How to Win
You win when either:
1. You draw the last card of your deck.
2. Your opponent has no legal moves (they lose).
Setup
Split a shuffled 52 card deck in half (26 cards each) and give one to each player, this will be your deck.
Both players draw a starting hand of 5 cards.
Set any token aside (usually a joker) to represent the Pigeon.
Opening the Board
Before turns begin, lay out the starting piles in this order:
1. Player 1 places 1 card face up → Pile A.
2. Player 2 places 2 cards face up → Pile B and Pile C.
3. Player 1 places 1 final card face up → Pile D.
Both players draw back up to 5 cards.
Player 2 takes the first turn.
Player 1
Player 2 (plays first)
Taking a Turn
1. PLAY: Perform an action listed below (Set, String, New Pile, Sweep, or Forceplay).
2. CHECK: If you played on an existing pile and the new top card is an Ace or King, complete the pile, and get the Pigeon.
3. DRAW: Draw cards from your deck until you hold 5 cards (or 4 if you have a Forceplay penalty).
The Connection Rule
When placing cards on an existing pile, the bottom card of your play must be exactly one rank higher or one rank lower than the top card of that pile.
Ace is low (1). King is high (13). There is no wrap around.
Suit and color are ignored.
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Action: Set
Play any number of cards of the same rank onto an existing pile.
This must respect the Connection Rule.
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Action: String
Play a String onto an existing pile.
A String is a sequence of cards that are the same colour where each cards rank differs by exactly 1 from the card before it.
This must respect the Connection Rule, but the colour of the pile doesnt need to match the colour of the String.
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Creating a New Pile
Instead of playing a String or Set an existing pile, you may start a brand new one. You can do this if either of the following is true:
→ The bottom card of your play is a 7 or 8.
→ There are currently fewer than 3 piles on the table.
Special Action: Sweep
If you have three Aces or three Kings in your hand, you may reveal and discard them to remove every pile from the table.
Forceplay
As an action, you may instead choose to Forceplay a Set or String onto any existing pile, ignoring The Connection Rule.
However: permanently reduce your hand size to 4.
You cannot forceplay while your hand size is 4.
Forceplay may be your only option, and if you only have a maximum hand size of 4 and cannot play otherwise, your opponent wins.
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The Pigeon
The pigeon is often represented as the joker, there is only ever one pigeon, at the start of the game it is set aside.
Getting the Pigeon: After you play on an existing pile, if the new top card is an Ace or a King, complete that pile (remove it from play) and take the Pigeon from wherever it is (including from your opponent).
Using the Pigeon: If your max hand size has been reduced to 4 (from Forceplay), you may discard the Pigeon at any time to restore your max hand size to 5.
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Quick Reference
Turn Order: Play → Check for Ace/King → Draw to 5 (or 4 with Forceplay Penalty).
Set: Same rank, any quantity. Must be ±1 from pile.
String: Sequence of ±1, all same color. Bottom must be ±1 from pile.
New Pile: Set or String where bottom is 7 or 8, OR any Set or String when fewer than 3 piles exist.
Forceplay: Skip ±1 rule but reduce hand size (5→4).
Pigeon: Earned by completing an existing pile with Ace/King. Discarded to remove hand size penalty (4→5).