Rules
How to play 13: Jack Hunt
Short answer: from a deck of 8 cards, each hand lays out 5 — one face up in the center, four face down in the corners. On your turn you place your pawn on a corner card either straight (safe) or reversed (the Jack hunt). Cards are revealed, points are scored; first to reach 13 total points wins. You can learn the rules in two minutes.
What do you need?
- 8 cards — 4 ranks, 2 of each: King, Ace, Queen, Jack. Suit and color don’t matter; only the rank counts.
- 1 pawn per player — a flippable token with two distinct faces. It marks both the card you picked and your mode (straight/reversed).
- 2–6 players. The app shuffles, deals and scores automatically; at a real table you can play by pulling 8 cards from a standard deck.
How is a hand set up?
- Shuffle the 8 cards.
- Deal 1 card face up in the center and 1 face down on each corner.
- The remaining 3 cards sit aside unseen — nobody knows what’s in the corners, but the open center card is a clue.
What do you do on your turn?
Each hand starts with a random player and moves clockwise. On your turn, you place your pawn on one of the four face-down corner cards:
- Several players may pick the same corner.
- You see everyone’s earlier picks — pawn positions and modes. There’s no hidden information; there is bluffing and reading.
Placing the pawn is also the real decision of the game:
- Straight pawn → the safe play, standard scoring.
- Reversed pawn → the Jack hunt: find the Jack for a big score, miss and you pay a penalty.
How does scoring work?
Once everyone has chosen, the corner cards are revealed. You score by your own card and mode:
Straight play (safe)
| Your card | Points |
|---|---|
 Ace | +3 |
 King | +2 |
 Queen | +1 |
 Jack | 0 |
Reversed play (the Jack hunt)
| Your card | Points |
|---|---|
| Jack | +5 |
| Queen | −1 |
| King | −2 |
| Ace | −3 |
What if the center card is a Jack?
The deck holds 2 Jacks, so with one showing in the center, at most 1 Jack remains in the corners — the hunt gets harder. That’s why reversed scores are doubled for that hand:
| Your card | Points (×2) |
|---|---|
| Jack | +10 |
| Queen | −2 |
| King | −4 |
| Ace | −6 |
Straight scores are unchanged in this case.
Can you always play it safe? (The forced-hunt rule)
No — that’s the trap. A player may play straight at most 2 hands in a row; on the third hand a reversed play is mandatory. Any reversed play (forced or voluntary) resets the counter. Nobody gets to camp in the safe corner forever.
Who wins?
The player whose total reaches 13 or more at the end of a hand wins. Scores can go negative; there is no floor.
Ties: if several players cross 13 in the same hand, only they play one extra hand; highest total wins. Still tied? Another tiebreaker — the tension holds to the very end.
How long is a game?
Most games finish in 8–11 hands (based on 25,000 simulated games). More players means shorter games. A typical game runs 10–15 minutes including setup.