What was this card game that involved four face-down cards?

December 27, 2014 3:40 PM

When I was a kid my friend and I used to play a game he called "Chinese poker." It was for two players. We sat across from one another and each put four cards face down in a square pattern.

You were allowed to look at the two cards closest to you. We took turns drawing from the pile, and you could exchange any card you picked up for one of your four cards. As I remember it, threes were the lowest, then twos and aces. They may have been worth a negative value. Jacks were "valuable" too, or perhaps the jokers. The point was to get the lowest score. When one player felt he had a good hand he could knock, and then both players revealed their cards.

Googling turns up games called "Chinese poker" but not that game. I would like to find the original rules because I've tried playing it from memory but it's not the same. Do you know what this game was and where I can find the original rules?

posted by Brodiggitty to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total)

Best answer: I think that I knew that game as Golf. These seem like the rules I remember, although I thought that jacks were zero and kings and queens were both bad.
posted by tan_coul at 3:46 PM on December 27, 2014

Best answer: What you describe looks very close to what we've always called 4 Down.
Google tells me it could be called Golf.

Linked rules look slightly different than what I'm used to (we definitely only play with 4 cards as opposed to 6), but I'm sure there are all kinds of variants. We play 0 points for Kings, 7's, and pairs, and everything else at face value.. not familiar at all with 'knocking' being involved, but on each turn a card must be revealed and once all cards are face up, the round ends..

I can memail you my full rules if you like,, if this is indeed the one you're thinking of :)
posted by wats at 3:47 PM on December 27, 2014

Response by poster: Yes, it was Golf for sure. tan_coul's link has rules for both four-card and six-card hands. Thanks so much Hivemind!
posted by Brodiggitty at 4:07 PM on December 27, 2014

We also play it as Golf, and we "invented" a variation called Flog that uses all the same basic rules but where you compete for the highest score one day when both my mom and I were having totally shitty luck and racking up huge point totals unintentionally. It is also entertaining.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:04 PM on December 27, 2014

We always call that Four On The Floor.
posted by semacd at 4:03 PM on December 28, 2014