If not, once all players have had a chance to exchange with the widow, the hand is over. If any player achieves a Scat, (perfect hand of 31), the hand is declared and the game is immediately over, with that player winning. Any cards from the player’s hand are returned face up, where original widow cards stay face down. When a player is done, the widow is returned to the center of the table. The object is the same as Scat – to create a hand closest to 31.

Starting with the player left of the dealer, each player will take turns looking at the widow and exchanging any cards they want from their hand, up to all three, or none at all. So if there are 3 players, there will be four hands dealt. Then the dealer will pass out cards as usual, three to each player, and to one additional hand in the center of the table. To start, each player bids one coin, placing them in the middle of the table. The game of Banking, (or Banking 31), is a faster version of the game that gives each player just one chance to improve their hand. You can even play most of them as unlockable variants in the popular Thirty One Rummy App for Android and iOS devices ( see our review here). The five scat-derived card games described below are the only ones I’ve found that resemble their origins closely enough to be recognizable relatives, yet are still far enough removed to be worthy of carrying separate titles. If not, please refer to the following links, then return here to learn more. But before you read any further, please understand that these descriptions assume you already know how to play Scat by traditional rules, and may even be familiar with some common variations.

Today, as previously promised, we’ll be talking about a small group of games that are-or certainly seem to be-direct descendants of Scat.īased on preexisting knowledge and web-based research, I’m surprised to find how many of them there really are. We recently covered the complete rules of Scat (aka 31 or Blitz), as well as the most common deviations from those rules. New card games born from variant rules of Canadian Scat.

Card games scat rules