I had someone reach out to me to see if I knew where to find an old card game. I hadn’t heard of it before but after researching it, it looked fun and educational. Sadly, the game was out of print. But that game did inspire me to create Dump the Black card game.
Dump the Black is a simple math game that will make you want to play again and again. We played over and over with different rules and have made it a game that is great for kids and one that parents will want to play too!
Why so much testing? To make it as fun as we can. We always play my creations over and over to get the best game for you. You can see this in our Crazy Fish card game, Haystacks, Hockey dice game and many more.
In this post we’ll cover what you need, how to play and how to win the Dump the Black card game.
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What you need for Dump the Black
You will need a deck of cards with the jokers removed. If you need some new cards, shop here; Canadians here. The Bicycle Disney Dogs and Cats look pretty cool.
How to Play the Dump the Black Card Game
The object of Dump the Black is to have a hand of 5 or more red cards with no black cards in it.
To start, you deal 5 cards to all players. The rest of the deck is set in the middle of the playing area as the draw pile. Do not turn over the top card. On your turn, pick up one card from the draw pile. Now you can decide to discard or keep all of your cards.
To discard a black card, there are several ways. First, you can have a matching red card of the same number. So if you have a red 3 and a black 3, you can discard both the black and red 3s with the red card on top.
Second, if you have 2 black cards of the same number you can discard both of them.
Third, you can add as many red cards as need to make the sum of one black card. For example, if you have a black 9 you could use a red 4 and 5 to add up to 9 and discard all three cards, making sure to place a red card on top. You can also use up to two black cards to add up to a red card. For example, if you have a black 2 and 3 and you have a red 5, you can discard all of these cards with the red card on top. You can use as many red cards in a discard as you would like, however, you may only have two black cards in a discard.
Picking up Red Cards
On your turn, you may pick up the top red card if you can use it on that turn to discard a black card. If you can’t use the top red card, then you must pick up off the draw pile.
At any point in the game, you may have more or less than the starter five cards. This is okay. If you have less than five cards, you draw only one card on your turn.
The jacks, queens and kings are worth 10 and may be used to match with each other as well as the 10s. For example a red 10 may be used to discard a black king.
Winning Dump the Black
The first player to have 5 or more red cards with no black cards in their hand wins the game.
For a longer game, play so that the first player to win 8 rounds is the winner.
Dump the Black not the Fun
We hope that you’ve enjoyed this simple game of addition that has surprising depth to it with light strategy and a fun game play. Get the printable rules here.
Check some more fun games like 7 Up, Ripple, and Sevens. To see more of our original games visit the Blizzard dice game, Hidden Kings dice game, and Flip Over dice and card game. Visit the Family Game Shelf shop for tons of more creative games including our Whacky Putt mini golf dice game!
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