How to Play

Everything you need to know about Cardinality — game setup, phases, scoring, tie rules, and edge cases.

Objective

Outsmart. Predict. Dominate.

Capture cards by correctly guessing if your card is Higher or Lower than your opponents'. Trade strategically, build sets, and reach the target score to win!

Game Setup

2-4 Players — play with friends locally or against computer opponents

Turn Order — everyone guesses the top card's rank (closest goes first), or turn order is assigned randomly — your choice in settings!

Ace Rule — set Ace as High or Low for the whole game, or let players choose each turn

Target Score — set a goal (10, 20, 30 or custom). Games repeat until someone reaches it. Or play a single game!

Phase 1: High-Low

The Draw

All players draw a card from the deck. Only the active player can see their card.

The Call

The active player sets Ace High or Low (if per-turn rule), then calls Higher or Lower.

The Reveal

All cards are revealed. If the active player's card beats all others, they win every card drawn that round plus any board cards.

Tie Rules

Winning Tie: If the active player's card ties with another player's, no one wins. Tied cards go to the board and tied players skip next turn. The next round's winner claims those board cards too!

Non-Winning Tie: If two or more players tie with each other at a non-winning rank, they each earn a steal right — usable next round to steal 1 card from that round's drawn cards.

All Same Rank: If everyone draws the same rank, the active player wins all cards.

N-1 Tie Special: If all but 1 player are in a winning tie (e.g., 2 of 3, or 3 of 4 players), the remaining player automatically wins those cards.

Edge Case: Greedy 4-Card Double Tie (Winning Tie + Losing Tie)

This can only happen in 4-player Greedy games when all 4 players split into two pairs of ties at different ranks.

Example: Player 2 deals. Player 2 & 3 draw 5s (winning tie) — Player 1 & 4 draw 6s (losing tie at a higher rank for a "lower" guess).

The winning-tie players (5s): their cards go to the board and they skip next turn.

The losing-tie players (6s): their cards go to their own score piles and they earn steal rights for next round.

Greedy Mode turn assignment: The next turn passes to the next non-tied player in seat order after the dealer — winning-tie players are skipped. In the example above (P2 dealt; P2 & P3 tied), walking seat order from P2: P3 (skip — winning tie) → P4 deals next. The game log marks this with: "GREEDY 4-CARD DOUBLE TIE — Next Player will be Player X…"

Game Modes

Greedy Mode

The round winner keeps the turn and deals again immediately. Win streaks build up — after 2 consecutive wins, the next deal is a blind guess (you can't see your card).

Turn-Based Mode

The turn rotates to the next player after every round, regardless of who won. Fair and predictable — each player gets equal dealing opportunities.

Phase 2: Trading

Once the deck is empty, the Trading Phase begins — made up of 1–7 trading stages (configurable in settings). This is where you fix your sets!

Each player offers 1 card they don't want.

The Hoard winner (most cards) picks first. If no hoard winner, the last player from High-Low picks first.

In 4-player games, the first picker chooses who goes next. The last 2 players automatically receive the cards they didn't drop.

You cannot pick back your own dropped card.

Scoring

Grand Sequence — 5 Points

Collect all 13 ranks: A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K. Suits don't matter — just complete the full set.

The Hoard — 3 Points

The player with the most cards wins 3 points. If tied, no one gets hoard points.

Tri-Bash — 1 Point per Set

Each set of 3+ cards of the same rank but different suits earns 1 point. Having 3 or 4 of the same rank counts as 1 Tri-Bash.

Target Score

If a target score is set, the game continues with new rounds until a player reaches or exceeds it. Scores carry over between rounds. First to reach the target wins — if tied, highest score wins.

Card Rankings

2 (Low) → 3 → 4 → ... → 10 → J → Q → K → A (High or Low based on setting)

Start Playing