Thirty-one (game)

Thirty-one (also known as Big Tonka, Blitz, Scat, or Cadillac in south Louisiana) is a card game played by two to seven people. The game is usually best played with at least four players. The object of Thirty-one is to obtain a hand with a point value closer to 31 than the hands of one's opponents. The game can also be called "skedaddle" or "snip snap snoop".

Details of play

Thirty-one uses a standard deck of 52 playing cards. Aces are high, counting 11; face cards count 10; and all other cards count face value. Each player gets a hand of three cards. The rest of the pack sits in the middle of the table as stock for the game, and the top card of the stock is turned over to begin the discard.

After the hands in the first round are dealt, each player receives a previously-chosen number of tokens, or, most commonly, coins. For speed, four coins is usually the best number to play with. Play proceeds as in Gin rummy, with each player, starting with the player to the immediate left of the dealer and going clockwise around the table, taking the top card of either the stock or the discard and subsequently discarding a card. All players are trying to collect a hand value of 31 (or the closest to it) in the same suit. Play continues clockwise around the table until any player knocks or obtains a "blitz".

When it is a player's turn, and that player believes their hand is high enough to beat at least one of the opponents, they knock on the table in lieu of drawing and discarding. All other players, going clockwise from the player who knocked, have one more turn to draw from the stock and discard, or they have the option of keeping all three cards in their hands, known as "standing". The round ends when the player to the right of the player who knocked has had a final turn. If no one knocks by the time a player exhausts the stock, the round ends in a draw.

At the end of the round, the players show their hands and total each one up, only counting cards of the same suit. For instance, if the three cards in a hand are all different suits, the highest value card would stand as that player's score. The player whose hand scored the lowest is declared the loser, and must subsequently place a token or coin in the centre of the table. It is important to note that in the event of a tie between two players for lowest score, both players are declared losers and each places one token into the center. In the event that the knocking player has the lowest score or that played is tied with someone else, then the player who knocked is declared the loser, and must subsequently place "two tokens" into the center.

If, at any time in the round, a player acquires a hand value of 31 in the same suit, known as a "blitz", they immediately show it, the round immediately ends, and all other players each place one token or coin on the centre of the table.

When a player has no more tokens or coins, they continue to play on a "free ride" (also sometimes called "on the bus" or "on their honor") until that player loses again. At that time, they leave the game. The last player in the game wins all the tokens or coins on the table.

There is one case where it is possible to pick up your own discard. This happens when there are only two players left in the game and your opponent knocks. The card you discarded just before the knock is still on top of the pile, so it is now available for you to take back if you want it. For example, if you had just broken up a suit for tactical reasons you can now restore it.

Common variations of Thirty-one

Banking version

The play is the same as the regular version of Thirty-one described above, but with the following changes. Before each round, each player has to ante one token or coin onto the centre of the table. While dealing, after each player has received one card, the dealer puts one card face down on the table to form a pile of three cards known as the "widow". A player may use a turn to exchange one or more cards in their hand with an equivalent number of cards in the widow, leaving the cards they put in the widow face up. At the end of the round, the player with the highest-valued hand takes all the tokens or coins on the table. If any player acquires a blitz in their hand, they immediately show it, the round ends, all other players place one token or coin on the table, and the player who blitzed takes all of the tokens or coins on the table.

Variations on play

*When a player has exhausted his/her coins/tokens (or has folded all 4 corners of his/her dollar bill, see below), that player is immediately out of game play (instead of continuing as a "free ride" player.)
*Instead of using coins or tokens, each player uses paper money (usually dollar bills), and in lieu of adding a coin to the pot, a player will fold a corner of the bill until 4 corners have been folded. That player is then out of the game.
*When there are no more cards in the stock, the discard pile, less the top card, can be shuffled and turned over to replenish the stock.
*A blitz may only count as and Ace, King, and Ten of the same suit.
*Three cards of the same rank may count as a score of 30½.(Note: As a tie breaker when two or more players have three cards of the same rank of 30½ the hand with the highest numerical or face card is the winner of that hand)
*When showing one's hand at the end of a round, all three cards are totaled to comprise the player's score.
*When the game is down to two players and one or both of them are on the bus, if the round ends with both players having the same value in their hands, the player who holds the highest-ranking card among the two hands wins the game. If the highest card in each of the two hands is the same rank, the second-highest-ranking cards in the two hands determines the winner. If the two hands have exactly the same ranks of cards, e.g. if they both have a Queen, Ten and Five, the game is declared a draw and the tokens or coins on the table are split between the two remaining players.
*A player who knocks but has the lowest hand; or who knocks and a blitz subsequently follows, pays two (not one) two tokens or coins.
*Instead of instantly exposing their hand, a player with 31 must knock in turn.
*Playing without tokens: players can gain a point for a win (either 31 or by having the highest hand on the board when a knock has been made); the first player to five points wins.

Thirty-one in Popular Culture

* Toward the beginning of the movie "Stand by Me", the boys are playing Thirty-one in the treehouse before they learn about the dead body.