What Is All Fours?
All Fours is one of the oldest card games still played today, dating to 17th-century England. It is the direct ancestor of Auction Pitch and many American games. Each hand offers exactly four points to score — called High, Low, Jack, and Game. The player who captures these specific prizes scores the points. What makes All Fours unique is that you do not have to follow suit — you can play any card at any time, which creates fascinating strategic choices.
What You Need
- One standard deck of 52 playing cards
- Two players, or four in two partnerships
- Score pad
The Four Scoring Points — Explained
- High: Whoever is dealt the highest trump card scores 1 point. You score this simply by having the card — you don’t have to win a trick with it.
- Low: Whoever WINS the lowest trump card in a trick scores 1 point. The lowest trump must actually be captured in a trick — just holding it is not enough.
- Jack: Whoever wins the trick containing the Jack of trump scores 1 point. If the Jack of trump is not in play (not dealt to any player), this point is not awarded this hand.
- Game: Count the value of all cards you captured in tricks: Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2, Jack = 1, Ten = 10. (Note the Ten is the most valuable Game card.) The player with the highest total wins this point. Ties result in no one scoring Game.
Setting Up the Game
- Shuffle and deal six cards to each player.
- Flip the next card face-up to propose a trump suit.
- The non-dealer decides: Stand (accept this suit as trump) or Beg (reject it and ask for a new proposal).
- If non-dealer Begs, the dealer can Give the Gift — accept the suit and give the non-dealer 1 point — or Run the Cards — deal three more cards to each player and flip a new trump proposal.
- If the new proposed trump matches the original suit, run the cards again. Keep going until a different suit comes up or the deck runs out.
How to Play
- The non-dealer leads the first card — any card they choose.
- Here is the key difference from most trick games: each other player may play ANY card — they are NOT required to follow suit.
- However, there is one exception: if trump is led, you MUST play a trump card if you have one.
- The trick is won by the highest trump card played. If no trump was played, the highest card of the suit that was led wins.
- The winner of each trick leads the next one. Play all six tricks.
Scoring
After all six tricks, determine who captured each of the four prizes and score accordingly. A player can score multiple points in one hand — for example, if you hold the highest trump and win the Jack of trump in a trick and have the most Game points, you score 3 points in one hand.
Winning
First to reach 7 points wins. If both players reach 7 in the same hand, the points count in order: High first, then Low, then Jack, then Game.
Tips for New Players
- Since you don’t have to follow suit, you can strategically play trump even when another suit was led — use this to capture the Jack of trump or the high-value 10s.
- The Ten is the most valuable Game-point card at 10 points. Protect your 10 of trump and try to win opponents’ 10s in tricks.
- The Jack of trump is worth a full point — it is a high-priority target for both players.