Complete rules
How to play Four Card Golf
Four Card Golf is a quick memory game for two to six players. You improve four hidden cards over a series of holes, and—as in golf—the lowest total score wins.
This guide describes the rules used here. At a real table, agree on these rules before you deal—other versions of Golf may score differently.
1. Set up your first hole
Use one standard 52-card deck with no jokers. This online version supports two to six players and deals automatically. Choose 1, 3 or 9 holes in the setup; nine is the full match.
- Deal four cards face down to each player in a 2×2 square. Nobody may rearrange their cards.
- Each player privately looks once at the two cards nearest them, then returns them face down in the same positions.
- Place the remaining cards face down as the stock.
- Turn the top stock card face up beside it to begin the discard pile.
From this point, your cards stay hidden. Remembering both the value and position of a card is the heart of the game.
At a real table, the player to the dealer’s left starts; take turns clockwise and move the dealer one seat each hole. Online, follow the highlighted player and turn banner.
2. Draw, swap—or knock
Play moves around the table. On your turn, choose the face-down stock or the face-up discard pile:
- Draw from the stock: look at the card, then either swap it for one of your four hidden cards or place the drawn card on the discard pile.
- Take the top discard: swap it for one of your four hidden cards. A card taken from the discard pile cannot be thrown straight back.
- Replace a card: choose its position without looking first. The card you remove becomes the new top discard, face up.
Your turn then ends. You may remember a replacement you placed, but the layout itself remains face down.
No extra peek: choose the card you are replacing without turning it over first. Cards stay in their positions; there is no sorting or shuffling your hand. If the stock runs out, shuffle the older discards into a new stock and leave the top discard face up.
3. Knock to finish the hole
Instead of drawing, you may knock when you think your four-card total is low enough. Knocking uses your entire turn. Every other player gets one final normal turn, then everyone reveals their cards.
If the player who knocked is not tied for the lowest score, that player adds a 10-point penalty. This makes an early knock tempting, but risky.
4. Reveal, score, then play the next hole
Add the value of all four cards. For example, an ace, 4, queen, and king scores 15 points. Record each hole separately, then add it to the running match total. After nine holes, the player with the lowest total wins.
Ties are fine: a knocker tied for the lowest card total receives no penalty. Other players simply score their cards; they do not receive an extra 5 points for losing. There is no pair cancellation, suit bonus or negative-value king. A tied lowest match total is a shared win.
Online, the revealed table shows everybody’s cards and hole scores. Choose See total scores for the hole-by-hole scorecard, then Next to continue. In Extreme, add every remaining card, including any extra penalty cards.
See more scoring examples, ties and failed knocks →
Extreme: the same game, with powers
Explore the dedicated Extreme guide and strategy →
Extreme keeps the same setup, turns, card values, and low-score goal. It adds powers that activate only when the card is drawn from the face-down stock and discarded instead of being placed in your layout:
See your fate
Peek at one of your own hidden cards. Only you see its face; remember its position.
See a friend
Spy on one opponent card. Only you see it, and it stays in that same position.
Switch between
Swap one of your cards with one opponent card, without looking at either. Follow the positions as they move.
Kings keep their Classic value of zero and do not trigger a power. You may skip a power if using it would reveal too much or help an opponent.
What does not trigger a power? Taking a special from the discard pile, removing one from your layout during a swap, or burning one. Only an unwanted special drawn from the stock activates its power when you discard it.
How Burn & Steal works in Extreme
Once on your own turn, before drawing, you may choose Burn / steal. Tap a face-down table card you believe matches the current top discard’s rank. Suits do not matter, but equal point values are not a match: a jack matches only a jack, a queen only a queen. You cannot match during somebody else’s turn.
- Burn your own matching card: discard it and continue with one fewer card.
- Steal an opponent’s matching card: discard that card, then give the opponent one of your own cards face down to fill the space. You continue with one fewer card.
- Make a wrong guess: the selected card stays where it is and you receive one extra face-down penalty card from the stock.
A 4 is on the discard pile
Know your bottom-right card is a 4? Burn it and go from four cards to three. Know an opponent has a 4? Steal: discard their 4 and give them one of your cards face down. You still finish with one fewer card.
If your guess was wrong, the chosen card stays in place and you gain a hidden penalty card. Its actual value counts at scoring—it is not a fixed points penalty.
Burned special cards do not trigger powers. After your one attempt, draw normally or knock; do not make another attempt that turn. Leave empty spaces where cards were removed. If you clear your entire layout, your turn ends and everybody else gets a final turn automatically (or the existing final round continues). You score zero card points, but opponents still finish their turns.
Keep a copy by the table
One-page Word downloads
Print them, share them, or open them in Word. Each file is one page and uses this game’s rules.
Make the table your own
Open the settings cog below the Classic and Extreme options, or during play, to choose a table colour, card style and illustrated pack. These are visual choices only: ranks, suits and rules do not change. Your preferences stay on this device and do not change your friends’ tables. The in-game Card values button opens a cheat sheet whenever you need a reminder.
Beginner strategy
- Remember positions: think “bottom-left is a three,” not only “I have a three.”
- Prefer useful certainty: a known 4 can be safer than an unknown card late in the hole.
- Watch the discard pile: it shows which ranks other players reject or collect.
- Do not knock on hope alone: opponents still receive a final turn, and a failed knock costs 10 points.
Common rule variations
Four Card Golf has many house rules. Some groups cancel matching pairs, make red kings negative, add jokers, turn replacement cards face up, or use a different knock penalty. Our Classic mode leaves those variations off so new players get one clear, consistent ruleset.
Four Card Golf vs Six Card Golf
Four Card Golf uses a hidden 2×2 layout and rewards memory. Six Card Golf normally uses a 2×3 layout, often leaves replacement cards face up, and commonly cancels equal cards in the same column. Both games aim for the lowest score, but they play differently.
Rules provenance
Our Classic rules follow the traditional four-card, draw-and-swap, knock-to-end family documented by Pagat. Extreme draws from the broader traditional “Golf with Power Cards” family, also taught under regional names including Cambio, Pablo, and Cactus. We use ordinary playing cards and original rules text, graphics, and presentation.