Hands Down. Rules, set-up and play through. Detailed rules for different versions in description!

Clinton, Kristen, Gus, Jack, and Giselle from Across the Board Game Café show you how to set-up the board game Hands Down, review the rules, and then have an actual play through so you can see exactly how the game is played!

Please Note at least two versions of Hands Down were made. The original 1964 version of the game featured 2 jokers and had a different scoring mechanism. We have transcribed the rules for JOKERS and SCORING below for you for both the 1964 version and the newer version of the game. Happy Slam-o-Maticing!

FROM THE ORIGINAL 1964 RULE SHEET (FOR GAMES WITH 2 JOKERS IN THE DECK)

The Smiling Joker
The Smiling Joker is used as a wild card. It can only be used once. For example the Good Joker and any numbered card are considered a pair and are played in that manner.

The Sad Joker
The Sad Joker is a penalty card and will cost the player valuable scoring points if caught with it at the end of the game. The only way a player can get rid of the sad joker is to have another player take it from their hand when forfeiting a card.

Ending The Game
The game is played until the last card is taken from the deck. The player taking the last card may complete their sets.

Scoring
At the end of the game the players total their scores by adding the face value of EACH of the cards the have set aside.

The SMILING JOKER has a face value of 10 points. If a player is caught with cards in their hand at the end of the game they subtract the face value of those cards from their score.

If a player is caught with the SAD JOKER they subtract 10 points from their score.


IN THE NEW VERSION OF THE GAME (FOR GAMES WITH ONE JOKER IN THE DECK) There is only ONE joker, which CANNOT be played with another card to make a set. It only counts as a bonus 2 points to whomever has it at the end of the game. Further, in the new version of the game scoring is different and each player gets only one point for each set that they have managed to set aside, while holding the joker at the end of the game grants that player an additional 2 points.