Be the first player to hold a 7, an 8, and a 9 simultaneously in your hand. Suits do not matter — any combination counts. Show your hand to win.
Shuffle the full deck. Deal 3 cards face-down to each player. Players may look at their own hand. Place the remaining 44 cards face-down as the draw pile between both players. There is no discard pile at the start — it forms during play.
Flip the top card of the draw pile face-up. Take exactly one of the following actions:
Adjacency is by rank only — suits are irrelevant. Ace is rank 1, King is rank 13. There is no wrap-around: Ace and King are not adjacent to one another.
After any card lands on the discard pile — including during your opponent's turn — you may react before the next flip. You have one choice:
Take the top discard if it rank-matches or is adjacent to a card in your hand (same rules as above), or skip it and flip the next card from the draw pile on your normal turn.
A special move for a specific situation: you can see the win but cannot reach it by normal rules.
1. You hold exactly two of {7, 8, 9} in your hand.
2. The flipped draw card is the exact missing third of {7, 8, 9}.
3. Your remaining card (the blocker) is 3 or more ranks away from the flipped card — meaning the normal Adjacent Swap cannot reach it.
To declare: announce "Declare," discard your blocker, take the flipped card into your hand, show your 7·8·9. You win.
Declare is only available on your flip — not during a React. You cannot declare when taking from the discard pile.
When your opponent announces a Declare, immediately reveal your hand if you hold at least two of {7, 8, 9}. Their Declare is void. The flipped card goes to the discard pile instead.
After a successful Block, no further reshuffles are permitted. The remaining deck is the final deck. Play continues to a win or tiebreaker.
When the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile into a new draw pile. This happens once. After the reshuffle, if the draw pile runs out again with no winner, apply the Tiebreaker.
Both players reveal their hands. Each player sums the ranks of only their 7, 8, or 9 cards (7 = 7 pts, 8 = 8 pts, 9 = 9 pts). Higher sum wins.
| 8 + 9 | = 17 pts · Beats all other combinations |
| 7 + 9 | = 16 pts · Beats 7+8 |
| 7 + 8 | = 15 pts · Lowest two-card combination |
| Tied? | Compare the highest individual card held. Still tied → draw. |
Target cards are highlighted. Adjacent to 9: 8 and 10. A Declare requires a gap of 3+: Q (12) and 9 (9) differ by 3 — minimum to declare. J (11) and 9 differ by 2 — no declare.