Golf (also known as Polish Polka, Polish Poker, Turtle, Hara Kiri and Crazy Nines) is a card game where players try to earn the lowest number of points (as in golf, the sport) over the course of nine deals (or "holes").
The game has little in common with the solitaire game of the same name.
Deal
Two or three players should use a standard 52-card deck. If played with four or more, a double-deck of 104 cards is ideal.
Each player is dealt six face-down cards from a shuffled deck. The remaining cards are placed face down to serve as the stock, from which the top card is taken and turned up to start the discard pile beside it. Players arrange their cards in two rows of three in front of them and turn any two of these cards face up. This arrangement is maintained throughout the game; players always have six cards in front of them.
Play
The objective is for players to reduce the value of the cards in front of them by swapping them for lesser value cards. After the last round, the highest score loses the game and the lowest score wins the game (see scoring below).
Beginning at the dealer's left, players take turns drawing single cards from either the stock or discard piles. The drawn card may either be swapped for one of that player's six cards or discarded. If the card is swapped for one of the face-down cards, the card swapped in remains face up. If the card drawn is discarded, the player can then choose to flip a card face up.
The round ends when a player has six face-up cards (sometimes the other players are given one final turn following this), after which scoring happens as follows:
Each Ace scores one point
Each Two scores minus two points
Each numeral card from 3 to 10 scores its face value
Each Jack or Queen scores 10 points
Each King scores zero points
A pair of equal cards in the same column scores zero points for the column regardless of the rank of those cards
During play, it is not legal for a player to pick up a card from the discard pile and return it to the discard pile without playing it. A card picked up from the discard pile must be swapped with one of the current player's cards.
A full game is typically nine "holes" (hands), after which the player with the lowest total score is designated the winner. A longer game can be played to eighteen holes.
Variations
There is a multitude of variants in multiplayer golf. Some common ones include:
Single-deck golf
For two to four players. Rules are the same as in double-deck golf. Sometimes, jokers are not used.
Knocking
Golf can be played so that instead of ending the game automatically, a player must choose to "knock" instead of taking their turn. Remaining players then have one turn to draw a card to improve their hands and then scores are totaled and recorded on a running score sheet. This rule is more common for four-card golf.
Four-card golf
Suitable for 3-7 players, in four-card Golf each player receives four cards face down in a 2×2 grid and reveal two before play begins. Play proceeds similar to six-card golf. The end of a round is initiated by a player 'knocking', after which other players get one final turn.
Nine-card golf
One or two decks are involved, depending on the number of players. One deck is adequate for 1-3 players, two or more decks are suggested for 4+ players. To begin the game, each player is dealt nine cards, laying out the cards face down in a 3x3 grid. The method or pattern for how the players layout their 3x3 grid is arbitrary, as long as the cards remain face down.
The game is played as six-card golf. Once any grid contains only face-up cards, the game is immediately ended, there are no further turns, and all players must flip all their face-down cards to determine their scores. Scoring is the same as six-card golf, with players having to form a full three-of-a-kind column to have that column score zero.
This process of game play continues for nine total games or until a player exceeds 50 points.
Optional rules of this version include: Horizontal and diagonal lines of three also score zero Playing with jokers in the game, valued at -4 points Every pair of adjacent (horizontal or vertical) equal cards scores zero If the player places four cards in a square pattern (i.e. 2x2 block) of the same face-point value, this results in a negative score (e.g. -25), for those four cards Instead of drawing a card, a player may choose to flip a card in their grid face up Playing until a player exceeds 100 points instead of 50
