If you’ve been around Family Game Shelf for any time, you know how much we love mini golf. Just look at how many variations we have of our Whacky Putt dice game! (You can learn how to play here.) So when I saw the Mini Golf card game I know we had to try it out!
This game was though up by a brilliant game maker, Sid Saxton. It starts out looking cute and simple, but boy did we learn the power of this game!
Let’s get into how to play, the rules and the different variations of Mini Golf Card game.
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What you Need for Mini Golf Card Game
You will need one deck of cards and a dice. This game is originally a one player game but see the variations to see how to play with more players. You will also need some table space. If you need some new cards, shop here; Canadians here. We think the Crazy Chicken Lady set are hilarious. You will also need something to keep score with; you can get your free score sheet in our Fun Library. (You can get your password in the black box below.)
Mini Golf Card Set Up
To start, pull out all of the kings except one. You also don’t need the jokers. Next, you shuffle the cards and then place them face up in a 7 by 7 grid. Now find the king and place the dice on it.
Playing Mini Golf Card Game
The game is played in two rounds. The first round, or the front nine holes, uses the Ace of diamonds as the first hole. The second hole is the 2 of diamonds and so on up to the nine of diamonds. The back nine starts with the ace of spades and works its way up to the nine of spades.
Moving around the course sounds a little tricky to start, but is quite easy once you get used to it.
The Moves
First, you can only move up to 5 spaces on a turn. The cards surrounding the card you are one determine the direction and how far you move. You can move either horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
To move horizontally, look at the card that is above and below the card that you are on. Next, subtract the smaller number from the bigger number. If that number is 5 or less than this is how many squares you move either to the right or the left. If the number is more than 5, subtract either 10 or 5 from the number to get a number that is 5 or less. You would now move the dice to that spot on the course.
To move vertically, you look at the cards on the right and the left of the card you are on. Again, subtract the smaller from the larger. As before, if the number is larger than 5 subtract wither 10 or 5. In this example, you can’t move 5 in either to the right or left without going off the board so you would have to find another option.
To move diagonally, you look at the cards that are diagonal to the card you are on. As before subtract the smaller number from the larger number. With the number 5 or below, you can now move in the opposite direction diagonally from the direction of the cards you used. For example, if you use the cards on the lower left and upper right to make the equation, you would move either to the left and up or the right and down.
You can’t move off the board. So if your move would end you off the board, you must choose another option. (See below for a variation that allows you to bounce off the walls.)
When your card is on the edge of the board, you can use the empty space as a 0 and play as you would before. For example, if you are on the edge and there is no card to your left and a 4 on your right, you subtract 0 from 4 and get 4. You may now move to the right 4.
Last, when the cards are of the same rank, or number, then you get to choose how many spots to move from 1 to 5.
Points
First, the aces are worth 1. The cards from 2 to 10 are worth their face value. The jacks are worth 11 and the queens are 12. The sole king is worth 13. You use these values to do the subtraction.
When you make your move and land on your new card, rotate the dice to show the number one as you have taken one stroke. Now you get to decide which card combination of the above described, you will use to move to your next space with the goal of landing on the next “hole.”
Once you have reached six stokes or moves, you are out of stokes. You score 6 for that hole and move your dice to the hole that you were aiming for and start over.
On the other hand, if you were able to reach the hole, you score how many strokes it took you to get there. For example, if it took you three moves to reach the hole, your score would be three.
Second Hole
Now that you have reached the ace of diamonds, your stroke score starts over. You are now trying to move to the 2 of diamonds.
Back Nine
Once you have made it all the way to the nine of diamonds, you have finished the front nine and are ready to start the back nine. To start, place your dice on the king. You are aiming to hit the ace of spades. The back nine is played the same as the front with working your way from the ace of spades all the way to the nine of spades.
Winning Mini Golf Card Game
The par for each hole is 3 so a perfect score would be 54. When you play on your own, keep track of your score and try to beat it the next game. You can either play with the same layout and try for a better score or you can shuffle the cards and make a new course.
Mini Golf Card Game Variations
Bounce Off
The first variation of mini golf card game is the ability to bounce off the walls. For example, if you are two spots away from the edge of the board and have the ability to move 3 spaces, you can move the two spaces, hit the wall and move one in the opposite direction. When you are moving diagonally and you hit a wall, you bounce in a 45 degree angle. When you are playing with this rule change, then the par for each hole is lowered to 2.
Multi Player
To play with more than one player, you will need more dice or markers. It’s best to have everyone have their own colour of dice to easily keep track of where everyone is. Next, players all start on the same spot, the king. Players will then write down their moves and wait for everyone to make their decisions. When everyone is ready, players move to their new spots, moving the dice to show the move. The game is played the same, except they are playing to have the best score out of all the players.
Hole in One Fun
When we first started with Mini Golf card game, we thought it was going to cute and fun. What we found was that once we were used to how to move, it’s really a very strategic game. It’s great for math practice. What surprised us the most, was that the family member who usually doesn’t enjoy strategy games (mostly because she’s terrible at them) excelled at this game. It was also surprising that the player who is usually the best at these games, didn’t do very well. Overall, it is quite a cleaver game.
If you’re looking for more golf fun, check out the Big List of Golf Games, Flip Over card game and the card game 99. Be sure to visit our Family Game Shelf shop where you’ll find tons of fun with games like our Whacky Putt mini golf dice game!
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