How To Play Golf

Objectively

Golf is a card game played between two people. As its name suggests, the object of the game is to have the hand worth the least number of points. Jacks count for 0 points, Aces count for 1 point, and Face cards count for 10 points. All other cards count for their face value.

The game begins by each player looking at up to two of the four cards in their hand. None of the cards can be looked at after the game begins, so take note! Once both players have looked at their two cards, the game begins with players alternating turns.

A 'turn' in Golf consists of the following: A player draws a card from either the deck or the discard pile. If the player wants this card in his hand, he chooses a card in his hand to replace and puts this unwanted card in the discard pile. Otherwise, the player puts the drawn card itself directly in the discard pile.

The end of the game comes when a player feels that she has a lower-valued hand than her opponent. At this point, she calls 'Par' during her turn instead of taking a card from the deck or the discard pile. Her opponent can then draw from the deck or the discard pile one more time before both players show their hands to each other. The player with the lowest-valued hand wins!

Logistically

When you first go to the Golf webpage, the cards have just been dealt out. Your cards are the lower four cards lying above the word GRANDMA. Kevin's cards are the four cards just below the word KEVIN. To the right of your hands are the deck (of which you see the top three cards) and the discard pile (just to the right of the deck).

The first thing you do of course is pick two cards to look at. To peek at one of your four cards, highlight it and hit the ENTER key. Once you've looked at two cards, start the game by clicking on the button below the deck and discard piles.

Once you start the game, you are able to take a card from either the deck or the discard pile by clicking on one of them. At this point, the card you have selected will appear just to the right of the discard pile. If you want to replace one of the four cards in your hand with this new card, click on the card in your hand that you want to replace. If you don't want this new card at all, just click on the discard pile.

Now it's Kevin's turn. He'll think for a moment and then make his move. When he does, a message will pop up in the text area at the top of the screen letting you know what he did.

At some point, you may want to call Par. To do this, just click on the button at the bottom of the screen. Kevin will get one more play, and then both of your hands will be displayed and the winner announced. Kevin can also call Par, so be ready!

After the game is over, you can start a new game by clicking on the same button below the deck and discard piles.

Good luck! Click here to play some Golf!

PS - The card graphics were borrowed from someone else...