How to play the Ugly Card Game

Today we have an interesting card game for you. It’s called the Ugly Card game and it was invested in the 80s by a group of Australian university students. It is said to be based loosely on the Hearts card game.

It’s a challenging game that is easy to learn like Frogs in the Pond, Conquian, and Wizard. This game will have you thinking in ways that you haven’t before as you want to collect as many tricks as you can but avoid taking tricks that will cost you! It does take a while to play but each hand is different as you have to give away a different amount of cards each hand—changing the game from start to finish.

Let’s get into how to play, the rules and how to win the Ugly card game.

What you need for the Ugly Card Game

First, the Ugly card game is a 3 or 4 player game. To play, you will need a deck of cards with the jokers removed. If you need some new cards, check out the selection here; Canadians here. We think the Crazy Chicken Lady ones are fun looking!

For a three player game, remove the 2 of spades so that the deck splits evenly.

You will also need something to keep score with. To make scoring easier, we have created an Ugly card game score sheet that you can get in our Free Fun Library. (You can get your password by signing up in the black box below.)

Playing the Ugly Card Game

To start, pick a player to be the first deal. This player will now deal out all of the cards. The player on the dealer’s left looks at her cards and then chooses a suit to be trump. She can also pick a no-trump round.

Now each player will choose one card from their hands to pass to the player on their left. You will add the card that is passed to you into your hand.

The player on the dealer’s left gets to lead the first rick. She can choose any card in her hand to play. The player on her left now chooses a card to play. He must follow suit if possible. If you can’t follow suit then you may play an unwanted card or a trump card. The winner of the trick is the player who played the highest card played in the lead suit or the highest trump card. Aces are high.

The player who won the last trick leads the next trick. Play continues until all the cards have been played.

For the second round, the position of dealer is passed one player to the left. That means that a new player also picks the rump suit. Now for the twist, in each new round the amount of cards that is passed increases by two. So in the second round you will pass 3 cards to the player on your left. In the later rounds, it might be easier to keep track of how many cards you wish to keep instead of the ones you need to pass. See the below:

For the three player game:
First round – pass 1 card
Second round – pass 3 cards
Third round – pass 5 cards
Fourth round – pass 7 cards
Fifth round – pass 9 –keep 8
Sixth round – pass 11 – keep 6
Seventh round – pass 13 – keep 4
Eighth round – pass 15 – keep 2
Ninth round – pass 17 – you pass the whole hand

For the four player game:
First round – pass 1 card
Second round – pass 3 cards
Third round – pass 5 cards
Fourth round – pass 7 cards – keep 6
Fifth round – pass 9 – keep 4
Sixth round – pass 11 – keep 2
Seventh round – pass 13 – you pass the whole hand

Scoring

After each round players will look at the tricks that they have won and score accordingly.

Each trick that has been won scores one point.

The Jacks are worth negative points. The jack of spades is minus 1 point while the jack of clubs is worth minus two points. The jack of diamonds is worth minus three points and the jack of hearts is worth minus four points.

The Ugly card

The seven of diamonds is the ugly card. When you have this card in your winnings it doubles the value of any and all jacks that you also have. Therefore is you have the jack of spades and the 7 of diamonds you will subtract 2 points. On the other hand, if you have won the 7 of diamonds and no jacks, you received double the points for each trick that you won.

The Charm Card

The seven of clubs is the charm card. If you only have this card in your winnings, then it has no effect. On the other hand, if you have both the ugly card and the charm card, the charm card cancels the effect of the ugly card. This means that if you have jacks and both sevens, the jack are worth only the original points.

If you have both the ugly and the charm card in your winnings and you have no jacks then you will receive 4 points for each trick that you have won.

Winning The Ugly Card Game

The last round of the game is the hand where you pass your entire hand to the player next to you. When that hand is over and points have been awarded the game is over. The player with the most points is the winner.

Ugly is the New Fun

Although this game has a few simple rules, it creates a lot of thought while playing. The challenge of winning the most tricks while avoiding the jacks, all the while watching for the ugly and charm cards, keeps you on your toes.

Don’t forget to get your free score sheet in the Fun Library and visit the store where you can get the PDF print rules, score sheet and trump marker.

For more fun card games be sure to check out Sticks, Sevens and Dry Jacks. And get your hands on our Whacky Putt mini golf dice game in our store!