We have another old card game that is still popular today: Palace. As with many games that have stood the test of time, Palace has many names including Castle, Karma, Shed and Idiot.
This is another game that the whole family can get into just like Play or Pay, Giveaway, and the card game Garbage. It’s easy to learn and fun to play.
In this post we’ll cover what you need, how to play, the rules and all the Palace variations. Let’s get into it.
This post may contain affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my link.
What You Need for the Palace Card Game
You will need a deck of cards with the jokers shuffled in for a two player game. For a 3 to five player game you will need two decks shuffled together. We love to play with fun cards. If you need some new cards shop here; Canadians, here. Who doesn’t love a Crazy Chicken Lady set of cards or cats dressed up like royalty or a classic like Peanuts?
Setting Up The Palace Card Game
The setup for Palace is a little confusing to start but you will quickly adjust to it. To start, the deal will deal out three card face down to all players. The players should place these cards on the table in a line. Do not look at these cards.
Now, the deal will deal all players three more cards. The players will then place these cards one on top of each of the facedown cards. These new cards will be placed face up so everyone can see them. These stacks are a player’s palace or castle.
With that done, the deal will now deal three more card to each player. The players will pick these cards up as their hands. Now, players can look at them and decide to exchange any they wish with the ones that are face up in their palace. The strategy would be to have lower ranked cards in you palace as they are easier to play later in the game. Once all players have made their decisions, you’re ready to start playing.
The rest of the cards are placed in the idle of the table as the draw pile.
Playing Palace
The first player choses cards from her hand to place face up in a discard pile. The cards should be low ranking. Aces are high and 2s have a special power so a 3 is a good starting spot. She may place as many cards as she would like as long as they are all the same rank. So, if she plays 3s then all cards she puts down must be 3s. After she places her cards, she must draw enough cards back into her hand to have a minimum of three cards.
Now, the player to her left can either play cards of the same rank as the ones on the discard pile or one or more cards that are of a higher rank than the one on top. Again, when his turn is done, he must draw cards back into his hand to have a minimum of three cards.
Palace Special Cards
There are several cards in Palace that have special powers.
Twos
To start, the 2s can be played at any time on any card. Any other card play be placed on a two. So if the discard pile is sitting at jack and the player has no card that is higher, she may play a 2 on the stack. The next player will now be able to play any card on the discard pile, even a 3.
Tens
The 10s act as a stop. When a player plays a 10, then he puts all of the cards in the discard pile to the side. These cards are now out of the game. The player who played the 10 now gets to take another turn and start a new discard pile.
Jokers
The jokers have no rank in Palace. They do, however, have the power to change the direction of play. So when the play is going clockwise and a player puts a joker on the pile, the play is now going counter-clockwise. When there is a joker on the pile, the next player must try to beat the card below the joker.
Four of a Kind
When a player plays a card or cards onto the discard pile that completes a set of four, the entire discard pile is gathered and set aside. These cards will not be used for the rest of the game. This also happens when a player places all four cards of a kind at the same time. The player who completed the set now gets to play a new card.
Play Continues
The play continues until someone can’t (or doesn’t wish to) play a card. A player can chose not to play a card in order to keep it in their hand for later in the game. When a player can’t (or won’t) play a card, she must pick up the whole discard pile and place it in her hand. This player does not get to play a card and the turn pass on to the next player.
As we know, when a player places card down, he must draw cards into his hand to have three cards. When you have picked up the pile and have more than three cards, you do not need to draw cards again until you would have less than three in your hand.
Empty Draw Pile
The play continues with players drawing cards when they need to until there are no more cards in the draw pile. When this happens, players continue to play, using only the cards in their hands.
Empty Hand
When a player has run out of cards in her hand (and the draw pile is empty) she can now play with the cards in her palace. To play, the cards remain on the table and she may only play the face up cards. If she ends up picking up the draw pile, she will need to play all of the cards in her hand before she can touch the palace again.
When a player is out of cards in his hand and all of the face up cards in his palace have been played, he can no play the facedown cards. He does this blindly. So on his turn, he will choose one card to flip over and play. If this results in him picking up the discard pile, he must play all of the cards in his hand before he can play from his place again.
Winning Palace
The Palace card game is not one of winning, instead, it is one of not losing. The first player to play all of her cards from her hand and palace is the first winner and is out of the game. Players keep playing until there is only one player left with cards. This player has lost and now becomes the next dealer. In some games, this player must wear a silly hat while playing until he wins (or doesn’t lose) a round.
Palace Card Game Variations
As with many old card games, there are many variations of this game. The first variation would be that instead of starting with low cards, player start with high cards and play lower cards. So they would start with the ace or king and play down to the 3.
The next rule change is after dealing the facedown cards, the deal gives everyone 6 cards and they then get to choose what cards go into their palace. This would mean that other players have no idea what cards you have in your hand to start. Interesting change but I’m not sure it makes much of a difference.
Top Card
In this variation of Palace, to start the game, the deal will flip over the top card of the raw pile as the first card. The first player will now have to play a card lower than this card. Other games also say that when the discard pile has been stopped, then the player has to flip over the top card of the draw pile to make the new discard pile.
Play Again
This rule change says that if you draw a card that matches the card you just played, you can play it and draw a new card.
Jump In
In this game, player can jump in at any time to complete a set of 4 cards. The cards would be gathered and placed to the side. This player would then get to start a discard pile if a card of his choice.
No Special Card
In this game, players can’t go out by using a special card. If their last card is a special card, they have to pick up the discard pile and keep playing.
Clearing the Castle
In this game, players need to decide on an order of playing their palace or castle cards. They chose how to play them, either from right to left or left or right at the beginning of the game. They then have to stick to the order during the game—even for the facedown cards.
Number of Cards
When playing with less than three players, this game has you dealing hands of 6 cards instead of the 3 as describe above.
Special Cards
There are many different rule changes when it comes to the power of the cards. Below is a list of the different ways you can treat the cards.
Threes
In this rule change, the 3s become invisible. A 3 may be played at any time and the next player must play a card that is higher than the one that is below the 3.
Sevens
In this change, the 7s need to be played in order and make the next player have to play lower than the card below it. So if a 6 is played, then a 7, the next player would have to play a 5 or lower.
Other games have the 7s be invisible as describe in the 3s above.
Yet another power of 7s would be for them to reverse the order of cards. Meaning that if you are playing higher cards, when a 7 is played then you will need to play cards that are lower than the discard pile until then next 7 is played and changes it again.
Eights
When playing an 8, the player says “eight or wait” meaning that the next player must play an 8 or skip his turn. Other games have the 8s as a skip your turn card.
Jack
When playing without the jokers, the jacks take on the reverse direction power.
A Kingdom Full of Fun
Palace is a very addictive game. When we first played it was a slow start but then the first, “oh man I have to pick up” happened followed closely by another one and we were hooked. As you’ve seen there are many different rules that you can follow so it’s important to decide and go over all the rules you’re going to play with before you start playing. Otherwise, it has hours of fun in such a simple game.
For more card games with a similar feel check out Play or Pay, Golf cards, James Bond and Giveaway. Be sure to visit our Family Game Shelf shop where you can not only get the full printable instructions for this game, but you can see our other fun games including our dice mini golf game, Whacky Putt!
Be the first to reply