. At some tables the loser of the round is called the donkey and has to bray. The rules are otherwise those of Spoons, and the word is the only difference that matters.

Spelling the word

Any word will do, and its length sets the length of the game. S-P-O-O-N-S gives six lives, S-P-O-O-N five and P-I-G three. A big table with a lot of players wants a short word or the game outlasts the players; a table of four can afford a long one.

No elimination

Nobody leaves the table. Every round lost is a point against, the table plays an agreed number of rounds, and the player with the fewest points wins. The spoons stay at one fewer than the players throughout. Kinder for a mixed table, since the player who is slowest still plays every round.

How do you play Spoons?

Put one fewer spoon than players in the middle of the table and deal four cards each. Everybody passes cards at once: take one from the player on your right, keep it or pass it on to your left, never holding more than four. When somebody has four of a kind they take a spoon, everyone else grabs, and the player left without one takes a letter. Spell the agreed word and you are out; the last player left wins.

How many spoons do you need for Spoons?

One fewer than there are players: four spoons for five players, seven for eight. When a player is knocked out, take a spoon away as well, so there is always exactly one short. Anything grabbable will do if you are short of spoons, and Pig plays the same game with a finger on the nose instead.

What happens when the cards run out in Spoons?

The last player in the line passes their cards onto a discard pile rather than back to the dealer. If the dealer's stock runs out before anybody has four of a kind, the discard pile is shuffled and becomes the new stock, and the round carries on.

Can you take a spoon without four of a kind?

Only after somebody else has. Once the first spoon moves, anybody may take one whatever they hold, and the player left out loses the round. Grabbing a spoon when nobody has four of a kind is a false grab and costs you a letter, and the cards are gathered and dealt again.

Do you have to say when you have four of a kind?

No. Taking the spoon is the announcement, and taking it quietly is allowed and encouraged: the round goes on until somebody notices a spoon is missing. Once the last spoon has gone, the player who started it shows their four cards so the table can see the grab was fair.

How many people can play Spoons?

Three to thirteen with one pack, and six to eight is the best number: enough for a scramble, few enough that the cards go round quickly. For more than thirteen shuffle in a second pack. Two cannot play, because with one spoon between two people there is nothing to notice.

Is Spoons a good game for children?

Yes, from about six, once they can recognise four of a kind and keep hold of four cards. It is loud and fast, and a big reach across the table can catch a small hand, so seat the youngest opposite the biggest players rather than beside them, use teaspoons rather than anything heavy, or play Pig, where nobody grabs anything.