How to Play the Card Game Five Crowns

The Game isn’t Over ‘till the Kings go Wild 1 to 7 players ages 8 and up

Five Crowns is a runny style card game that I knew we had to try. It comes in their purple box, their black anniversary box, mini round and a junior version. We have the purple box.

Today we’ll cover the Five Crown Rules, how to play, how to score, what we like and don’t like about the game and even how to play Five Crowns Solo. Let’s get into it.

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The Object of Five Crowns

The object of Five Crowns is to be the player with the least points after playing 11 hands.

The Five Crown Cards

The cards come in five different suits. There are hearts, clubs, stars, spades and diamonds. Each suit has cards starting at 3 and going to King. There are also six jokers.

Each card is worth the face value, meaning that a 3 is worth three points and a 8 is worth eight points. The Jacks are worth 11 points; the queen 12 points and the kings 13 points. The wild card for the round is worth 20 points.

Playing Five Crowns

Each Round is Different

First, each round is different from the one before it. The wild card changes for each round. It starts as 3 where all 3s are wild. Then it moves to 4s are wild and works it’s way until Kings are wild.

The amount of cards that are dealt are also different each round. First, only three cards are dealt to each player. In the second round, 4 cards are dealt to each player. It continues this way until there are 13 cards dealt to each player.

The wild card is the amount of cards you have in your hand. So if you have 5 cards in your hand then 5s are wild.

Next, there are two ways to group cards.

First are the runs. Runs are three or more cards in sequence of the same suit. Wild cards and jokers can be substituted for any card in a run. If our run is the 6 of stars to the 8 of stars you can use the 8 of clubs if 8s are wild.

Second are the books. A book of cards are three of more of the same card value. For example if you have the 4 of stars, 4 of clubs and 4of hearts then you have a book. Wild cards and jokers can be used as any card in a book.

On your turn, you first either pick up a card off the draw pile or the discard pile. Next, you decide what card to discard. You may only lay cards down when you are going out.

Going Out

When a player has all her cards in either books, runs or a combination of books and runs then she can go out. However, she still needs a card to discard. To go out, she places all the cards on the table in front of her.

Now, all other players have one last turn. On this turn, players can place down any and all books or runs that they have. This turn includes one last discard as well.

Scoring

After all players have had their last turn, they then add up all the cards that are left in their hands. For example, if you have a 3, 4 and Jack in your hand you have a score of 3 + 4 + 11 for a total of 18 points for the round. Next, that score is added to your score for the other rounds.

To make it easier, we created a Five Crowns score sheet that you can get for free in our Fun Library here.

Winning Five Crowns

At the end of 11 rounds, the player with the least amounts of points is the winner.

Playing Five Crowns As One Player

There are few games that you can play as a one player and multi-player. Five Crowns comes with instructions to play as one player.

First, deal 11 hands. The first hand has three cards and 3s are wild. The second hand has four cards and the 4s are wild. Fives are next with a hand of five cards. This continues until you have 11 hands with increasing amounts of cards in them.

Place all the hands face up on the table where you can see them all.

Next, you take the top card off the draw pile. Now you get to decide in which hand to place it in. As in the original game, you can make books or runs but you still need a discard card.

When a hand is able to go out, fold it up and place it to the side.

Cards can only be taken from the draw pile. When a card is placed on the discard pile it is done for that game.

The goal of Five Crowns One Player is to get all the hands to go out. When the last card on the draw pile is taken and played then the game is over. If you have gotten all the hands to close, you win. On the other hand, if you don’t close all the hands you loose.

We found that if you’re playing Five Crowns one player, first you need a large amount of table space. Next, it’s best to have a marker on hand to mark what hand you last started with so that you don’t lose track. Also, set up takes almost longer than playing does by the time to deal and sort your hands.

Aside from those things, one player is a challenging game that is interesting and fun.

What We Like

First, we like that the basic play is easy to understand. We also like that it really isn’t over until the kings go wild. Even if someone has an early, big lead, things can change in the very last round and have that player loose.

Next, we like that there are a lot of wild cards and that there are flexible ways to blend cards together.

We also like that there is an option to play single player. Not many games have this feature.

What We Don’t Like

First, it takes a little getting used to the changing wild card. After a few rounds it becomes easier though.

Next, by the last few rounds, it becomes hard to hold and organize all those cards. 13 cards is a handful.

Last, the deck is made of 116 cards. That is a lot of cards to shuffle. We’ve found that it is best to shuffle in sections and then reshuffle the sections back together.

Is Five Crowns Worth It?

If you like settling in with a good card game that takes both luck and skill to win, then Five Crowns is worth adding to your Family Game Shelf. It will keep players engaged right up until the kings go wild and the last card is played.

To add Five Crowns to your Family Game Shelf, you can shop here. There is a Five Crowns Junior version and a Five Crowns mini version too. Canadians can get their Five Crowns here.

To learn how to play a game similar to Five Crowns with regular playing cards check out our post on 3 to 13 card game.

If you’re looking for more card games, check out our card games here. Don’t forget our dice games and game reviews too. And if you’re looking for our best games, check out our recommendations page here.

Rating:

Julia:

Carrie-Anne:

Joel:

Pros: easy to play, solo game, no clear winners until the end
Cons: a lot of cards to hold,
Mom: critical thinking, strategy,