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Golf card game

The 6-card game for 2 to 4 players: swap, match your columns, lowest score wins

Deck
Discard
In hand

You0

Scorecard

Settings
Players (starts with your next game)
Length (starts with your next game)
Computer

    How to play, in one minute

    This is Golf the multiplayer card game, sometimes called 6-card Golf, not golf solitaire. You get six cards face down in two rows of three, and you want them to add up to as little as possible. Nine deals make a game, one per "hole", and the lowest total after nine wins.

    The full rules, with the scoring table and the common house rules, are on our Golf card game rules page. Playing with real cards at the kitchen table? Use our Golf score sheet to keep score.

    Questions

    Is it free?

    Yes. No account, no download and no limit on games. If ads ever appear to keep the site running, they'll stay off the table.

    Is this golf solitaire?

    No. Golf solitaire is a one-player game where you clear cards from a layout. This is the other Golf: a game for 2 to 4 players where each player has six cards and tries to finish each hole with the lowest score. Pagat.com and Bicycle both call it six-card Golf.

    Can I play Golf with a friend online?

    Yes, one on one. Tap Play a friend and send the link it gives you by text, email or chat. The game starts when your friend opens it, on a phone or a computer. There's no sign-up and no chat. If either of you closes the page, opening it again picks up the same game. Neither browser is ever sent a face-down card or the deck, and a friend game with no moves for 14 days is deleted.

    How many people can play?

    Against the computer, you plus 1, 2 or 3 computer players (pick in Settings). A friend game is two players. With real cards, one deck works for 2 to 4 players, and pagat.com says to add a second deck for more than four.

    How good is the computer?

    Pick Strong or Easy in Settings. The strong player remembers every card it has seen, works out what a face-down card is likely to be worth, and only takes the top discard when it beats the average card from the deck. In our test it won 1,951 of 2,000 nine-hole games against the easy player. Neither one ever looks at a face-down card or the deck.

    What do the settings change?

    You can play 9 or 18 holes, and you can switch off the last turn, so a hole ends the moment someone turns up their sixth card. That's the main rule on pagat.com and the rule Bicycle prints. The last turn for everyone else is the version pagat.com says many people play, so it's on by default.

    Is there a hint button and an undo?

    Yes. The hint shows what the strong computer would do on your turn and why, for example which discard to take, where to put it, and that it makes a pair in that column. You get 6 hints per game. Undo puts back a card you took from the discard pile, since nothing new was seen. A card drawn from the deck can't be undone.

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